Free Republic

Amnesty International (AI) is sponsoring an event in Los Angeles under the title,“Human Rights in Iran: How to Move Forward” on February 22, 2008. Mr. Trita Parsi, president of National Iranian American Council (NIAC) an extremely dedicated activist for the establishment of normal and unconditional relations between the religious dictatorship in Iran and the U.S. [1] is one of the panelists in this event. This is not the first time NIAC has manipulated AI. On July 26, 2007, AI was one of the sponsors of an event organized by NIAC under the title, “Human Rights in Iran and U.S. Foreign...

The former leader of an Oakland community group will spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of ordering the killings of three men, including the first American journalist killed on U.S. soil for reporting a story in more than a decade. An Alameda County Superior Court judge sentenced Yusuf Bey IV, 25, to three life terms in prison without the possibility of parole Friday. As head of Your Black Muslim Bakery, Bey ordered his workers to kill the men in separate attacks in July 2007, prosecutors said. According to trial testimony, Odell Roberson, 31, was killed...

"The health care system in America is broken. Costs are rising at an unacceptable rate -- more than doubling over the last 10 years, which is nearly four times the rate of wage growth. Too many patients feel trapped by healthcare decisions dictated by HMOs. Too many doctors are torn between practicing medicine and practicing insurance. And 47 million Americans worry what will happen to them or their children if they get sick." Who do you think said that? President Obama? Actually, those words were written by Republicans. They are part of the summary of the Patients' Choice Act, introduced...

WASHINGTON — President Bush shocked Capitol Hill staffers and Republican leaders Monday when he crashed a meeting at the White House to deliver a blunt message that he wasn't backing down on Iraq and Republicans need to understand that. "It was stunning," said one GOP aide who attended the meeting. "We couldn't believe he came in." "We kept looking at each other, amazed he came in," said another Republican aide. Bush was described as folksy, adamant and mildly profane as he interrupted the meeting between senior White House communications staffers Tony Snow and Ed Gillespie and GOP leaders. His message:...

SAN DIEGO – A former adviser to Lt. Gov. John Garamendi and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Navy under President Clinton pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to possession of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Retired U.S. Navy Capt. Wade Rowland Sanders, 67, an attorney, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Whelan, U.S. Attorney Karen P. Hewitt said in a written statement released Monday night. According to court records, Sanders admitted that on or about May 2, he possessed a computer and computer media that he knew contained more than 600 images of...

An Iraqi man arrested this month at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for immigration law violations was charged Wednesday with lying to authorities about his travels outside the United States and about anti-American material he was carrying. When Ali Mohammed Abboud Almosaleh, 40, arrived at the airport on a flight from Amsterdam July 7, he told customs officers he had been out of the country for one month and had traveled to Syria, court documents said. But he actually had been gone for five months and had visited Iraq. He told officers that his digital video discs with images of...

/begin my translation Intelligence: 'Signs of Trouble in Kim Jong-il's Health' [JoongAng Ilbo] The day before (Christopher) Hill's visit... intelligence agency on alert The intelligence authorities are trying to verify the intelligence that something went wrong with Kim Jong-il (age: 65) on June 20, the day before the visit by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill. Intelligence sources in Seoul said on June 22, "We won't reveal the source but we picked up signs that Kim Jong-il's health is in trouble. S. Korea and U.S. intelligence are trying to find out if it is true." They also added,...