Free Republic

Graham reveals weakened health : Physical limitations weighing on evangelist By Richelle Thompson rthompson@enquirer.com The Cincinnati Enquirer The Rev. Billy Graham says he feels weaker during this mission than ever, that he almost fainted here Friday night, and that he has no plans for missions after a four-day event in Dallas-Fort Worth in October. In his first extensive interview in nine months, the 83-year-old evangelist spoke Saturday about his ailing health, the struggle of good and evil in Cincinnati, the spiritual impacts of Sept. 11, and the duty of Christians to convert Muslims and others to Jesus Christ. “I have...

UK babies given toxic vaccines, admits Glaxo Antony Barnett and Tracy McVeigh Sunday June 30, 2002 The Observer British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline has finally admitted that thousands of babies in this country were inoculated with a batch of toxic whooping cough vaccines in the 1970s. Some experts believe that these Trivax vaccines - which had not passed critical company safety tests - may have caused permanent brain damage and even fatalities in young children. In 1992, the family of an Irish boy, Kenneth Best, who suffered brain damage from one of these toxic vaccines, was awarded £2.7 million in compensation...

ENEVA, June 29 — The recorded number of small arms around the world rose 16 percent last year, to 639 million, according to a new survey. Civilians owned 377 million of those weapons, which included handguns and rifles, according to the study, the Small Arms Survey conducted by the Graduate Institute of International Studies, in Geneva. The school said that number represented a 25 percent jump in civilian ownership from the year before, but explained that much of the rise probably reflected improved data-gathering after its first-ever survey last year. That initial survey was issued just before the United Nations...

Psalm 51:15-17O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

HYDERABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - The father of the main suspect in the kidnap and murder of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl denied on Monday that his son had any links with Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden. Saeed Sheikh, father of British-born militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, alleged kidnap and murder mastermind also known as Sheikh Omar, made the statement to reporters after appearing in a Pakistani court trying his son and three men behind closed doors. Lawyers said the prosecution cross-examined Saeed Sheikh, a wholesale cloth merchant from Wanstead in northeast London, at Monday's hearing in a jail in the southern...

Let's get something straight from the outset. This is not a story about great, historic American cars. For that we would have needed a list of dozens, totaling 100 cars or more. It is about the great American cars that right now, today, should be made again. Who hasn't watched an old film, flipped through the pages of automotive enthusiast magazine or been struck by the beauty of an old car passing slowly in front of you on a Sunday afternoon and thought: Why can't they make cars like that anymore? .pollbutton { background: #efefef; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;...

DDanes justify harshest asylum laws in Europe The United Nations is questioning the legality of Denmark's immigration rules to be passed on Monday Andrew Osborn in Copenhagen Saturday June 29, 2002 The Guardian Denmark may long have been perceived as the small, friendly country which gave the world Lego, Hans Christian Andersen and the beauty of Copenhagen. And it still gives more of its wealth in aid to the developing world than any other country and has welfare benefits that are among the most generous in the industrialised world. But on Monday Denmark will acquire a less friendly image when...

Spotsylvania resident Willie Levi Casey Jr. is an African-American member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and proud to be Southern. By LAURA MOYER The Free Lance-Star Date published: Sun, 06/30/2002 ROCKVILLE--In the Hanover County woods where men in blue and men in gray are shooting at each other, it's all noise and smoke and stink. Across a field there's cannon fire so loud it resets your heartbeat for you. Horses whicker, and men shout. Fog-thick gunpowder smoke gives off a rotten-egg reek. For Confederate Pvt. Casey of the 6th North Carolina State Troop, a Civil War re-enactment unit, the...

Commentary: Al-Qaida's encrypted e-mails By Arnaud de BorchgraveUPI Editor-at-Large From the International Desk Published 7/1/2002 3:45 PM WASHINGTON, July 1 (UPI) -- Documents unearthed in the Tora Bora cave complex convinced the intelligence community that al Qaida has already activated "sleeper" agents in the U.S. Their mission was to deliver body blows to the American economy prior to the nation's 226th birthday. The "sleepers" managed to penetrate the upper reaches of corporate life and have sent encrypted e-mails back to al Qaida ("the base" in Arabic) to report an impressive string of successes -- Enron, Arthur Andersen, Tyco, Adelphia Communications,...

By Terence P. Jeffrey © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com U.S. law-enforcement officers in the Southwest are convinced that Mexican military units are crossing the Arizona-Mexico border to aid smugglers in carrying drugs into the United States. In one incident, says a senior federal law-enforcement officer, a major in the Mexican army was caught at the U.S. port of entry at Naco, Ariz., carrying a detailed drug-smuggling map among his papers. The Mexican officer, said the official, was "coming into the United States and they found the drug-smuggling maps on him that showed all the drop points and trails" that local smugglers used...

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – Congressman J. D. Hayworth told House Republican colleagues this morning that he will seek the chairmanship of the GOP Conference in the 108th Congress. That position became vacant today when current chairman Rep. J. C. Watts of Oklahoma announced he would retire from the House at the end of this session. Congressman Hayworth said he had urged Rep. Watts to run for re-election and retain the chairmanship. “As a team leader and team player, he has done a great job for our conference and we will miss him.” Click on the link for the rest of the...

Grizzly Gulch Fire grows to 6,200 acres By Denise Ross, Journal Staff Writer LEAD-- A combined 684 federal, state and local personnel continued to fight the two-day-old Grizzly Gulch Fire Monday, as a federal Type 1 Interagency Management Team took command of the fire. Federal fire information officer Maj. Mark Johnston said the fire grew to 6,200 acres overnight and was 10 percent contained by mid-day Monday. The fire remains the Rocky Mountain Region's number one priority, Johnston said. Three homes have been destroyed by the fire but the occupants were not injured, Lawrence County Sheriff Rick Mowell told the...

According to Fox, the police chased the airplane down the taxiway and forced it to stop after the pilots pushed their way past security. Pilots pulled off, tested, and found to be drunk. Time to sell America West stock. By the time the lawyers and the feds are done, this airline will be just a memory...

Often I hear about this or that case where a state law is ruled by the courts to be in violation of the "commerce clause" of the Constitution. But I can't understand for the life of me how any state can "violate" the commerce clause when said clause doesn't actually prohibit anything. All it does in enable (unless there's another commerce clause that I'm not aware of). Does anyone out there know how the courts can get away with ruling that way?

PBS, Sunday, June 30, 2002 - /Ronald Reagan was responsible for the transfer of AIDS within the gay community and beyond. The charge was made as part of a new series about blood, and said that the problem originated in cutbacks in funding for the Center for Disease Control....(snip)To read the complete article, CLICK HERE

It should have been a simple 15-minute ride from downtown to the Adam's Mark hotel. But for three young men from New Orleans who climbed into a taxi around midnight Friday, it became "The Cab Ride From Hell." For 90 minutes, the men cowered in the back of Yellow Cab No. 1163 as the driver shared beers with a friend in the front seat and careened through city and residential streets at speeds up to 90 miles per hour. "We've just been through the worst experience of our lives," Clayton Lyons said Saturday. "We've never been this scared. Ever." Lyons,...

Sheltered by Pakistani intelligence, officially banned Islamic militants are moving freely near the Indian border. By Philip Smucker | Special to The Christian Science Monitor TARSHING, KASHMIR – Nasir Ali, a wiry jeep driver, says Al Qaeda fighters from Afghanistan have arrived here in large numbers. He should know, he says, because he was the one who gave them a lift in from northern Pakistan after their escape from Afghanistan. "I, myself, drove three Arab fighters into the center of Kashmir," says Ali. "I carried them only part way in and their own jeeps met us and drove them the...

Hoffa: Union against EchoStar-DirecTV merger Broadcasting & Cable 7/1/2002 2:30:00 PM During a private meeting with President George W. Bush last week, Teamsters union president James P. Hoffa reiterated the union's strong opposition to the merger of EchoStar Communications Corp. and DirecTV Inc., a Teamsters spokesman confirmed, although he added, "They didn't get into a deep discussion." In May, the Teamsters issued a statement saying that they were against the combo. "The merger threatens competition and will adversely affect the blue-collar workers at both companies," the spokesman said.

People emerge from fire with stories By Tim Velder, Northern Hills Bureau DEADWOOD - Trapper and Cookie Lance moved to the Black Hills for its natural beauty. If their home is still there, smoking black sticks surround it. The Lances evacuated their Two-Bit Gulch home Saturday evening as fire burned over the ridge above them. Two-Bit Gulch is at the northeast edge of Deadwood near the entrance to Boulder Canyon. A neighbor had said a few days before the fire that people in that area should get all their valuables in one place. "I told him to pray it doesn't...

S 2690 ES 107th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 2690 AN ACTTo reaffirm the reference to one Nation under God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following: (1) On November 11, 1620, prior to embarking for the shores of America, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact that declared: `Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and the advancement of the Christian Faith and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in...