Free Republic

WASHINGTON —  Idahoans are beginning to coalesce around Lt. Gov. as the consensus candidate to replace Sen. FOX News has learned, and the Idaho Statesman is reporting that Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has made Risch his choice. Craig, a Republican, pleaded guilty earlier this month to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct after being arrested in a men's restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Tuesday, Craig denied he did anything wrong but is facing a rapidly strengthening move to force him out of office.

Polish general among candidates for NATO chief Friday, August 31. 2007 General Franciszek Gagor, head of the Polish military headquarters, is one of three candidates for the position of Chief of NATO Military Committee. The Polish general will compete against two other chiefs of military headquarters: Italian admiral Giampaolo Di Paola and Spanish general Felix Sanz Roldan. A meeting of heads of national military headquarters is scheduled in Canada for September, by which time a full list of candidates has to be drawn up. A vote by secret ballot to select the new chief will take place in Brussels in...

Riot police called after Polish shipyard workers enter EU headquarters ASSOCIATED PRESS 12:26 p.m. August 30, 2007 BRUSSELS, Belgium – Belgian riot police were called Thursday after several Polish demonstrators entered headquarters of the European Union before a protest against EU plans to reduce state subsidies to the Gdansk shipyard. About 30 protesters entered the foyer of the building where the public has free access. They left peacefully when police arrived. The workers chanted “Solidarity” as they went out – the name of the trade union that launched Poland's peaceful anti-communist revolt in 1980. “We were just being tourists and...

I received the following email I’m writing to you about the Franciscan Sisters Minor. They are a very primitive order of sisters, who do not use money, who beg for their daily food, no phone, no computers, TV or radio, no conveniences of any kind except the barest of necessities and who do not even use beds, but have sleeping bags on the floor. My friend, Sister Clare is one of the Professed sisters. She is a widow, mother and grandmother who has given up all comfort in retirement to live this very simple life of poverty. They are...

The United Nations weapons inspectors once tasked with tracking Saddam Hussein’s arsenal have just discovered that for more than a decade they’ve been storing vials containing one of Iraq’s chemical-weapons concoctions — phosgene — in a cabinet in their own New York office. Removed from Iraq’s Al Muthanna chemical-weapons facility in 1996, the phosgene apparently sat unnoticed in the UNMOVIC office until last week. This discovery was presented by the U.N. at a press briefing Thursday as the sort of mistake anyone could make, even if — as one of the U.N. weapons experts explained — opening the containers would...

After six straight quarters of accelerating declines, newspaper print advertising sales in the first half of this year fell to the lowest level in a decade, according to statistics released today by the Newspaper Association of America. Print revenues in the first six months of this year totaled $20.3 billion, the lowest since the $19.7 billion in sales recorded in the first half of 1997. Print ad sales in the first half of this year were 8.3% below the depressed level recorded in the same period in 2006. Although the NAA touted a 19% increase in online ad sales to...

Zagreb, 31 August (AKI) – Croatia on Friday held a day of national mourning after six firemen died fighting a forest blaze on the central Adriatic archipelago of Kornati, local media reported. The tragedy occurred Thursday night when a forest fire encircled the firemen fighting a blaze, killing six and seriously injuring another seven. The ages of three of those killed ranged from 17 to 18 years old. Another 14 firemen escaped with light burns, the reports said. Prime minister Ivo Sanader and President Stipe Mesic called for an investigation whether the fire was started deliberately and asked for severe...

In the weeks preceding the 2001 attacks on America, there were very significant financial warning signs that something big – and bad – could be about to happen. Huge surges in purchases of “put options” on stocks of United Airlines and American Airlines, the two airlines used in the attacks, and “put options” on Merrill Lynch & Co., and Morgan Stanley, stocks of two financial services companies hurt by the attack were noted. Put options are essentially “bets” that a stock or stock index will drop on or before a certain date; the larger the drop, the bigger the gain...

Update: It looks like the kids in Loreto have already started the pre-arrival bash: (REUTERS/Daniele La Monaca (ITALY)CWNews: Pope Benedict XVI will travel to Loreto, Italy this weekend for a gathering of young Italian Catholics. The Holy Father will leave his summer residence on Saturday afternoon, September 1, traveling by helicopter to Loreto, on Italy's eastern coast. His weekend visit will include a question-and-answers session with the 800 participants in the "Agora" gathering, a time for private prayer in the Holy House of Loreto, and a Mass on Sunday morning. Pope Benedict will return to Castel Gandolfo on Sunday...

"Head On - Apply Directly To The Forehead." This commercial drives me crazy! Tell me I'm not alone!

An illustration of I.B.M.'s technique for storing data on a single atom. An iron atom on a copper surface could store a single bit of binary data, with "0" or "1" indicated by the orientation of the atom's magnetic field.************************************************ SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 30 — Researchers at I.B.M. laboratories say they have made progress toward storing information and computing at the level of individual atoms.The scientists documented their work in two papers appearing on Friday in the journal Science. Both papers are focused on new understanding of the behavior of magnetism at the tiny scale of nanotechnology, where scientists hope...

BERKELEY, Calif. — Authorities erected an 8-foot chain-link fence to separate tree-sitting protesters occupying a University of California oak grove from more than 72,000 football fans expected to descend on campus Saturday. University officials said the barrier was necessary to keep both the fans and tree sitters safe as No. 12 Cal faces No. 15 Tennessee in the Bears’ home opener at Memorial Stadium. “We’re putting up the fence to try to prevent any altercation either before or after the game,” UC Berkeley police Assistant Chief Mitch Celaya said. An Alameda County judge denied a motion Thursday by protesters, who...

Former Governor Mitt Romney is back on television in Iowa and this time he’s literally running from his record. Romney likes to claim that he never raised taxes during his tenure in Massachusetts but conveniently avoids telling Iowans about the 90 state fees he either created or raised during his first year in office... Property Taxes Rose to Highest Level in 25 Years. Romney's cuts to local aid forced Massachusetts property taxes to their highest level in 25 years. [Quincy Patriot Ledger, 12/16/05; Boston Globe, 10/24/05] Associated Industries of Massachusetts: Romney Forced Hike in Local Commercial Property Taxes. Romney "signed...

New Jersey Democrats to give away, return Hsu donations By TOM HESTER Jr. The Associated Press CAMDEN, N.J. - Gov. Jon S. Corzine, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg and the New Jersey Democratic Party plan to donate to charity and return money given to them by a top Democratic fundraiser who had been wanted as a fugitive in California. Corzine and Lautenberg each received $1,000 from Norman Hsu, a New York apparel executive who turned himself in Friday to face a grand theft charge. A warrant was issued for his arrest after he skipped sentencing for a 1991 grand theft charge....

USC running backs coach Todd McNair, a former NFL player who is in his fourth season with the Trojans, was twice convicted on charges related to mistreatment of dogs in the 1990s, according to reports. "I really don't want to comment on something 14 years ago, and especially something I was cleared for," McNair said Tuesday night. McNair was never convicted of dogfighting. Coach Pete Carroll said he became aware of the incidents about a week ago and addressed them with McNair. The incidents came to light again on the website BruinsNation.com. "We looked into it to make sure we...

UC Berkeley does not have to tear down a fence it erected around tree-sitters protesting plans to cut down an oak grove outside Memorial Stadium, an Alameda County judge ruled in advance of Saturday's nationally televised Cal football game. Siding with attorneys for the university, Judge Barbara Miller of Alameda County Superior Court said late Thursday that the fence was a safety measure and did not constitute development at the site. The tree-sitters had been marooned for hours without food or water until UC police allowed supporters to give them supplies beginning Wednesday evening. Earlier that day, the university erected...

DENVER: A group of students paying higher out-of-state tuition to attend college in Kansas cannot challenge a state law allowing some illegal immigrants to pay lower in-state tuition, a federal appeals court ruled. The ruling, issued Thursday, dealt only with whether the plaintiffs could challenge the 2004 Kansas law and did not address the merits of the law. A trial judge in Kansas had ruled the students lacked standing to challenge the law because they did not face a "concrete and imminent" injury. A three-judge panel of the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed in its ruling Thursday

The Ron Paul 2008 national office in Arlington, Virginia occupies the second floor of this building (about 3,000 square feet). It's on a busy street and across from a busy grocery store. People are noticing our "Ron Paul 2008 - Hope for America" sign. Georgetown Valet dry cleaners will be open in about a month and in a building next door (left) a restaurant is under construction.

USC assistant football coach Todd McNair said Wednesday that reports detailing his two 1990s convictions for mistreating dogs did not "accurately portray" what actually happened. "I understand the interest about the thing in light of all that's gone on in Virginia with the [Michael] Vick case and everything," he said in an interview outside USC's Heritage Hall. "But my case was totally different from that. . . . I was cited for neglect. I wasn't convicted for abuse." McNair, who is about to begin his fourth season as the Trojans' running backs coach, was charged with cruelty to animals, failure...

Four people have been killed in a large explosion in the city of Nazran, capital of the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia, reports say. The blast took place as a security forces vehicle passed a government building, Interfax news agency says. Earlier, gunmen killed three members of an ethnic Russian family. Explosions and gunfights have become increasingly common in Ingushetia, a largely Muslim republic bordering war-torn Chechnya. President Vladimir Putin earlier this month announced the deployment of an extra 2,500 troops in the republic. The Nazran blast killed four policemen, Russian news agencies reported. Three died at the scene and...