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Looking back over the years that we've been together, I can't help but wonder:............. What was I thinking? Congratulations on your wedding day!............. Too bad no one likes your wife. How could two people as beautiful you............ have such an ugly baby? I've always wanted to have someone to hold, someone to love......... After having met you, I've changed my mind. I must admit, you brought Religion in my life........... I never believed in Hell until I met you. As the days go by, I think of how lucky I am....... that you're not here to ruin it for ...

MISSOULA, MONTANA - First, they took her three young girls on an anonymous and unverifiable phone call that one looked kind of sick. Then they moved heaven and earth, trying desperately to take the baby she bore a month later, though it was several states out of their jurisdiction. Then they had her arrested and thrown in a Montana jail for "kidnapping" her own children. Now, she is about to give birth to her fifth child and they are trying to snatch it, too, after which they want to lock her and her husband away in prison for a long, ...

Three days after the siege, according to neighbors, there was also a lone woman--Beck's girlfriend, Saori Seki--sifting through the ashes, then hurrying away in a borrowed car. He was in and out of trouble and jail. He was not particularly adept at any of his scams and his lies were often discovered, but dismissed as evidence of a harmless, if peculiar, personality flaw. He sided with his mother in an acrimonious divorce from his well-to-do father, who wanted nothing to do with either of them afterward, and she rewarded his loyalty with financial support. The most visible evidence of that ...

<p>In ceremonies clouded by protests in San Francisco, the United States and Japan observed the golden anniversary of their alliance yesterday with a renewed Japanese apology for war crimes but with firm rejection by both nations of demands for further reparations.</p>

Heavy Fighting Erupts in Northeastern Afghanistan A series of multi-prong attacks has been launched by the Afghan United Front in the northeastern Takhar province in a bid to lay siege to Taloqan, the Taliban-controlled provincial capital, a report reaching here said on Friday, September 7. Quoting an official of the Afghan United Front, the report that "vast areas were captured from Taliban forces in Chal and Eshkamesh districts and heavy casualties inflicted on Taliban." It's estimated that more than 130 Taliban fighters were either killed or injured, and more than 70 were captured. The Taliban has not confirmed the reports ...

Maker of film on Davidian standoff, former AG Janet Reno to visit Baylor campus this weekBy BRIAN GAAR/Tribune-Herald staff writer At the request of a conservative student group, filmmaker Mike McNulty will present two of his films about the Branch Davidian standoff on the campus of Baylor University this week. The screenings will coincide with a visit from former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno as she gives a speech at the campus Thursday. McNulty will screen his films Wednesday. His documentary films have cast a suspicious eye on the government's role in the 1993 raid on the Davidian compound ...

Second Season Politics As Usual Resumes By EDWARD ZEHR President Bush started the "second season" off with a bang in a Labor Day speech delivered to union carpenters at a picnic near Green Bay, Wisconsin. Dubya lambasted congressional critics of his $1.35 trillion tax-relief package (spread over a decade), noting that many are now saying we should not have had tax relief this year (read any year). "Does that mean you're for now raising people's taxes?" Bush taunted. He has a point -- Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt had said in June that he will attempt to raise taxes ...

Australia Warned of US-China Crossfire The national security adviser to the former US President Bill Clinton warned that Australia would be caught in the crossfire between the United States and China if the Bush Administration persisted in rushing to develop a missile defense shield. Sandy Berger was interviewed by the Australian daily The Sydney Morning Herald on the eve of Prime Minister John Howard's visit to the United States. Berger said hard-line elements in the Bush Administration viewed China as the new enemy. "If we treat China like an enemy we 'll make China an enemy. America's presence in Asia ...

Europe in Decline By J. PETER MULHERN The European Union has agreed to apologize for slavery and racism. In one of history's great ironies, this news breaks just as Britain has reached a new agreement with Zimbabwe's kleptocracy. That agreement attempts to bribe the kleptocrats into providing some measure of protection and compensation for embattled white farmers. Zimbabwe's government has targeted the farmers for fleecing and elimination. The New Labour buffoons in charge of Britain's government are stepping in to cushion the blow. Some farmers may benefit. The principal effect of Britain's involvement, however, will probably be to salve ...

<p>Avenal, Kings County -- Avenal State prison's got cats by the hundreds, and they're all serving life without possibility of parole.</p> <p>Just how this isolated, treeless, sun-baked prison at the foot of the arid Kettleman Hills acquired a feral cat colony is a mystery, and by the time officials realized they had a problem, it was too late for a quick fix.</p>

Published Sunday, Sept. 9, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News Power deals under fire State bought too much power when prices were high, instead of waiting for prices to drop, some analysts say. BY ERIC NALDER, BRANDON BAILEY AND CHRIS O'BRIEN Mercury News While state officials were committing California consumers to pay $43 billion for electricity in contracts negotiated last winter and spring, energy consultants up and down the West Coast were forecasting a dramatic drop in prices as early as next year. But advisers to Gov. Gray Davis, relying on their own estimates, negotiated contracts at prices that ...

For a good laugh only A must read by a Ranting Rat LOL says TLBSHOW They seized the White House, won a Republican majority in Congress, and now they've got nothing better to do than whine about Gary Condit? The Republican Restoration Weekend at The Broadmoor hotel had its amusing moments -- like when a panel of four conservative black men and a white guy earnestly informed a room packed with lily-white upper crusters that the Republican Party is a true haven for people of color. And there was that hilarious flier, hyping a soon-to-be-published book titled Aid and Comfort: ...

While the headlines about Mexican President Vicente Fox's visit to the United States last week focused on immigration talks, they may have missed the most important point: the new U.S. ``special relationship'' with Mexico will have a major impact on U.S. foreign policy and hemispheric affairs. I didn't see the faces of the ambassadors of Great Britain, Canada and China when President Bush proclaimed on Wednesday that ``the United States has no more important relationship in the world than the one we have with Mexico.'' But I can't imagine their being too happy about it. And I didn't see the ...

Sept. 17 issue — As both campaigns and the entire country awaited the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Bush v. Gore, the vice president couldn’t sit still. The vote would decide who’d win Election 2000. The process kept starting and stopping. Now, Gore needed to vent his emotions, with whatever degree of optimism he could muster. SO ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON, December 12, Gore decided to write an Op-Ed for The New York Times, on the assumption the Court would rule in his favor. “As I write this,” the piece began, “I do not know what the Supreme Court will decide.” ...

On George W. Bush: "He's doing reasonably well. He's benefiting from not being Clinton. He's been successful legislatively, getting three-quarters of what he wants. "He's smart enough. I've met every president since Nixon, and I can tell you who the three smartest were: Nixon, Carter and Clinton. (But) Nixon and Clinton had inner demons that allowed them to make horrible mistakes. "Bush has real retail political talents. What I don't think he has done in the same way is demonstrated the wholesale, projecting like a statesman." On Bill Clinton: "A tremendous political talent who squandered much of it through his ...

THE name of President George W Bush has been added to an internet "hit list" compiled by anti-abortion campaigners after his decision to allow federal funding for limited human embryo stem-cell research. The Nuremberg Files website has been accused of inciting violence against doctors and medical staff involved in abortions. The main section, called Baby Butchers and Butchered, lists 421 names - plus addresses, car registration numbers and family details - of abortion practitioners and their "accomplices". Those who are dead - mostly women who have died as a result of a pregnancy termination - have a line scored through ...

Israeli ministers call on Peres not to meet Arafat after attacks JERUSALEM, Sept 9 (AFP) - Israeli ministers called Sunday to cancel a proposed meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after suicide bombings rocked Israel, a newspaper said. The Haaretz daily, quoting diplomatic sources on its website, said that hardline Public Security Minister Uzi Landau and minister without portfolio Danny Naveh had both called on Peres not to meet Arafat. Two Palestinians and five Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks Sunday, and Israel retaliated with missile strikes on two offices of Arafat's Fatah ...

Israeli helicopters strike West Bank NABLUS, West Bank, Sept 9 (AFP) - Israeli helicopters on Sunday launched missiles at a Palestinian police station in Kabatiya, a town south of the West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian military sources said. Israeli military sources confirmed that two missiles were fired in the raid. Helicopter gunships earlier launched assaults on Palestinian targets throughout the West Bank, firing missiles at two offices of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in and around Ramallah, and a major base of the Palestinian security forces on the southern edge of Jericho. The attack comes during a day of ...

Newbie here. I have encountered 3 items of jargon, used in postings and replies, that I can't define, or the usage doesn't seem to match the jargon definitions I'm aware of. They are "Bump", "Ping", and "BTTT". Would someone please clue me in as to their meaning as used on freerepublic.com? Thanks a bunch in advance.

Heard on yesterday's news... Rosie O'Donnell's former body-guards are suing her. They recently discovered that she had secretly installed cameras and microphones in the guards' private living quarters and in their offices. ("For the Children," I imagine...) Isn't she just wonderful? What more perfect example of "Animal Farm" -style communism, selfishness, and hypocrisy? All human rights MUST be protected -- unless I want to break them in my own self-interest. Heard elsewhere that she is mentally ill and generally imploding. Too bad.