Free Republic

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Every year there's a new one: Most livable U.S. city, friendliest city, town with the best manners. Now comes the first annual sweatiest city award.Top honors go to San Antonio, Texas.On a typical summer day, San Antonio residents lose more than 1 liter of perspiration per hour during exercise such as walking, the announcement said.Dallas-Ft. Worth, New Orleans, Houston and West Palm Beach, Florida, fleshed out the top five sweatiest cities.The list was released on Thursday by Procter & Gamble's Old Spice Red Zone deodorant, apparently in a sweat to produce some first-day-of-summer publicity.It was based, the...

The U.S. soccer team made America proud on Monday with their stunning 2-0 victory over Mexico at the World Cup in South Korea. The Mexicans, though, showed no class or sportsmanship.After the game, the Mexican team left the field without the traditional shirt exchanges and handshakes. Mexican fans shouted and taunted American fans and the American team.An AP story reported that Mexicans at cafes and bars in Mexico City "screamed obscenities at the Star-Spangled Banner" and displayed "resentment" at America.The U.S. embassy was closed Monday and security tightened in anticipation of possible riots by angry Mexicans. But is this reaction...

Q. When I mentioned in an Islamic gathering that I read some passages of the Qur’an in bed before going to sleep, I was advised against such a practice. I was told that it was better to be seated when reading the Qur’an. Someone suggested that the Qur’an must not be read while facing any direction other than that of the Qiblah. I was also advised against placing the Qur’an on my prayer mat. This was considered to be mishandling the holy book by putting it on the floor. It must be kept in a book case, on a table,...

Police: 75-year-old defends car with gun A 75-year-old man fired two shots at a woman in a northwest Gainesville parking lot Friday after the woman apparently tried to steal his car, police said. The woman approached William Joseph Hunt of Gainesville at about 9 p.m. in the parking lot in front of Albertson's grocery store at 2323 NW 13th St., said Gainesville Police Department Lt. S.A. Scott. Witnesses told police they initially thought the woman was a man because of her large size. She implied she had a weapon and said if Hunt didn't give her his car keys, she...

This just out; nothing follows.

Likening current Palestinian leaders to Nazis, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Thursday for the forced exile of Yasser Arafat and the destruction of his government. Speaking before capacity crowds in Palm Beach and Broward counties, Netanyahu also said that a reported plan by the Bush administration that will create a framework for an interim Palestinian state was a mistake. "We're facing a bestial savagery, inculcated madness, a cult of death of suicide and blood that is meant to kill ... as many of our own people as possible," said Netanyahu, referring to Palestinian suicide bombers who have taken...

The Senate Judiciary Committee has marked-up S. 1291, a student amnesty bill which would allow illegal aliens to attend state universities at in-state tuition rates and save them from deportation orders by adjusting their status.This bill is grossly offensive and unfair to us citizens who will be subsidizing the education of illegal criminal aliens with our tax dollars!According to a committee staffer, this bill is a top priority for Daschle and the Dems (and even some Republicans), and a floor debate and vote may be scheduled soon. It appears Sen. Daschle's new strategy is to try to sneak through piecemeal...

Think government must run your life because you have no common sense? Apparently many of our legislators think that. Better not throw a snowball in Belton, Mo., -- that's illegal there. Don't fly a kite in Schaumburg, Ill.; kite flying is illegal there. Oregon and New Jersey forbid you to pump your own gas. In Kern County, Calif., it's illegal to play Bingo while drunk. In Illinois you may not hunt bullfrogs with a firearm. And if you go to El Paso, Texas, better not sell any ice from out of town. That's illegal. I know about these laws because...

Many Republicans think that the president's proposal to create a Department of Homeland Security — and in the process to reorganize a large chunk of the federal government — is, in addition to whatever merits it may have as a policy matter, a smart political move. Congressional Democrats will be too tied up with the reorganization to talk about Social Security, the environment, prescription drugs, and other issues they would like to use in this fall's campaigns. Instead, they'll be talking about security, a Republican issue. Tod Lindberg makes this argument in this week's Standard. It seems to be plausible...

Earlier this week Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) and members of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus formally called upon President Bush to place U.S. troops on the borders with Mexico and Canada to protect us from illegal aliens, foreign terrorists and drug smugglers. The vast majority of American citizens want this action to be taken. Our latest poll results reveal that 77% of citizens want troops stationed on the border. A recent Zogby poll shows that 68% of Americans favor the military on the border. Congressman Tancredo is urging all citizens to petition Congress and the White House.Please visit his website...

A British employee of Al-Bank Al-Saudi Al-Fransi was killed instantly yesterday morning when a bomb exploded in his Land Rover Discovery in Prince Turki II Street in the northern Al-Nakheel district of Riyadh.Simon John Vinesse, 35, who was married to a South African and the father of a one-year-old child, had been working as a financial risk consultant for the bank for four years, Thibauld de Fayet, the bank’s corporate communications manager, told Arab News.Maj. Gen. Abdullah ibn Saad Al-Shahrani said that police believed the explosion, which occurred at 8:54 a.m., was caused by a bomb planted in the victim’s...

Guns...For the Children By: Lewis J. Goldberg Published 06. 20. 02 at 20:37 Sierra Time "Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." -- James Madison, The Federalist Papers "The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed."--Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers Roots The Second Amendment sealed into the law of the land the fact that American society is a society that not only tolerates guns, but was built upon their ownership. The...

Juneteenth a Time for Black Celebration Holiday Commemorates End of Slavery, Beginning of Full Self-Determination "Juneteenth," the oldest known celebration marking the end of slavery in America, is observed on June 19. Members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 ask for people everywhere to set aside some time on this day to reflect upon progress already made by black Americans and consider where challenges still remain. Juneteenth commemorates the anniversary of the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas with news of the end of the Civil War the previous April and the emancipation of slaves...

Hollywood superbabe Angelina Jolie has reportedly split from her husband Billy Bob Thornton just weeks after adopting a baby. According to Britain's Daily Star newspaper, the Tomb Raider beauty confessed to photographers in Los Angeles that her three-year marriage is over. It's rumored the 27-year-old will now seek custody of the pair's newly adopted Cambodian baby son Maddox, whom she showed off for the first time earlier this week. Meanwhile, five-times wed Thornton, 46, is staying in Memphis, Tennessee, where he is recording a new solo album. The Oscar-winning Girl, Interrupted actress is now thought to have moved out of...

NewsMax.com   Friday June 21, 2002; 9:51 a.m. EDTChina Continues to Arm Al Qaeda Despite their own concerns about Islamic terrorism, Communist Chinese military officials have continued to arm Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda commandos with sophisticated surface-to-air missiles even after the 9-11 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., according to U.S. intelligence reports. "Late last month, U.S. Army Special Forces troops discovered 30 HN-5s, the designation for Chinese-made SA-7s surface-to-air missiles, in southeastern Afghanistan," reports the Washington Times in Friday editions. "Other intelligence reports indicated the Chinese shipped missiles to the Taliban after September 11." Just last week...

<p>Merrill Lynch has retreated from its aggressive merchant-banking effort, as new management at the embattled brokerage shifts strategy.</p> <p>And some top-level leadership looks set to bail out in the wake.</p> <p>After two years of raising millions from investors in a health-care private equity fund, Merrill quietly quit the effort this month, canceling its clients' commitments, sources at the firm said.</p>

From their press release: "U.S. Reps. Jay Inslee and Rick Boucher reacted to this evening's determination by the Librarian of Congress to cut in half royalty fees charged to webcasters. Inslee and Boucher are also considering legislative action that would more effectively ensure fair payment to music creators while continuing to maintain a diverse, innovative Internet medium for music broadcasting. "Following the Librarian's decision, Inslee and Boucher made the following statement: "'We are moderately encouraged that the Librarian of Congress reduced the rates for Internet-only webcasters to the same level AM/FM radio Internet broadcasters. We remain very concerned, however, that...

Since news of my NR story called "Catching the Visa Express" hit the airwaves last Thursday, Consular Affairs — which oversees visa issuance and implemented the open-door policy for Saudi terrorists — has come under fire from both the public and Capitol Hill for the Visa Express program, which is how three of the Sept. 11 hijackers got in this country. Despite mounting criticism, Consular Affairs (CA) took fully one week to respond to the charges leveled at it about Visa Express. On The Big Story with John Gibson on Fox News yesterday, the new PR flack for CA, Ed...

On February 17, 1865, General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Union Troops completed the long march from Savannah and reached Columbia, the capital of South Carolina. T.J Goodwyn, Columbia’s Mayor, surrendered the city to General Sherman, and requested "for its citizens the treatment accorded by the usages of civilized warfare." Also, the Mayor asked the General to provide adequate guards "to maintain order in the city and protect the persons and property of the citizens." General Sherman informed the Mayor that he might have to destroy a few government buildings but otherwise, "Not a finger’s breadth, Mr. Mayor, of your city shall...

INTERRUPTING THE ENDLESS 30-year Watergate retrospective and getting back to the war for a moment, I've noticed that liberals are having trouble making any good arguments against Bush, so I thought I'd help them out this week. In the third presidential debate, George Bush responded to a question about racial profiling by spontaneously denouncing the profiling of Arabs at airports: "Arab Americans are racially profiled ... people are stopped, and we've got to do something about that." Admittedly, this was before Sept. 11. If Arabs were being stopped at airports before Sept. 11 – and that's a big if –...