Free Republic

I've heard him called many things....kindhearted, workaholic, good ole boy, behind-the-scenes man, and even angel-come-to-earth, but I'm quite certain the description he most appreciates is simply.... friend. Mike McCombs is everybody's friend, or to be more specific, Mike is a friend to everybody. Dear Hearts, you may not know it, but Mike McCombs is your friend, too. Without making it sound like an obituary, as one of his friend's laughed and accused me of doing, I decided it was high time to say a few nice things about a kind, good-hearted man, even though he'd rather run naked down Courthouse...

Berkeley -- Tree-sitters who were fenced in Wednesday outside of Cal's Memorial Stadium are getting food and water today as they continue to protest the university's plans to cut the trees to make way for an athletic training center. As fans arrived from Tennessee to watch their football team play Cal in an nationally televised game at the stadium Saturday evening, supporters of the protesters used ropes to shuttle fruit, vegetables and water to 10 people sitting in tree houses erected in oak and redwood trees. Meanwhile, attorneys for the protesters will appear in a Hayward courtroom this afternoon to...

http://www.dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070830/NEWS/70830044/1001&lead=1

Remains of the Jewish second temple may have been found during work to lay pipes at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem, Israeli television reported Thursday. Israeli television broadcast footage of a mechanical digger at the site which Israeli archaeologists visited on Thursday. Gaby Barkai, an archaeologist from Bar Ilan University, urged the Israeli government to stop the pipework after the discovery of what he said is "a massive seven metre-long wall." Television said the pipework carried out by the office of Muslim religious affairs, or Waqf, is about 1.5 metres deep and about 100 metres long. The compound,...

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy says he wants to go "much further in loosening up the 35-hour" working week. Mr Sarkozy also said he wanted to tighten up competition between firms to make consumer prices fall. In a speech to the employers' organisation Medaf, he said he was not planning to sit around waiting for international growth to improve.

August 30, 2007, 6:00 a.m. Iraqi Information DeficitAs Katie Couric makes plan to report from Iraq, frontlines war journalism is hard to find. By Jeff Emanuel Baghdad, Iraq — The recent headline-grabbing announcement that CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric will be coming to Iraq for 12 days in September has caused, as it should, new attention to be cast on combat-zone journalism. Amidst all of the hubbub and hoopla about the “danger” of her trip to Iraq, it is important to draw a distinction between what Couric and the majority of her colleagues in the mainstream media are...

Sweden risks crisis over Prophet picture By David Ibison in Stockholm Published: August 29 2007 23:11 | Last updated: August 29 2007 23:11 What began as a harmless artistic experiment in Sweden is at risk of erupting into a repeat of last year’s crisis in Denmark that followed the publication of allegedly insulting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The growing dispute in Sweden is linked to rondellhund – roundabout dogs – which are amateur and usually humorous sculptures of dogs placed covertly on roundabouts around the country as a form of counter-cultural expression.   When Lars Wilks, a Swedish...

Charlie Brown: Jihad Christmas Worth watching the whole thing so that you can be prepared to speak about it with your children this Christmas season ...

Fred Dalton Thompson will tell his supporters that he is running for president today in a 4 p.m. conference call with 800 to 1,000 elected and party officials from around the country, a source close to the campaign said today. On the call, Thompson will detail his plans for the future, which are expected to include an appearance on Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" on Wednesday night -- even as his rivals debate on Fox -- and could be followed by a formal announcement the next day.

AP) SACRAMENTO, Calif. California's electricity grid manager is warning that large energy consumers could lose power this afternoon because a heat wave is stressing power supplies. The independent system operator plans to declare a minor power emergency at 2 p.m. and will increase its alert level to a Stage 2 emergency at 4 p.m. The companies that would go dark are a mix of industrial, commercial and retail businesses that previously agreed to be the first to lose power during an emergency. In exchange, the companies receive reduced utility rates. California has not choice but to reduce power demand because...

Volunteers are need for Jackson Heights, Queens, and Flushing for prayer vigils in front of abortion mills for a 40 day vigil beginning on September 26, 2007.

Feelin’ lucky punk? (I know I am). Jay Leno, filling in for Jeremy Clarkson, takes the new Dodge Charger police car out for a test spin There are 400 police chases every year in Los Angeles, and here everything stops during a police pursuit. People will watch one for three, four hours on the TV. It’s basically the same chase every day and they all end the same way: the person runs out of gas, they run out, fall on the ground and the cops come and handcuff them. It’s never that exciting but for some reason people think it...

The dynamic performance by John Edwards at last Sunday's Democratic presidential debate, assailing his competitors for the nomination, got high marks from political reporters, Republican politicians and left-wing activists. But not from the Democratic establishment. Once their great hope for the future, Edwards now is massively unpopular among party regulars who neither like nor trust him. (Snip) Edwards has not worn well with party colleagues.

In February, the American Institute of Architects released a voter-compiled list of the country’s favorite 150 buildings. Ask a friend who knows absolutely nothing about architecture — you shouldn’t have to look far to find one — to name 10 of the country’s most famous buildings. There’s no doubt that his list will include some of the AIA’s chart-toppers, like the Empire State Building, White House, and Chrysler Building. Yawn! In response to the national list, which corresponded to AIA’s 150th anniversary, the Fort Worth chapter compiled a local top-25. The group sent questionnaires to all 468 of its members...

HUNTSVILLE -- A man who served prison time in California as a juvenile for his role in the slaying of his stepfather was executed Wednesday night for the robbery and slaying of a San Antonio taxi driver 13 years ago. Speaking slowly and barely above a whisper, John Joe Amador, 32, said in a brief statement from the gurney: "God forgive me. God forgive them, for they know not what they do. After all these years, our people are still lost in hatred and anger. Give them peace, God, for people seeking revenge toward me."

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Toys "R" Us Inc is recalling 27,000 wooden coloring cases that were made in China and sold under its Imaginarium brand because lead was found in the printed ink on the art set's outer packaging and in some watercolor paints. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced the recall on Thursday, said the 213-piece coloring set includes crayons, pastels, colored pencils and water colors that were packaged in a light tan wooden carrying case. The printed ink on the outer packaging of the case contains lead, and some of the black watercolor paint contains excessive...

While New Orleans residents are courageously taking the initiative to rebuild their homes, they cannot build an effective police and prosecutorial force on their own. This past weekend, seven family members and friends were enjoying a quiet evening outside their home in a tranquil neighborhood on the city's east side, which was badly flooded by Katrina. Then, according to New Orleans police, gunmen forced them into their house, robbed them, and shot them all, killing two. It was the neighborhood's second such crime in two weeks. In fact, since Katrina, New Orlean's murder rate has been higher than that of...

This month we present our third annual Washington Monthly College Guide. As in previous years, our aim is to offer an alternative to the U.S. News & World Report and similar college guides. Those guides focus on what colleges can do for you. We focus on what colleges are doing for the country. The rankings can be found here, and as you’ll see, the results diverge sharply from the rankings most of us are used to seeing. Princeton, number one on the U.S. News list, comes in seventy-eighth on ours. Texas A&M, rated sixtieth by U.S. News, is number one...

Poor Socha suffered quite a shock. The lovable Labrador retriever stepped on a wet manhole cover in SoHo yesterday and got zapped by 100 volts of electricity. "It turned my whole life upside down for 10 seconds," said Socha's owner, John Doran, 36. "There is no reason why little Socha felt 100 volts of electricity ripping through her body this morning." Doran and his 11-year-old yellow Lab were crossing Thompson St. near Spring St. to grab a cup of coffee when the pooch stepped in a puddle around 10:30 a.m. Socha let out a series of blood-curdling yelps - and...

(IsraelNN.com) Top Israeli archaeologists held an emergency press conference on Thursday, warning that a Second Temple courtyard wall is in danger of being destroyed by the Arab excavations there. Members of the Committee to Prevent the Destruction of Temple Mount Antiquities warned that other artifacts could also be endangered by the unsupervised dig. (IsraelNN.com) Top Israeli archaeologists held an emergency press conference on Thursday, warning that a Second Temple courtyard wall is in danger of being destroyed by the Arab excavations there. Members of the Committee to Prevent the Destruction of Temple Mount Antiquities warned that other artifacts could also...