Free Republic

<p>BENASLAWA, Iraq — Iraqi police went to Mohammed Osman's home in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, in May 1996, and gave him a choice: Renounce his Kurdish ethnicity or leave town.</p> <p>Mr. Osman, who in the past managed to buy time with a $60 bribe, could not afford it anymore and chose to leave.</p>

A few years before the world went mad, Ketut had a Javanese girlfriend, a Muslim. As their relationship ripened, she became sad. “It’s a shame I can’t marry you,” she would sigh. There was no need to ask what the obstacle was. Although a liberal Muslim, she had made it clear that he was an infidel, a Balinese Hindu, and unless he changed they had no future. “Would a Muslim man ever change to the religion of his wife?” Ketut asked. ”Of course not,” she answered. “Islam is the true religion. And I will not become Hindu.” Ketut thought about...

<p>LONDON — Intelligence officials believe al Qaeda and Taliban leaders are using public Internet forums to plan attacks and move fighters between Afghanistan and Pakistan.</p> <p>A senior counterterrorism expert said investigators are analyzing coded messages they suspect are exchanges among the terrorists and local tribal leaders in villages along the border between the countries.</p>

<p>ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — Philippine forces yesterday continued their search for the body of Abu Sabaya, the notorious leader of a Muslim guerrilla gang who was presumed wounded and drowned after a firefight at sea yesterday.</p> <p>Sabaya, 39, headed a faction of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group that abducted more than 100 people during the past year. Some escaped, some were freed and 18 died, including a California man who was beheaded and a Kansas missionary who was shot in a rescue attempt.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) - Give a group of fourth-graders a map of the world and only half can label the North Pole, South Pole and equator. Ask them why rock 'n' roll has spread all over the world and 70 percent can tell you. The questions come from a national geography test given last year, the results of which were released Friday by the Education Department. When asked to label maps with the three major geographic features, only 54 percent of fourth-graders put all three in their proper places; but 70 percent knew that TV and radio helped popular music spread...

<p>CARACAS, Venezuela — Tensions are again rising and residents are stocking up on food in fear — or hope — of a second coup against President Hugo Chavez, who was briefly ousted April 11, only to be returned to power by supporters two days later.</p>

<p>Many American students have improved their knowledge of geography, but one in three fourth-graders still can't identify his or her home state on a map, according to a federal government report released yesterday.</p> <p>Since 1994 the knowledge of U.S. students about the world has improved, the federal government said in its 2001 national geography "report card."</p>

<p>A senior member of a House Appropriations subcommittee yesterday questioned efforts by the FBI to upgrade existing computer technologies after the September 11 attacks, saying Congress has spent $1.6 billion on new FBI computers since 1993.</p> <p>"I've been sitting on this subcommittee for 18 years," Rep. Harold Rodgers told FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III during a hearing. "I've heard director after director after director say, 'Give us the money. We're going to modernize this computer system.'"</p>

<p>House Republicans yesterday pushed through a bill that permanently increases the limit on tax-free contributions to pensions after defeating Democratic efforts to turn the debate into a referendum on Enron and corporations' efforts to escape corporate income taxes.</p> <p>Yesterday's vote on the pension benefits of President Bush's tax package — which last year cut income-tax rates across the board — was the latest attempt by Republicans to showcase their efforts as the November general elections approach.</p>

<p>Unquestionably, the region is steeped in Christianity from the faith's earliest days. The Apostle Paul brought the religion to Europe's shores around A.D. 50. Later, the continent became the center of Roman Catholicism and the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation.</p>

<p>The FBI yesterday warned that terrorists could be planning to use fuel-tanker trucks for attacks in this country and abroad, aimed mainly at Jewish schools or synagogues, in the latest in a series of alerts by the FBI over the past several weeks.</p>

<p>Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday he will not accept China's invitation to visit the country, but will send a representative to discuss resuming military exchanges with the Chinese army.</p> <p>Mr. Rumsfeld was invited to visit China in May by Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao during Mr. Hu's visit to the Pentagon, a Pentagon official said.</p>

<p>PARIS — A French judge yesterday refused an "anti-racism" group's request for an immediate ban on Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci's new book, which argues that the September 11 attacks shows the true face of Islam.</p> <p>The Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Between Peoples, also known as MRAP, had asked Judge Herve Stephan to ban the book, "Rage and Pride," saying its contents are an incitement to racial hatred.</p>

http://www.lewrockwell.com/edmonds/edmonds111.html The Industrious Homeless by Brad Edmonds My recent article on the homeless drew a few amusing responses from readers whose experiences confirmed one of my assertions – that many, perhaps most, of those who remain homeless for any significant length of time do so because they are simply averse to work. Given the natural disutility of labor, most of us are averse to work, and fortunate indeed are those who find jobs they love, or find they can be happy in any job. Most of us recognize that we must take the bitter with the sweet, and we toil...

<p>JERUSALEM — Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said yesterday he now accepts the peace plan put forward 18 months ago by President Clinton, a generous deal compared with the initiative President Bush is expected to announce soon.</p> <p>Word of Mr. Arafat's change of mind — in an interview with Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper — came amid continuing violence at the end of a week of suicide attacks and reprisals that led Mr. Bush to delay his announcement.</p>

<p>A provision in the bill seeking to create a Homeland Security Department will exempt its employees from whistleblower protection, the very law that helped expose intelligence-gathering missteps before September 11.</p> <p>The legislation now before Congress contains a provision allowing the director of the proposed agency to waive all employee protections in Title V, including the Whistleblower Protection Act. The act protects government employees from retaliation or losing employment for speaking out on waste, fraud and abuse.</p>

For the first day of summer, Fresno, CA was blessed with beautiful weather! It was a balmy, eighty-five degree, windy evening. This week's peacenik FReep and Support Our Troops rally was attended by fifteen FReepers and patriots. I counted nine peaceniks across the street from us. We had a few new people join our group tonight. A young man who is joining the Navy in October and his girlfriend showed up to show their love of country and support for the troops. Towards the end of our FReep, a young man who was skate boarding stopped to cross the street...

Earthquake Bulletin Date-Time 2002 06 22 02:58:21 UTC Location 35.67N 48.93E Depth 10.0 kilometers Magnitude 6.3 Region WESTERN IRAN Reference 65 miles (105 km) NNE of Hamadan, Iran Source USGS NEIC The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: A strong earthquake occurred IN WESTERN IRAN, about 65 miles (105 km) north-northeast of Hamadan or about 140 miles (225 km) west of Tehran at 8:58 PM MDT today, Jun 21, 2002 (Jun 22 at 7:28 AM local time in Iran). A PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE OF 6.3 WAS COMPUTED FOR THIS EARTHQUAKE. The magnitude...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/stein/stein12.html Federal Forest Fires by Russ Stein The whole state of Colorado is on fire, as wildfires in the federal forests rage out of control. The gigantic Hayman fire burns out of control just a few miles southwest of Denver, at last count having torched 135,000 acres, making it the largest forest fire in state history. It has also destroyed 25 homes, and forced the evacuation of 7,500 people. According to the feds it's all the fault of a villainous US Forest Service forestry technician named Terry Barton, 38. Barton's story is that she accidentally started the Hayman fire while...

GERMANY became the first European Union country to protect animal rights in its Constitution yesterday. The move has alarmed scientists, hunters and the country’s Muslims, who believe that they may be banned from ritual slaughter of animals. The Bundesrat, the upper House of Parliament, gave overwhelming support to a law to amend the Constitution to make it a duty of the State to protect not only human life, but also that of animals. Inspired by the Greens, the law is the culmination of a ten-year political struggle. Animal rights have a long history in Germany; even Nazi scholars were eager...