Free Republic

Former New York Gov. George Pataki announced Wednesday the creation of a national organization that will work to repeal the Democrats' health care overhaul, which he called a "horrific" and costly bungle. Pataki said his nonprofit group, Revere America, will develop a grassroots network and highlight national opposition to the health care law, which he believes will impose a $500 billion burden on U.S. taxpayers and tighten government control of the health care system

The Bee announced another round of staff cutbacks today due to what its publisher called "a prolonged period of revenue declines." The paper said 25 jobs will be eliminated as of Jan. 29, and the paper hopes almost all of the cuts can be achieved through voluntary buyouts within specific departments. If the paper can't get enough workers to agree to buyouts, then it will resort to layoffs to reach the goal. The cutbacks are the fourth and smallest to hit the newspaper in the last 18 months, and the first since last March. They will affect 2.7 percent of...

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is announcing new efforts to freeze pirate booty, part of a series of diplomatic steps by the Obama administration to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia. Clinton said Wednesday the administration would call for immediate meetings of an international counter-piracy task force to expand current naval coordination against pirates. The administration also will send an envoy to a Somali donors conference scheduled for next week in Brussels, and will attempt to organize meetings with officials of Somali's transitional government as well as regional leaders in Somali's semiautonomous Puntland.

GAZA, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Hamas said on Sunday it would cease fire immediately along with other militant groups in the Gaza Strip and give Israel, which already declared a unilateral truce, a week to pull its troops out of the territory.

PARIS (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday announced an overhaul of pensions perks for half a million mainly public sector workers, seen as a key test of his government's reform drive. He promised that the so-called "special regimes" -- which allow state rail and power employees and some other categories of worker to retire early and on higher pensions -- will be reformed in the next "few months". "It is a question of fairness," Sarkozy said in a policy speech before journalists. Two waves of pension reform, in 1993 and 2003, left the system of perks untouched for...

Fred D. Thompson, the soon-to-be-official presidential contender, has come under a good deal of criticism in New Hampshire this week for scheduling his formal announcement for next Thursday morning and thus skipping the Republican debate in Manchester on Wednesday night. But that does not mean that television viewers watching the debate will not see him. Campaign officials said Friday that Mr. Thompson had bought a 30-second spot that would be televised nationally on the Fox News Channel, the network carrying the debate, just as viewers are tuning in at the onset. One campaign official familiar with the decision said the...

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday announced an an international conference this fall to include Israel, the Palestinian authority and some of their Arab neighbors to help restart Mideast peace talks and review progress in building democratic institutions. He said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would preside over the session. Bush said the conference would include representatives from Israel, the Palestinians "and their neighbors in the region" and said participants would include just those governments that support creation of a Palestinian state. Bush also pledged increased U.S. aid to the Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas and called for...

LONDON - The mayor of London on Tuesday announced the city's first comprehensive plan to cut carbon emissions, stressing that global warming must be tackled locally. Cities must seize the initiative on climate change, given the sluggish behavior of national governments, said Mayor Ken Livingstone. "The fight to tackle climate change will either be won in cities such as London or will not be won at all," he said. "Cities are responsible for 75 percent of all the world's carbon emissions, and what London does to cut its emissions — and by working with other cities to do the same...

WASHINGTON, Sep. 4, 2006 – The capture of a top-tier terrorist has left al Qaeda in Iraq in a "serious leadership crisis," an Iraqi government official said here yesterday. Iraqi forces, with coalition support, captured Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, who is thought to be responsible for the Feb. 22 bombing of a Samarra shrine sacred to Shiia Muslims, said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, national security adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in a nationally televised address. The mosque bombing helped fan the flames of sectarian violence in Iraq. Saeedi – also known as Abu Humam and Abu Rana – was reportedly...

WASHINGTON (Aug. 31) - Consumers can claim a standard $30 to $60 refund next year for a tax on long-distance telephone calls that the government declared invalid, the Internal Revenue Service announced Thursday. Telephone customers had been paying the 3 percent federal excise tax on local and long-distance service. The government this month stopped collecting the tax on long-distance calls after businesses repeatedly fought the tax in court and won. Next year, consumers can use their 2006 tax returns to claim a refund on long-distance telephone taxes paid since March 2003. The standard refund starts at $30 and increases by...

A Fatah terror group, not to be outdone by Hamas, claims to have kidnapped 62-year-old Noach Moskowitz from Rishon LeZion. An earlier kidnapping alert was cancelled an hour after it was issued. A source claiming to be from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, affiliated with Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group, announced Wednesday afternoon that the group is holding a 60-year-old man from Rishon Lezion. Police have confirmed that a 62-year-old man from Rishon LeZion has been missing for two days. In a tragic representation of various sectors of the Israeli public, terrorists apparantly now hold three Israelis: a senior citizen civilian resident...

The lobbying firm whose ties to Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, are under investigation announced Friday it is splitting into two groups. The three Republican named partners - including Lewis' friend and former California congressman Bill Lowery - will continue to lead the existing firm, while the two Democratic partners will form a separate partnership. A statement from Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton & White attributed the decision to "the current media focus on the firm." "All the partners remain focused on their client work, discussing issues on Capitol Hill, and working with regulatory agencies every single day," the statement said. "We...

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy’s newest attack submarine Hawaii will be christened June 17 during an 11 a.m. EDT ceremony at General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Conn. The third submarine of the Virginia class, SSN 776 will bear the name Hawaii to recognize the tremendous support the Navy has enjoyed from the people of the 50th state and in honor of the rich heritage of submarines in the Pacific theater. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii will deliver the ceremony’s principal address. Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle will serve as sponsor of SSN 776, the state’s namesake submarine. The ceremony will...

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md., May 19, 2006 – America Supports You welcomed a new corporate team member today during the Joint Service Open House here for Armed Forces Day weekend. The Connect and Join booth, part of the Joint Service Open House held at Andrews Air Force Base, offered some projects suggested on its Web site. Lindsey Stinger helps her daughter, Grace, 3, with a piece of sand art. Her other daughter, Caroline, 5 (left) and two sons, Jack, 8, and Michael, 5 (far right) also enjoyed peeling paper shapes off large sticker sheets and applying colored sand...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (NNS) -- Viewers and listeners of the American Forces Network (AFN) may experience brief programming interruptions from Feb. 28 through March 12 as the spring "sun outage" period occurs. These seasonal outages, which take place each spring and fall, affect all satellite communications, including the AFN radio and television services distributed by the AFN Broadcast Center from the Defense Media Center (DMC) at Riverside, Calif. Sun outage-related programming interruptions are characterized by a complete loss of signal for as much as several minutes. The interruptions occur when the sun's position aligns with broadcast satellites and Earth-station receivers. The...

HAVANA - President Fidel Castro announced a long-awaited renovation of Cuba's energy system to combat blackouts that have afflicted the island nation for the past two summers. Castro said Cuba would decentralize its power system, gradually replacing five massive thermoelectric plants with smaller, regional plants supplemented by solar and wind power. He outlined the plan in a speech delivered Tuesday night and published Wednesday in state newspapers. Because the thermoelectrical plants in Cuba are so large, mechanical difficulties in any one can affect large areas populated by millions of people. Many of last summer's blackouts were caused by problems at...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq, Dec. 23, 2005 – The United States will have two fewer brigades in Iraq in 2006, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today. Rumsfeld announced before a cheering group of Marines that the United States will drop from 17 to 15 brigades in the coming year. The change will drop the number of Americans in the country under the 138,000-level baseline, officials said. The decision reflects the proper balance between coalition and Iraqi forces, the secretary said. The coalition footprint must be large enough to help maintain security and allow the Iraq forces to train up,...

Judicial society announces Greensboro location Michelle Cater Rash The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area - 3:09 PM EST Monday The American Judicature Society formally announced Monday that its new Institute of Forensic Science and Public Policy will be coming to downtown Greensboro. Close to 100 city leaders, attorneys and judges gathered in the former City Club on the top floor of the Jefferson Pilot building for the announcement. The institute will be a think tank to look at forensic science standards for use by law enforcement agencies, attorneys and courts. The institute will be advised by the society's...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2005 – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today announced the next major units to deploy to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He emphasized that rotation planning remains flexible and will be based on conditions on the ground, not political pressures or artificial timetables. Today's announcement affects about 92,000 servicemembers -- more than 65,000 from the active component and 26,000 from the Guard and Reserve -- who will begin their scheduled rotation in mid-2006, according to Army Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Defense Department spokesman. Major units to deploy include: Division Headquarters and 3rd Brigade, 25th...

DoD Announces Recommended Holiday Mail Dates             The Department of Defense announced today the recommended mailing dates to ensure that holiday cards and packages for service members arrive overseas in time for the holiday season.               "To ensure delivery … to military APO/FPO addresses overseas and to international addresses, we suggest mail be sent by the recommended dates provided by the U.S. Postal Service," said Mark DeDomenic, the assistant deputy director and chief of operations for the Military Postal Service Agency (MPSA).  "Beat the last minute rush by bringing your mail to your post office by these suggested dates.”...