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In early June yet another anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre passed with barely a notice. How blithefully we forget those tens of thousands of brave Chinese people who in peaceful defiance of their autocratic state met in the spring of 1989 to celebrate the concept of freedom, raised a statue to the goddess of democracy (an homage to our own "Liberty Enlightening the World") and were rewarded with tanks, and guns and death. /SNIP/in the middle of Tianenman Square where thousands had only the day before been killed, arrested or dispersed, here stood one man, standing alone before a...

JEDDAH, 24 June — Prince Abdullah, the regent, held crucial talks here yesterday with top executives of ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell to iron out differences over three multibillion-dollar gas projects. The meetings with ExxonMobil’s Lee Raymond and Shell’s Phil Watts were attended by Prince Saud Al-Faisal, chairman of the ministerial committee for negotiations with oil giants. “The talks focused on issues related to petroleum industry,” the official Saudi Press Agency said without elaborating. But high-level sources told Arab News that the meetings were positive. “The talks focused on the points of differences,” the sources said, adding that the negotiations...

<p>WASHINGTON -- California's electricity crisis was the result of demand getting "too close" to available supply as well as the economic and regulatory disincentives that blunted new power-plant development, the U.S. General Accounting Office said in a report released Monday.</p>

Brothers Injured In Fireworks Explosion - Fireworks Reportedly Set Off In Homemade Device Two brothers are hospitalized after a fireworks explosion at a Livingston County home this weekend, according to the Michigan State Police in Brighton. Michael and Christopher Lapham -- reportedly both in their 20s -- were setting off fireworks in homemade PVC mortars supported by concrete chunks, and one of the bottoms blew out and caused the concrete to explode, police said. This happened around 5:15 a.m. Sunday at a home on Hughes Road. Both men were transported to the University of Michigan Hospital. Michael Lapham is listed...

The Palestinian Strategy 24 June 2002 Summary It is difficult to see the strategy behind Palestinian tactics. Suicide bombing has clearly become a mainstream Palestinian tactic, one that makes the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip unlikely to the point of impossibility. It not only locks Israel into a war-fighting mode but also eases diplomatic pressure on Israel to make a settlement. The Palestinians know this. So why have the Palestinians adopted this tactic? The answer lies in what must be a fundamental strategic shift on the part of the Palestinians. They no longer...

LOS ANGELES, June 24 (UPI) -- Several IQ researchers, accustomed to having their field of expertise ignored or denounced as racist and fraudulent, were bemused by Thursday's vote by six Supreme Court Justices to ban the execution of murderers, in effect, who score poorly on IQ tests. As staunch defenders of the much-maligned concept of the intelligence quotient, these scientists found vindication in the Supreme Court's embrace of intelligence testing, though they cautioned that the Justices' understanding of the complex subject was simplistic. The IQ experts were particularly amused that newspapers that routinely condemn IQ tests as biased and meaningless...

It is difficult to see the strategy behind Palestinian tactics. Suicide bombing has clearly become a mainstream Palestinian tactic, one that makes the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip unlikely to the point of impossibility. It not only locks Israel into a war-fighting mode but also eases diplomatic pressure on Israel to make a settlement. The Palestinians know this. So why have the Palestinians adopted this tactic? The answer lies in what must be a fundamental strategic shift on the part of the Palestinians. They no longer see the creation of a rump Palestinian...

Saudi Defense Min Slams UK Media For "Zionists' Spite"   09:49 ET Dow Jones International News (Copyright (c) 2002, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) RIYADH (AP)--Saudi Arabia's defense minister accused the U.K. media of displaying "Zionists' spite" in their attacks on his kingdom after the death of a U.K. man in a car explosion last week. Speaking late Sunday after a graduation ceremony, Prince Sultan added that the long-standing Saudi-U.K. ties were "strong" and wouldn't be affected by media attacks arising from the June 20 death of the U.K. man. U.K. media reports after the explosion said Saudi officials...

This week on www.StopDemocrats.com **The News** Main Story: *Bush to Arafat: Get out!: The United States would support creation of an independent Palestinian state if the Palestinian people "elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror," said President Bush. In Other News: *Following new reports that the elusive Sept. 11 mastermind is alive, well and ready to carry out more terror operations, Washington has made it clear that bin Laden's next hiding hole should be a body bag -and soon. *House payroll records show that Rep. Gary Condit (D-Calif.) significantly increased the salaries of three key staffers in the...

Just heard on 2PM news. Tribal officials have announced an arrest of a suspect in connection with the Rodeo Fire. Also heard that the President will visit Arizona before going to the G8 summit in Canada...

Someone needed to say this!!!!!

IMPACT No. 317 Evolution Is Biologically Impossible by Joseph Mastropaolo, Ph.D.*Institute for Creation Research, PO Box 2667, El Cajon, CA 92021Voice: (619) 448-0900 Fax: (619) 448-3469"Vital Articles on Science/Creation" November 1999 Copyright © 1999 All Rights Reserved. Charles Darwin was daydreaming when he wrote that he could visualize "in some warm little pond," with all sorts of salts and electricity, the spontaneous generation of the first living cell.1 Darwin's dream of the magical powers of salts and electricity may have come from his grandfather. Mary Shelley wrote of him in 1831 in her introduction to Frankenstein. "They talked of the...

The closing paragraph of what may well be the most momentous speech in our lifetimes: "This moment is both an opportunity and a test for all parties in the Middle East: an opportunity to lay the foundations for future peace; a test to show who is serious about peace and who is not. The choice here is stark and simple. The Bible says, "I have set before you life and death; therefore, choose life." The time has arrived for everyone in this conflict to choose peace, and hope, and life." The President has thrown down the gauntlet. Now we shall...

Politically, Arafat is a dead man walking By David Landau, Ha'aretz Correspondent Yasser Arafat, the seemingly immortal leader of the Palestinian national movement, was politically assassinated Monday by President George W. Bush. His role as Israel's prospective partner in any future diplomatic process was effectively snuffed out by a stern-sounding American president, delivering his verdict on two years of violent intifada and his recipe for a turnabout towards peace in this war-torn region. Bush's verdict: Arafat is the guilty party. "Today," he asserted, "the Palestinian authorities are encouraging, not opposing, terrorism." The Palestinian Authority, he added, had "rejected [Israel's] offered...

<p>A statement from Sharon's office said that "when the Palestinian Authority undergoes genuine reforms and a new leadership takes its place at its head ... it will be possible to discuss ways of moving forward by diplomatic means."</p> <p>Palestinian officials insisted that was a decision only the Palestinian people can make.</p>

Bush Calls for Removal of Arafat Mon Jun 24, 4:50 PM ET By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush urged the Palestinians Monday to replace Yasser Arafat with leaders "not compromised by terror" and to adopt democratic reforms that could produce an independent state within three years. "Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership so that a Palestinian state can be born," Bush said at the White House. In his long-anticipated speech, Bush said "reform must be more than cosmetic changes or a veiled attempt to preserve the status quo" if the Palestinians are to...

This was not the Freeper banned . She is just pissed that two of her favorites are gone. dear joe, i have decided to withdraw my monthly support to freerepublic.com. i am very, very upset and disappointed with the recent censorship occurring by the moderators and jim robinson, himself, on freerepublic and the bannings of very good conservative freepers who are apparently being nuked because they are not toeing the republican line. several of my favorite freepers have been banned within the last day or two. every one of them was a pro-nation, pro-constitution, pro-conservative values poster. not one of...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional investigators are looking at new information that appears to contradict what Martha Stewart and her now-suspended broker have said about her sale of ImClone stock. A House committee is interested in a widening circle of Stewart acquaintances. The latest is a doctor who also sold shares of the biotech company shortly before the government announced it had rejected ImClone's approval application for the cancer drug Erbitux. Stewart, who commands a multimedia empire and a profitable corporation, increasingly is under the glare of government scrutiny and tabloid attention - bringing investor displeasure. Shares of her company, Martha...

WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- Jobs for prison inmates with private sector or state-run employers help reduce recidivism rates and, despite claims of opponents to the contrary, can provide a spur to the economy, according to a recent report from a Washington think tank. "I think there are several points to be made from a social policy perspective and from a prison reform perspective," Robert D. Atkinson, vice president of the center-left Progressive Policy Institute, told United Press International. "(A program of prisoners working for outside employers) has positives in reducing recidivism, and economically. (The economic aspect) is really the...

It seems that the pressures put on the Palestinian factions to stop their operations against Israel have come from inside as well as outside the Palestinian lands. Following the Arab and Western condemnation of such operations, intellectuals in the Palestinian territories issued a statement calling for the halt of this form of resistance. A similar call was made by the Palestinian president Yasser Arafat while the Israeli government was threatening to deport the families of those who carry out suicide operations outside the Palestinian lands. On the other hand, another camp accused the Palestinian intellectuals of betrayal and surrender to...