Free Republic

The US marine Ty Ziegel suffered horrific burns in a suicide bomb attack in Iraq. After months in hospital, he was eventually able to return home — and marry his childhood sweetheart. By Sarah Baxter. Photographs by Nina Berman When Marine Sergeant Ty Ziegel woke up from his coma, he was still in a fog of drugs. He knew his fiancée, Renee, was there and sensed her love for him. She had been playing with his feet because there was so little of him she could touch. He was told of his injuries but was so out of it, he...

Has anyone seen or heard Barbara Boxer whining recently? Her absence was discussed last weekend at two social functions.

A historic decline in home values comes down to this: Even if you never signed papers on a risky loan during the real estate frenzy, you may now be paying a price. In recent decades, it has been uncommon for US home prices to fall much, even during recessions. One government measure has never shown a year-over-year decline in its three-decade history. But the current economy is far from normal – with the housing market in a period of persistent decline at a time when many other economic indicators are positive. By one index released this week, home prices are...

IF you saw any news clips of intense combat last January, you were probably watching the fighting unfolding on Baghdad's Haifa Street: 10 days of grim sectarian violence. Until we put a stop to it. The boulevard of Sunni-inhabited high-rise apartments erupted in shootouts pitting the "Haifa Street Gang" and its al Qaeda allies against heavily Shia Iraqi army units. It was a recipe for massacre, as terrified residents - those who remained - cowered in their apartments. Then the U.S. Army moved in.

SAN DIEGO - All vehicle traffic heading into Mexico through the nation's busiest border crossing was blocked Friday by the California Highway Patrol ahead of expected demonstrations in Tijuana. Four Highway Patrol vehicles stocked with riot gear were parked across empty southbound Interstate 5 at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, with no protesters immediately in sight. Traffic heading south for the Labor Day weekend was being diverted to a nearby border checkpoint at Otay Mesa, about 10 miles east, according to CHP Officer Terry Brollini. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have urged travelers to avoid the border crossings...

The U.S. Army is authorized to create civilian prison labor camps on military installations, according to a little-noticed regulation. The camps are allowed if the request comes from the Federal Bureau of Prisons or state corrections facilities under leasing requirements defined by federal law. WND's discovery of the regulation comes shortly after Bush administration directives expanding presidential powers during an emergency. The Army prison camp policy is defined in Army Regulation 210-35, entitled "Installations: Civilian Inmate Labor Camps," signed Feb. 14, 2005, by Sandra R. Riley, then-administrative assistant to the secretary of the Army. The regulation revises an earlier civilian...

A Good Samaritan helped police track down a man accused of locking a 16-year-old inside a grocery store bathroom and trying to assault her, police said. "The victim was screaming inside the restroom," said shopper Kenny Rosar. "She was screaming for help," he said. Bystanders said they frantically pounded on the door. "Apparently the door was either blocked or locked from the inside," said Sgt. Richard Schrivens with Peoria police. The man inside finally opened the door, Schrivens said. "Some guy came running out of the bathroom and she started yelling, 'Chase after him,'" Rosar said. Rosar said he and...

JAIL VISIT TONY SPENDS TWO HOURS WITH L.I. PARENT KILLER By ADAM BUCKMAN 'Sopranos' star James Gandolfini drove to an upstate prison for a personal visit with convicted killer Martin Tankleff. August 31, 2007 -- A Long Island man convicted of killing his parents received a special gift on this 36th birthday - a surprise visit from James Gandolfini. The "Sopranos" star drove four hours each way Wednesday to pay a two-hour visit to Martin Tankleff, who has been incarcerated for 17 years at the Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock, about 220 miles north of New York City. Gandolfini...

The Surge is Working and Victory is at Hand. Al Queda and their Spokesmen at the DNC have been defeated. This is America’s biggest and most complete victory since WWII. The military has shown itself to be the strongest and smartest force to have walked the planet. The American soldier is now the fiercest fighting force and most creatively flexible army in histoir. President George W Bush deserves all the credit for doing what has never been done in DC which is to listen to his Generals and stand beside them through thick and thin. Since the Surge is now...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia, one of the most authoritative voices in Congress on the military and a key figure in the debate over Iraq, said Friday he will not seek a sixth term in 2008. Warner, 80, has held the seat since 1978, when the dashing former Navy secretary campaigned alongside his wife at the time, Elizabeth Taylor. His retirement offers Democrats a valuable opportunity to challenge the GOP for the seat and possibly expand their one-vote Senate majority. "Public service is a privilege and I urge all to try to find time some time...

Microsoft Corp. admitted Wednesday that an employee at its Swedish subsidiary offered monetary compensation to partners for voting in favor of the Office Open XML document format's approval as an ISO standard. Microsoft said the offer, when discovered, was quickly retracted and that its Sweden managers voluntarily notified the SIS, the national standards body. "We had a situation where an employee sent a communication via e-mail that was inconsistent with our corporate policy," said Tom Robertson, general manager for interoperability and standards at Microsoft. "That communication had no impact on the final vote." SIS, which represents the country within the...

Larry Craig's adventures at the Minneapolis airport didn't inflict harm on anyone in the men's room, but there's collateral damage in higher places. He's likely to be back in Boise for good by the end of the week. The senator from Idaho is learning the bitter lesson that it's not the crime but the cover-up, even when it's not much of a crime and the only complaining witness is an undercover cop assigned to look for creeps and peepers. His "wide stance" in the stall, he says, explains why the cop mistook innocent toe-tapping for an invitation to whatever. The...

Analysis: Military imbalance in the Taiwan Strait HONG KONG, Aug. 31 ANDREI CHANG During the past seven to 10 years China's rapid buildup of military power has tipped the balance in the Taiwan Strait strongly in its favor. Since 1999, when former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui announced his "two states" theory -- daring to say that the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China are two different states, precipitating the PRC's aggressive stance against the island's independence -- there have been drastic changes in the balance of military power on the two sides. This includes the navies, air...

Americans think global warming is real and serious. Poll after poll shows that there are not many climate skeptics left. The issue has received an enormous amount of media attention over the past several years, but it still doesn't rank at or near the top of issues people want the president and Congress to address. In January, when the Pew Research Center updated its yearly poll on priorities for the president and Congress, global warming ranked twentieth of twenty-three issues. Pew described concern about the issue as "lukewarm." The poll was taken before the latest wave of media attention to...

Updated on August 31, 2007 thanks to retirement of Sen. John Warner of VA who was one of our 'GOP 13', now 12.Sen. Larry Craig’s indiscretion is just the latest in a series of poor judgments – both of a political and/or personal nature that has inflicted the Republican Party in recent years, thereby hurting the Republican ‘brand’. Now, thanks to actions such as these, we find the GOP in the minority in both houses in Congress, with a Democratic White House coming in 2009 looking increasingly likely. Unless the Republican Party – and its leaders – realize that the...

The ten-year anniversary of the untimely death of the People’s Princess has brought the expected concerts, prayer services, and television retrospectives. Her celebrity sons’, long-since the holders of the media spotlight, can be seen everywhere with greater than normal scrutiny with the collective reminder of their Mom. Lost in the wave of reminiscence is the main cause of the tragedy. The death of Princess Diana was the first real example of Death by Paparazzi.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Karl Rove was nearly overcome with emotion Friday as colleagues privately paid tribute to the political adviser as he leaves the White House, senior officials say. At the closed-door senior staff meeting at 7:30 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room, Rove was surprised with a slide show of photos chronicling his nearly seven years at President Bush's side, through good times and bad. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow told CNN that Rove was so touched by the tribute that he didn't have any final words for his colleagues. "He was pretty choked up," Snow said. Although he...

Subprime Auto Lenders Are Confident, Analysts Aren't Topics:Automobile Industry | Credit | Housing | Mortgages | Subprime Lending Sectors:Automobiles and Parts Companies:Goldman Sachs Group Inc | JPMorgan Chase and Co | Wells Fargo and Co | Citigroup Inc | HSBC Holdings, plc. | Capital One Financial | AmeriCredit CorporationBy Reuters | 31 Aug 2007 | 12:56 PM ET Font size: U.S. subprime auto lenders say they do not see a rising wave of defaults, but over the past year they have made a number of moves to burnish the scratches and dents in their loan portfolios. AP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Triad Financial,...

Defense Focus: Diesel sub wonder weapons Published: Aug. 31, 2007 at 11:10 AM By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- The diesel submarine may be the leading "Cinderella weapon" of the 21st century. It gets no respect in the United States or Russia. But China, India, France, Germany and Israel are all betting on it big time. The diesel submarine is certainly not a sexy new technology like anti-ballistic missiles, global positioning satellites or lasers. It has been around as long as the submarine itself (British Adm. Lord John "Jackie" Fisher's bizarre experiment in giant...