Free Republic

I just found this very touching video and thought I'd pass it along. The singer/song writer, Kristi Nelson, has a beautiful voice. Click on : Watch Mama Will Hold Me video at the link above (I couldn't get it to work in cable mode but it worked in 56k mode) It's been a tough day. Never Forget.

Two Members of Tonga Royal Family Killed in California Wreck Thursday , July 06, 2006 SAN FRANCISCO — Two members of Tonga's royal family were killed when a teenager racing her car crashed into their sport utility vehicle, authorities said Thursday. The San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault would not release the names of the crash victims, but he said a 56-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman killed in the crash Wednesday night were members of the Tongan royal family. "Out of respect for the Tongan culture and Tongan government, we are not going to release the names until the...

Airplane Mechanic Sucked Into Jet Engine, Killed at El Paso Airport Monday, January 16, 2006 EL PASO, Texas — An airplane mechanic was killed Monday morning after he was sucked into a jet's engine while passengers were boarding from the tarmac, officials said. "A mechanic walked in front of the engine and was pulled into the engine," National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman Lauren Peduzzi said. She said she didn't know if any passengers saw the accident as they boarded Continental Airlines flight 1515 to Houston. A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the worker was sucked into the right engine of...

Former Olympic Swimmer Eric Namesnik Dies YPSILANTI, Mich. - Eric Namesnik, who won silver medals in swimming at the 1992 and '96 Olympics, died Wednesday following a car accident last week. He was 35. Namesnik was critically injured in the Jan. 7 accident, which was caused by icy conditions in Pittsfield Township, according to USA Swimming. He had been in a medically induced coma to reduce swelling around his brain before he died at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. Namesnik won silver medals in the 400-meter individual medley at the '92 Barcelona Games and four years later in Atlanta. He became...

Ukraine President Lashes Out at Ousted PM By MARA D. BELLABY, Associated Press Writer Tue Sep 13, 2005 KIEV, Ukraine - President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday accused his former prime minister of abuse of office, saying he fired her as a "matter of honor" because she abandoned the ideals of last year's Orange Revolution that rallied Ukraine. "It was not the ideals of Independence Square — it was backstage intrigues," Yushchenko told The Associated Press in an interview five days after he dismissed Yulia Tymoshenko and her Cabinet. He leveled sharp allegations at his one-time comrade-in-arms, accusing the popular politician...

Death for embassy bombing ringleader Rob Taylor 14sep05 AN Indonesian Muslim militant will be put to death for his role in last year's suicide bombing that killed 11 people at the Australian embassy in Jakarta. It was the toughest anti-terror punishment handed down by an Indonesian court since the Bali nightclub bombings three years ago. The trial's three judges found that Iwan Darmawan, also known as Rois, recruited and psychologically groomed the suicide bomber who detonated a 580kg truck bomb in front of the embassy on September 9, 2004. They said Rois acted as right-hand man for the fugitive mastermind...

More than 100 injured in Philippine armoury blast Jim Gomez | Manila, Philippines Sept. 13, 2005 Huge blasts at a suburban Manila police ammunition dump injured at least 107 people, damaged several buildings and homes and set off security jitters in a capital long wary of possible terror attacks and a coup, officials said. Police ruled out sabotage or terrorism. Late Monday's explosions, which investigators say were apparently touched off by lightning, initially raised concerns of foul play due to swirling coup rumours linked to the months-long political crisis hounding President Gloria Arroyo. She has been accused of rigging last...

Hijacker in wheelchair sneaks grenades on to plane Dan Molinski | Bogota, Colombia Sept. 13, 2005 Colombia's government questioned its own airline security measures and ordered an immediate review after a father in a wheelchair dodged a security check to sneak hand grenades on to a plane and hijacked it along with his son. The father and son finally surrendered five hours after commandeering the Aires airliner at about midday on Monday after it departed from the southern city of Florencia, on a flight headed to Colombia's capital, Bogota. The plane, with at least 24 people aboard -- including an...

SEAN PENN IN IRAN Sean Penn, Special to The Chronicle Tuesday, August 23, 2005 DAY TWO After attending Friday prayer services in Tehran, Sean Penn, who visited Iran inJune in the days before the country’s presidential election, prepares for a meetingwith the son of a former president of Iran. Mehdi Rafsanjani was also a campaigndirector for his father.. We were sitting in Nayeb restaurant in central Tehran. I’d been holding a piss through the hours of prayer service. So after I ordered my lunch, I excused myself to the men’s room. “Men’s” was written in Farsi above, and “Manly” in...

100 Missing After Boat Sinks in Pacific By ANDREW SELSKY, Associated Press Writer More than 100 people were feared dead after a boat laden with illegal immigrants capsized and sank in rough waters in the Pacific Ocean, officials said Wednesday after nine survivors clinging to a wooden box and buoys were rescued. Ecuadorean Navy Capt. Armando Elizalde told Colombian RCN television most of the 113 people aboard "sank with the boat." The disaster happened Friday night more than 100 miles off the coast of southwest Colombia. "The boat, with way too many people aboard, was unable to resist a strong...

Miracles of God and Miracles of Science by David M. Phelps, Associate Editor Doctors have delivered a 1 lb. 13 oz. baby girl from Susan Torres, a pregnant woman from Arlington, Virginia who had been on life support for three months since a cancer-induced stroke left her brain-dead. At the request of Torres’s husband, doctors kept her body alive long enough for the child to have a chance of life outside the womb, carefully monitoring both patients to make sure the cancer did not spread to the developing baby. When the child was finally delivered, the family released a statement...

Bush ties Iraq to fight on terror US President George W. Bush has repeated his belief that the war in Iraq and the war on terror are one and the same and vowed not to pull US troops from Iraq until the country is stable. In his weekly radio address, Bush noted that Iraqi leaders are finishing a constitution despite recent violence against US troops and Iraqis alike. "Iraqis are taking control of their country, building a free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself," he said. And we're helping Iraqis succeed." "We're hunting down the terrorists...

American Jewish Congress Responds to North American Fiqh Council Fatwa Condemning Terrorism Distribution Source : U.S. Newswire Date : Friday, July 29, 2005 To: National Desk Contact: American Jewish Congress, 212-360-1540 or 917-733-3561 or email: Jengelmayer@AJCongress.org or Web site: http://www.ajcongress.org NEW YORK, July 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In response to the North American Fiqh Council's fatwa condemning terrorism, American Jewish Congress President Paul S. Miller issued the following statement: Obviously any sincere condemnation of all forms of terrorism by bona fide religious leaders of the Muslim community would be a welcome development. So, we would like to be able to...

Beatle John Lennon's Childhood Stamp Album Acquired by Postal Museum The Associated Press Jun 24, 2005 WASHINGTON (AP) - Beatles star John Lennon collected stamps as a schoolboy - and the public will soon have a chance to see them. The Smithsonian's National Postal Museum announced Friday it has acquired Lennon's stamp album and plans to display it in October. The museum purchased the album from a British stamp dealer but declined to disclose the purchase price. The museum said the album contains more than 550 stamps from around the world, including many from former British colonies such as India...

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All this good news about FReepers initiating the investigations into the Rather report, calls for a little music........................... . . http://www.rathergood.com/independent_woman/ http://www.rathergood.com/laibach/

Brooklyn and Beer: A Match Made in 100 Breweries By Larry McShane Associated Press Writer May 12, 2004 NEW YORK (AP) - Raise a glass to Brooklyn, once home to more than 100 breweries, former producer of more beer than Milwaukee, the borough where Prohibition was greeted with a wink ... and an ice-cold draft. Make a toast to William Johnson, who opened Brooklyn's first brewery back in 1822. Lift a mug for John F. Trommer, a 19th-century German immigrant renowned for his all-malt Brooklyn brew. Strange as it seems, Brooklyn - famed for its churches, cemeteries and Coney Island's...