Free Republic

Bush backs Putin on nuke fuel supply for Iran By Joseph Curl The Washington Times November 19, 2005 Members and supporters of the Union of Jewish Students in France shout slogans near Iran's embassy in Paris November 2, 2005. About 100 demonstrators gathered to protest against Iran's politics after Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel's destruction. REUTERS/Victor TonelliPUSAN, South Korea -- President Bush told Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday that the United States supports Moscow's proposal to allow Iran to enrich uranium for a nuclear power plant at a facility to be built in Russia. The two leaders have...

ALBANY, N.Y. - Cindy Sheehan, who became the face of anti-war sentiment after her son died in Iraq, urged foes of the war to thwart Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's political aspirations unless the New York Democrat opposes the conflict. "I believe that any candidate who supports the war should not receive our support," Sheehan said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It doesn't matter if they're Senator Clinton or whoever." Sheehan has become a de facto leader of the anti-war movement since she camped out near President Bush's Texas ranch while he vacationed there in August, requesting...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Oct. 11, 2005) -- After serving nearly 13 years in the Marine Corps respectively, two brothers with 8th Communication Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Headquarters Group, II MEF (FWD), have found themselves side-by-side in the same unit serving in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom here. Gunnery Sgt. Frank Ashworth and Staff Sgt. Nick Ashworth are brothers separated in age by 14 months, but seem more like best friends catching up on old times. Raised in Grants Pass, Ore., the brothers were raised by their mother. Their father, a Marine veteran who served three tours of duty in...

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — “It’s better to have a gun and not use it than to have none when you need it.” Within the guiding principle, San Fernando City Councilor Alex F. Patio is taking steps to promote responsible gun ownership, especially among media personalities. As a step, Patio will be opening on Saturday his first-ever shooting competition at the Maimpis Firing Range in Barangay Maimpis in the city dubbed as the “1st Councilor Alex F. Patio Cup”. Patio said the competition, which will be sanctioned by the Philippine Practical Shooters Association (PPSA), aims to show the public the...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Treasurer Phil Angelides, one of two Democratic candidates for governor next year, received the backing Tuesday of the leader of the state Assembly. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said Angelides has consistently opposed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's spending priorities and will be the strongest Democratic candidate to take on Schwarzenegger next year. "Phil Angelides stood up to Gov. Schwarzenegger's attacks against students and teachers from the beginning," said Nunez at a news conference held at a Sacramento school. Angelides and Controller Steve Westly are both running in the Democratic primary that will be held in June 2006....

With rucksacks on their backs, the suicide bombers go on a dummy run By John Steele, Crime Correspondent (Filed: 21/09/2005) Three of the four London suicide bombers staged a "dry run" of their attack nine days before the atrocity which killed 52 people, police revealed yesterday. The men, dressed casually and carrying rucksacks similar to the ones in which they would later carry bombs, spent three hours in London checking times and security around an area between King's Cross and Baker Street. Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer and Germaine Lindsay were captured on CCTV as they conducted the reconnaissance. Scotland...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The former lover of Pledge of Allegiance challenger Michael Newdow is again fighting to keep the words "under God" in the pledge. Sandra Banning and Newdow, an atheist, are the unmarried parents of the elementary school-aged daughter Newdow sued on behalf of three years ago when he challenged the pledge. A San Francisco federal appeals court in 2002 agreed that it was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion for public school children to recite the pledge because it includes the words "under God." After the court ruled, Banning challenged Newdow's standing to sue, saying he did not have...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative U.S. evangelist Pat Robertson, who called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said on Wednesday he was misinterpreted and there were a number of ways to "take him out" including kidnapping. "I said our special forces could take him out. Take him out could be a number of things including kidnapping," Robertson said on his "The 700 Club" television program. "There are a number of ways of taking out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted," Robertson added. Robertson, the founder of the Christian Coalition and a presidential candidate in 1988,...

Dig backs biblical account of Philistine city of GatLast update - 02:53 09/08/2005 By Amiram BarkatThe moat running around Gat that was to enforce the siege. David Bachar New evidence regarding the bitter end of Gat, the largest and most important Philistine city, was recently unearthed at a dig at Tel Zafit near the Masmia intersection in the Lachish region. According to Kings II (12:18), Gat was conquered by King Hazael of Aram. He intended to capture Jerusalem as well, but King Jehoash of Judah saved the capital while losing treasure taken from the Temple (Kings II 14:14). Findings at...

Under criticism for missing a rare chance to help secure $400 million for a coveted car-pool lane on the 405 Freeway, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped up Wednesday and promised to support the project -- if Van Nuys Rep. Howard Berman can deliver the federal money. Schwarzenegger came through none too soon for Berman, a Democrat, who has been lambasting the governor for failing to commit to the state's 20 percent in matching funds, which are needed to get the project eligible for consideration in the $300 billion federal highway bill now being negotiated on Capitol Hill. "We support your effort...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration on Thursday backed a measured expansion of the U.N. Security Council, saying it likely would support the addition of "two or so" permanent members including Japan. A wider expansion could be "possibly injurious" to the Council's effectiveness, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said. With several nations clamoring for seats in what would be the first major revision of the Council in 40 years, Burns said the administration also might back adding two or three nonpermanent seats. Currently, there are five permanent members of the Council - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A three-judge federal court panel Thursday rejected legal challenges to the 2003 congressional redistricting plan that helped lead to a Republican majority in Texas' delegation in Washington. Democrats and minority interests had challenged the plan, claiming that it was unconstitutional and produced illegal gerrymandering - manipulating voting districts to give one party an unfair advantage. They also argued that it bamboozled thousands of minority Texans out of their voting rights. Last year, a panel of federal judges rejected the lawsuit, saying the redrawn congressional districts were constitutional. That decision was appealed to the Supreme Court, which...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) The head of the Wisconsin Chiropractic Association filed a lawsuit he knew was false simply to deter chiropractors from attending continuing education seminars at a competing clinic, a judge held Thursday. Circuit Judge John Albert, ruling that the lawsuit was frivolous, ordered the WCA, the trade association for the state's 1,300 chiropractors, to pay an estimated $100,000 in legal fees to the former chairman of the Wisconsin Chiropractic Examining Board.The lawsuit was part of a battle over who gets payments for sponsoring the seminars. Chiropractors must take 40 hours of them every two years to maintain their...

SEATTLE — After being criticized for quietly dropping support for a state gay rights bill, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) chief executive Steve Ballmer told employees Friday that management would publicly back such legislation in the future.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Rep. Maxine Waters, one of the city's most prominent political voices, labeled Mayor James Hahn a failure Thursday and endorsed his rival in the May runoff, Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa. Hahn's campaign shrugged off the defection - Waters supported the mayor four years ago - but it came as the latest reminder of the incumbent's unsteady relationship with the black community. Hahn was elected with overwhelming black support but saw his popularity fade after the ouster of the city's black police chief, Bernard Parks. With Villaraigosa at her side at a Wilshire district hotel, Waters, who is...

PHILADELPHIA - An appeals court has upheld the constitutionality of a federal law that requires prisoners, parolees, and some people on probation to submit DNA samples for an FBI (news - web sites) database. By a 2-1 vote, a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) ruled the government's interest in building a tool to help solve crime outweighed the privacy interests of criminal offenders. Writing for the majority, Judge Jane R. Roth said while a similar intrusion into an "ordinary citizen's" privacy would be unconstitutional, prisoners and people on probation do not...

Calling backers of the referendum "extremists on the fringe" Sharon vows not to honor the central committee vote. The Likud Central Committee, meeting tonight at the Tel Aviv fairgrounds, approved a resolution calling for legislation that would allow a national referendum on the government’s plan to expel Jews from their homes in Gaza and northern Samaria. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attacked his critics at the meeting, calling them “extremists on the fringe.” Sharon said he had no intention of honoring the central committee vote and would not deviate from his expulsion plans that have won the approval of the government...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A government watchdog commission backed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's restructuring of the state's troubled prison system Wednesday, praising his philosophical shift from incarcerating to rehabilitating inmates. The Little Hoover Commission, a nonpartisan agency that reviews operations of state government, urged lawmakers to approve a plan submitted Tuesday by the governor, but said they would review progress in a year. They also recommended changes they said would improve the proposal. The governor's plan will take effect automatically unless a majority in either the Assembly or Senate votes to block the proposal within 60 legislative days. But lawmakers are negotiating...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- A Senate committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would require drivers and all passengers to wear seat belts in trucks, SUVs and cars. After hearing emotional testimony from family members of those killed in crashes, the Senate's public policy committee voted 10-0 to endorse the bill. It now moves to the full Senate, which approved similar legislation last year before it was blocked in a House committee. The bill requires people in front and back seats to buckle up in all vehicles with seat belts, with exceptions for trucks used on farms. People who cannot wear seat...

Rumsfeld backs nuclear bunker bomb to hit Iran atom sites By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 02/02/2005) The Pentagon wants to revive a controversial programme to build nuclear warheads capable of penetrating hardened underground targets such as Iran's covert nuclear facilities. A leaked memo from Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, to the energy department proposed funding for the scheme to begin next year. "You can count on my support for your efforts to revitalise the nuclear weapons infrastructure and to complete the RNEP (robust nuclear earth penetrator) study," Mr Rumsfeld wrote in a memo seen by the Washington Post....