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A federal prosecutor in the Randy “Duke” Cunningham case calls it a coincidence that the daughter of a key witness in the scandal purchased a home from the prosecutor's late uncle. Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Halpern, one of four prosecutors in the case, had not seen his father's brother, Leonard Halpern, for about four years prior to the uncle's death in 2003. Further, he was not an heir to his uncle's estate and received no money from the sale of the Nassau County, N.Y, property in 2005. The details are contained in court papers filed Wednesday by prosecutors asking a...

Civilian deaths rose slightly in August as a huge suicide attack in the north two weeks ago offset security gains elsewhere, making it the second deadliest month for Iraqis since the U.S. troop buildup began, according to figures compiled Saturday by The Associated Press. U.S. deaths remained well below figures from last winter when the U.S began dispatching 30,000 additional troops to Iraq.

On the Origin and Nature of Things THE CELEBRATED PRAYER of the great German astronomer, Kepler, has been a benediction to many: "O God, I thank Thee that Thou hast permitted me to think Thy thoughts after Thee." This prayer is theologically sound because it acknowledges the priority of God in the universe. "In the beginning God" is undoubtedly the most important sentence in the Bible. It is in God that all things begin, and all thoughts as well. In the words of Augustine, "But Thou, O Lord, who ever livest, and in whom nothing dies, since before the world...

She was simply “protecting my tiny little family,” she insisted, adding that “all I could think of was 9/11.” But yesterday, Leigh Robbins offered an apology to seven Iraqi men who were passengers on a plane scheduled to fly from San Diego to Chicago on Tuesday night. Robbins was also on the plane but was so terrified the men might be terrorists that she demanded to get off, causing a delay that prompted the airline to postpone the flight until the next morning. The Iraqis, as it turned out, were consultants working with Marines at Camp Pendleton. They say they...

By DOUGLAS BIRCH Associated Press Writer YEKATERINBURG, Russia — Amid tense relations between the United States and Russia, two prominent American arms control advocates Friday toured a storage facility designed to hold tons of plutonium and enriched uranium from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and former Sen. Sam Nunn, co-authors of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, were escorted through the high-security Mayak Fissile Materials Storage Facility — built to withstand assaults from terrorists and a direct hit from a jet. Russia plans to store up to 25 metric tons of plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons at...

About 2,600 people were without power Saturday as the city's electrical grid strained in the midst of a statewide heat wave, which was expected to bring triple-digit temperatures through the Labor Day weekend. Highs were expected to reach 113 in Woodland Hills in the San Fernando Valley and well over 100 in many other valley and desert areas of Southern California. At the same time, unstable weather caused by monsoonal moisture from the south prompted concerns of sudden thunderstorms in valleys, mountains and deserts. A flash-flood watch was in effect through Saturday for those areas in San Bernardino, Riverside and...

Another freeper has the following question: Alot of the boards these days (I’m talkin the dual core 2+ GHZ stuff) come designed for the newer Serial ATA hard drive interface. I have 200+ gig of 7200 RPM regular old enhanced ATA drives which I am not gonna junk. Does any of the newer stuff come with BOTH SATA and E-ATA ports?

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- What was supposed to be a tuneup turned into a stunner: Appalachian State 34, No. 5 Michigan 32. Julian Rauch's 24-yard field goal with 26 seconds left put the Mountaineers ahead of the Wolverines and Corey Lynch's blocked field goal in the final seconds sealed one of college football's biggest upsets. The two-time defending champions from former Division I-AA were ahead of the nation's winningest program 28-14 late in the second quarter, then their storybook afternoon seemed to unravel late in the fourth quarter. Mike Hart's 54-yard run put the Wolverines ahead -- for the...

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei named a new head for the elite Revolutionary Guard, an organization Washington is looking to list as a terrorist group, state media announced Saturday. No reason was given for the change and it was not clear if the reshuffle would affect the possible U.S. move to pressure businesses the corps is thought to control, from construction to oil sectors. The United States accuses the Guard of responsibility for terrorist acts abroad and especially violence against American forces in Iraq. Khamenei appointed Mohammed Ali Jafari, described only as a senior figure in...

A 49-year-old Seymour woman wants to change her last name to bin Laden. Caren Ann Burke isn't saying why she wants the same surname as America's top terrorism target. She says she doesn't have to explain anything because it's a private matter. Burke filed the petition last week. A hearing on the petition is scheduled in Outagamie County Circuit Court on October 12th. On the petition she listed the reason for her request as - quote - "divorce from Rory S. Burke." Court records show the couple divorced in 2005, and a judge at the time granted her request to...

41.1% Duncan Hunter (534 votes) 20.5% Fred Thompson (266 votes) 16.17% Ron Paul (217 votes) 6.4% Mike Huckabee (83 votes) 6% Rudy Giuliani (78 votes) 4.7% Mitt Romney (61 votes) 2.2% Ray McKinney (28 votes) .77% John Cox (10 votes) .62% John McCain (8 votes) .46% Sam Brownback (6 votes) .46% Tom Tancredo (6 votes) .23% Hugh Cort (3 votes)

Two pilots die in mid-air crash at Polish air show Posted : Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:31:05 GMT Warsaw - Two pilots were killed in a mid-air crash at the Radom Air Show in Poland on Saturday as thousands of spectators watched, Poland's TVN24 news channel reported. Their two planes crashed head-on during aerobatic manoeuvres involving four planes from the Zelazny air team, the report said. It was not clear what had caused the crash. Both pilots hailed from Zielona Gora, Western Poland. Polish Radio said officials called the two-day air show, which began Saturday morning, after the incident.

Reagan ended his Iowa campaign as nonchalantly as he had conducted it. On caucus day, he was home in Pacific Palisades, Calif. That night, while the votes were being counted, he went to a friend's house to see the film Kramer vs. Kramer. He learned of the results from a TV reporter who came to call. Reagan's second-place finish was a setback for John Sears, his highly touted strategist, who had kept his leading candidate out of the fray and especially out of Iowa. In August, Reagan led in the polls with 48% of the vote; Bush had 1%. Explained...

NOTE: to all the members of the mainstream media, I will be pleased to share with you volumes of information and home video of Senator Clinton. You can contact me here at FR via FReepmail. If you prefer, we can meet on Sept. 7 at 10:00AM at the California Appellate Court in Los Angeles. You might want to ask a few questions of Hillary's counsel, David Kendall while you are there. He has been somewhat less than willing to answer questions I have had for him. To Clinton appointed judge A. Howard Matz. You, sir, pronounced, even before a word...

No. 5 Michigan stunned by I-AA App. State Associated Press, Updated 2 minutes ago STORY TOOLS: print send blog LIKE THIS STORY? ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - What was supposed to be a tuneup turned into a stunner: Appalachian State 34, No. 5 Michigan 32. Julian Rauch's 24-yard field goal with 26 seconds put Appalachian State ahead of Michigan and Corey Lynch's blocked field goal in the final seconds sealed one of college football's biggest upsets. The two-time defending champions from college football's former Division I-AA were ahead of the nation's winningest program 28-14 late in the second quarter, then...

Magnitude 6.3 - GULF OF CALIFORNIA 2007 September 01 19:14:30 UTC

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Sometimes it's hard to get bikers and NASCAR fans to dress up and attend church on Sunday morning. So Southern Baptists are taking the Gospel to them, giving away free motorcycles at biker rallies and motor speedways as they try to attract new converts with a revved-up new style of evangelism. Baptists in North and South Dakota for a second year in a row gave away a new Harley Davidson at the Sturgis, S.D., biker rally in August. To be eligible, people had to listen to a 3-minute sermon and fill out a card to get a...

BIGGEST UPSET IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL HISTORY! Hit the link to see the BOX SCORE!

Matos McGreevey once stood shellshocked next to her ex-husband, then-New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey, as he announced before TV cameras that he was "a gay American" and would resign."I was watching his wife the other day standing next to him, and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, that was me three years ago. Now here we go again,'" Matos McGreevey said in an interview at her home Friday evening. "She's a victim of the choices he's made."James McGreevey, the nation's first openly gay governor, later said he stepped down rather than succumb to a $50 million blackmail threat from...

FORT WORTH -- Rep. Ron Paul wasn't there for most of the first day of the Republican straw poll Friday, but his presence was felt everywhere. In the "Ron Paul" placards people carried throughout downtown. In the T-shirt likeness of him that supporters wore around the Fort Worth Convention Center. In the signs posted in front of the convention center, on vehicles parked there and on some downtown businesses such as Four Star Coffee Bar. Paul, of Surfside, didn't make it into Fort Worth until his night rally downtown. Nonetheless, he was a candidate who was impossible to ignore. "We're...