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<p>BANGKOK, Thailand. -- Just when you'd relegated firebrand ideology in Southeast Asia to the secure corridors of history's libraries, a belief system of domino-toppling potential is sweeping the waterways, jungles and cities of Southeast Asia. More than two decades after the end of the Vietnam War, a familiar question has once again become lamentably pertinent: Are we losing Southeast Asia?</p>

<p>There aren't many of our challenges in the war on terror that can be solved quickly or easily. But there are some that can be solved with technology, and that's where the solutions can come quickly, if not always easily. American scientists and engineers are never short of ideas. During peacetime, we take months or years to sort them out. In war, we can and must move faster. During World War II, the desperate need for a long-range fighter resulted — in less than 90 days — in the P-51 Mustang, which soon became one of the most effective aircraft of its day. We don't need to have new fighters in the next year. But we do need other systems that are designed to protect people and economic assets here at home.</p>

<p>Two Chinese jet fighters came within 150 feet of a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft near China in the first close encounter since a collision last year between an EP-3 and a Chinese jet, The Washington Times has learned.</p> <p>The encounter took place in international airspace near the Chinese coast north of Taiwan on Monday, said officials familiar with intelligence reports of the incident.</p>

<p>Brazil today is going through some of the same financial gyrations that triggered the global economic malaise of 1999. The recent past has indicated that Brazil is not only the lynchpin of economic stability in Latin America, but a nation that can also potentially affect the world's economic superpower, the United States. For this reason, developments in Brazil should be gauged warily.</p>

ASHINGTON, June 26 — Temporary flight restrictions have been imposed around three national landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty in New York, for fear of possible attacks during the Fourth of July holiday, the Federal Aviation Administration said today.The ban prohibits planes from flying around the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, it said. The "no-fly zone" around the Statue of Liberty was imposed on Tuesday and bars flights within one nautical mile of the monument until September, said William Shumann, a spokesman for the aviation agency.The agency...

Record of 2 Nephi 2 Redemption cometh through the Holy Messiah—Freedom of choice (agency) is essential to existence and progression—Adam fell that men might be—Men are free to choose liberty and eternal life. [Between 588 and 570 B.C.] 1 AND now, Jacob, I speak unto you: Thou art my first-born in the days of my tribulation in the wilderness. And behold, in thy childhood thou hast suffered afflictions and much sorrow, because of the rudeness of thy brethren. 2 Nevertheless, Jacob, my first-born in the wilderness, thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy...

he government asked a federal judge in Manhattan yesterday to reject a petition seeking the release of Jose Padilla, the former Chicago gang member accused of plotting to explode a radioactive bomb in the United States. The government argued that the federal court in New York lacked jurisdiction over Mr. Padilla, who is being held in a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., and that the petition, for a writ of habeas corpus, "seeks to interject this court into the president's conduct of ongoing hostilities." The petition, filed on Mr. Padilla's behalf last week, asked that the government be ordered...

WASHINGTON -- George W. Bush sat down privately with the nation's top business executives late last Thursday afternoon and gave them an earful about corporate ethics in what is being called America's second Gilded Age. It is a subject the president feels deeply about but so far has not addressed fully in public. So, his unscripted comments to the businessmen were not released. Will President Bush ever speak to the public definitively on what he considers corporate conduct that poisons the stock market and threatens the economy? "Stay tuned," responded one aide who shares his concern. A presidential address...

Australia invests $300m in US fighter plan Australia is set to invest $300 million in a United States project to develop the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter as a likely future replacement for Australia's frontline aircraft. Defence Minister Robert Hill said the decision would place Australia at the forefront of developing the world's biggest and most advanced combat aircraft program. He said Australia would need to replace aging F/A-18 Hornets and F111 strike aircraft from around 2012. Senator Hill said Australia would enter a memorandum of understanding for the development of the JSF with a decision on procurement likely to...

In May 1998, the American business magazine Fortune warned its readers of the perils of investing in south-east Asia: "You can't trust the companies, you can't trust the governments, you can't trust the analysts, you can't even trust the mutual fund managers." After the revelation of a £2.5bn accounting scam at US telecoms giant WorldCom, which comes in the wake of the collapse of Enron and a number of scandals involving the leading Wall Street investment banks, the same words might just as accurately be applied to the American business scene. For many years, the US financial and political establishment...

IAMI, June 26 — A Muslim woman who says the state is violating her religious rights in demanding that she remove her veil for a driver's license photograph will be in court this week to try to regain her driving privileges.The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles revoked the license of the woman, Sultaana Freeman, in January after she refused to replace her photograph with one showing her face. Ms. Freeman, 34, a homemaker from Winter Park near Orlando says doing so would violate her religious beliefs, and she is suing the state in Orange County Circuit...

President Bush's plan for a provisional Palestinian state will not bring peace to the Middle East. Peace will come only when Palestinians love their children more than they hate Jews. The formulation isn't mine. My son Rudy overheard it last week while part of the Volunteers for Israel program, which sends American Jews and Christians to volunteer on Israeli army bases. There is a certain wisdom in the words. According to a recent survey conducted by a Palestinian polling firm, a majority of Palestinians say their goal is to eliminate Israel, while only 43 percent support a Palestinian state...

How to feed a king - first, splatte your pykeBy Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent (Filed: 27/06/2002) Chopped sparrow and roasted swan may not be today's idea of sophisticated or even acceptable cuisine, but there was a time when such dishes delighted the palates of English aristocracy.The recipes appear in what is thought to be the earliest printed cook book in English, newly discovered at Longleat House, Wiltshire, home to the Marquess of Bath.   Click to enlarge Dating from 1500, the book features meals based on almost "any animal that could draw breath". It offers an invaluable culinary...

PRESIDENT BUSH’S Monday statement was the most clear-sighted U.S. intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis in the 35 years since the 1967 war, and perhaps in the 54 years since the founding of Israel. It enunciated a policy that makes eventual peace at least conceivable, and meanwhile frees the President to pursue the global anti-terrorism agenda articulated in five other speeches this year. Full Article

(New York-AP) -- A federal judge says New York city schools cannot exclude religious groups from holding worship services in school spaces. The ruling is a victory for the Bronx Household of Faith -- an evangelical Protestant group which has fought in court for the last eight years to hold religious services at Anne Cross Merseau Middle School near Yankee Stadium.United States District Judge Loretta Preska says she made the ruling because the first amendment prohibits the government from dissecting speech to determine whether it constitutes worship.Jordon Lorence -- the lawyer who argued the case for the church -- called...

Electric Companies' 'Line Extension' Agreements Violate Rate Freeze; Ohio Consumers' Counsel Opposes Customer Price Hikes COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Some Ohio electric utility companies are proposing significant price increases for customers whose new single-family or multi-family homes require a connection to poles, wires and other components necessary for electric service, the Ohio Consumers' Counsel (OCC), the residential utility advocate, said today. The OCC believes these "line extension" price hikes, if permitted by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), would violate the state's electric choice law. In a brief filed today with the PUCO, the OCC opposes settlements...

OPPONENTS of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law said it violated the U.S. Constitution, was too broad in scope and would be overly intrusive and burdensome for groups involved in legitimate political activity. Proponents said that was just a bunch of hot air. But now one opponent has proven the critics correct. Last week the Republican National Committee had a host of political interest groups, mostly left-leaning and pro Democrat, subpoenaed to find out if their political activity violated the McCain-Feingold law. Naturally, the groups that received the subpoenas cried foul. They said they would have to divulge sensitive information that...

SHOULD CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS BE ALLOWED TO CITE THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE? 68.8% NO 31.1% YES

Tonight I learned that Craig Crawford trolls free republic. Craig Crawford a former Carter whitehouse aide and Executive Publisher of The Hotline was on tonight posting about how one of the judges who was involved in the flag issue was appointed by nixon. He stated this on the John Paul and Alexander show. 6-27-02. If the Executive Publisher of the hotline trolls this site who else posts here? Dan Rather? Ok I think not but it does make you wonder who some of the liberal trolls are as well.

On May 18 the New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence had intercepted a “troubling series of communications among Al Qaeda operatives” about an intensive effort “to carry out an operation as big as or bigger than the Sept. 11 attacks….” According to the Times, the details of al Qaeda’s plans are yet unknown. “There’s just a lot of chatter in the system again,” one official told the Times. This “chatter” is alarming because it contains references to attacks that would cause “vast numbers of American casualties.” What kinds of attacks are indicated? In the last few weeks al Qaeda...