Free Republic

WHAT HAPPENED IN TOLEDO? By Michelle Malkin · October 17, 2005 05:05 AM It was ugly in Toledo, Ohio, this weekend--and if you watched any of the cable news coverage or glanced at the national MSM headlines, as I did, you probably are still wondering what really went down.

US Democratic Senator John Kerry says a video message from Osama Bin Laden sealed his defeat in a presidential race dominated by the 9/11 attacks. Mr Kerry told NBC TV his opinion poll lead over President George W Bush fell away after the tape was broadcast. He said national security was the decisive issue in the November 2004 poll, won eventually by President Bush. Osama Bin Laden's video, shown days before the vote, urged Americans to back neither Mr Bush nor Mr Kerry. "Your security does not lie in the hands of Kerry, Bush or al-Qaeda. Your security is in...

India's railway minister has come up with a novel excuse for the appalling safety record of the world's largest railway network - he blames it on Vishwakarma, the Hindu god of machines. Passengers travel on a crowded train in Calcutta "Indian Railways are the responsibility of Lord Vishwakarma," said Laloo Prasad Yadav. "So is the safety of passengers. It is his duty [to ensure safety], not mine." India's 67,000-mile rail network, on which 1.4 million people are employed, suffers from decades of chronic under-investment. Accidents - on average there are 300 every year - are a permanent hazard for the...