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Eric and Denise Rager were devastated when they learned their 5-year-old son Matthew had brain cancer. Added to that was the stress of preparing to move the family from California to Houston to get Matthew treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center. "It was an overwhelming burden for us," Denise Rager said.

This was an aimless and chaotic operation made worse by poor choices at key moments. Their first mistake was picking Gov. Sarah Palin. Though in the first week following her selection, Palin energized the conservative base of the GOP, she became a serious drag on the ticket. This turned into one of the worst picks since McGovern selected Thomas Eagleton, a Missouri senator who withdrew after revealing that he had gone through electroshock therapy and suffered from "nervous exhaustion." By picking Palin, McCain simultaneously eliminated his own best argument against Senator Obama—the limited experience of his opponent—while compounding his own...

Emanuel [Yuval Levin] Obama’s apparent selection of Rahm Emanuel for White House chief of staff is an extremely disconcerting (if not wholly surprising) first indication on the “which Obama will we get” question. It suggests both that he wants to be ruthless and partisan and that he does not have a clear sense of how the White House works. Emanuel was by all accounts a very effective White House staffer in the Clinton administration, and he has certainly been an effective member of the House of Representatives. He is smart and tough. But he has been, in both positions, a...

I've been around FR since 1998, only as a token contributor. But I am taking the step of asking for prayer for my son Matthew, who will be 6 in a couple weeks. Matthew was just diagnosed with a brain tumor and we expect his surgery will be on Tuesday. If you can add your prayers to the growing chorus of us sending our requests to God, our family would be very grateful. If your church has a prayer chain or is willing to add our son to your service, that's much appreciated. We know every church family has people...

IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 25, 2007 Contacts: Aaron Saunders (202) 224-1028 Steve Wackowski (202) 224-5122 Senator Stevens Discusses Alaska and National Issues at Press Conference Audio is available by clicking here. [See transcript by Freeper ER_in_OC,CA below] WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) spoke with Washington, D.C.-based Alaska reporters about a wide variety of topics affecting the State and the nation. Senator Stevens answered questions on the following issues during the press conference: 1. Emergency Spending Supplemental/Iraq War (4 minutes) 2. International Whaling Commission meetings (1 minute) 3. Price gouging legislation (2 minutes) 4. Tongass Land Management Plan (4...

Angry Utahns by the hundreds are calling, e-mailing and faxing Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, demanding he oppose an immigration bill that would provide legal status to an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants. Those voters generally receive a coy answer. "My public position is that I'm reviewing the amendments," Bennett said Tuesday. It's a ploy meant to defuse emotion. But here's what Bennett's staffers are not saying: he plans to vote for it. And he points to St. George as part of the reason why. St. George is the fastest-growing metro area in the nation, mostly because people from California and...

WASHINGTON - The No. 2 Republican in the Senate made an all-out pitch for support of a comprehensive immigration bill Wednesday as the Senate voted to reduce the size of a proposed guest-worker program, infuriating employers. The Republican, Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, was not part of the bipartisan group of 12 senators who negotiated the "grand bargain" on immigration with the White House. But on Wednesday, Lott defended the deal, which has come under heavy fire from the right and the left. "Is the current situation in America with legal and illegal immigration intolerable and unacceptable?" Lott asked. "Yes....

That means debate on the motion to proceed is over and debate on the bill itself can begin. Why do that when most senators haven’t even read the bill yet? Because, silly, they want to get it passed before people realize what’s in it and fully how awful it is. Like Captain Ed says, they waited 21 years to do something about illegal immigration — and now they can’t wait three weeks more? Flagrantly, arrogantly antidemocratic; in Jeff Sessions’s words, “a railroad job.” Kennedy and McCain had been hoping to ram it through the Senate by Memorial Day but now...

Immigration plan reaction mixed locally Some question workability, fairness, if it'll become law. PABLO ROS Tribune Staff Writer A sweeping immigration deal announced Thursday is being sold as "the best possible chance we will have in years" to fix the country's immigration system, in the words of one of the senators of a bipartisan alliance that drafted the proposal. But immigration advocates and their opponents in Indiana are not so sure they're ready to settle for less than they've been bargaining for. Indiana representatives in Congress said they have not had a chance to look at the proposal closely. Rep....

WASHINGTON — The Capitol phones were ringing off the hook Friday. In fact, the day proved to be one of the busiest in months for call volume, Senate aides said. The reason? Immigration. Next week, the Senate plans to take up the divisive bill that would provide the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. with a pathway to legal status, and callers felt the need to vent, mostly. "I'd say the calls have been heavy, very heavy in fact," said Dan McLaughlin, communications director for Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. "The overwhelming number of callers were opposed to the...

SPRINGDALE -- The proposed Senate immigration bill has some immigrants hopeful, some concerned and still others confused. Local, state and national legislators are split on the benefits of the bill. If compromises can be reached in the Senate and the House, the bill would give an estimated 12 million undocumented aliens the opportunity to become legal residents and gain citizenship. "It's a small step in the right direction," said Margarita Solorzano, executive director of the Hispanic Women's Organization of Arkansas. "It's the right path to fix a system that is not working and not helping the Hispanic community." If the...

Samsung to invest $500 million at Austin site By David Lammers EE Times April 24, 2003 (5:37 p.m. ET) AUSTIN, Texas — With an eye to U.S.-Korean relations, Samsung Electronics Co. (Seoul, South Korea) is set to unveil a $500 million investment at its existing DRAM facility here, a source said. First opened in 1998, the Samsung Austin DRAM fab will be updated from 130-nm technology to 90-nm design rules, with a 40,000 sq. ft. addition to the existing clean room. The facility upgrade will start next month. The official announcement is set for May 2nd, with Samsung group chairman...

This thread was inspired by a post on the OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM thread. One freeper posted that he was searching for work as an engineer and another was curious if there was a "help wanted" thread on FR. Considering FR is a supportive community beyond simply a news/comment forum, I'd like to start this thread and encourage persons looking for work to post here. I would expect that lengthy personal interaction (refinement of qualifications, giving of phone numbers, etc.) should go to FR MAIL. One side benefit of this thread is an improvement in signal/noise ratio on other threads.

CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar (AP) The U.S.-led coalition remains ''unwavering'' in its conviction that there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but tests have proved negative at several suspect sites, a spokesman for Central Command said Tuesday. Coalition forces are using special equipment to search the Iraqi desert for buried material that might be related to Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs, U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said, noting that entire fighter jets had been found buried. Separately, officials said 11 metal shipping containers were found buried near a Karbala ammunition plant. ''It will take time to uncover...

Chemical weapons buried outside Baghdad: Downer The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer believes Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have been buried outside Baghdad. Mr Downer says the process of finding Iraq's chemical and biological weapons will take quite some time. He says the best way of finding them will be through interviews with the Iraqis themselves. "I think it's likely that a lot of this material has over the last few months been buried, and has been buried out of Baghdad," he said. "To find where this material has been buried, broken up and buried, we will have to get people...

Here are the Senators whose term expires in 2005 (meaning elections in November 2004). Senators Whose Terms of Service Expire in 2005Democrats Bayh, Evan Boxer, Barbara Breaux, John Daschle, Thomas Dodd, Christopher Dorgan, Byron Edwards, John Feingold, Russell Graham, Bob Hollings, Ernest Inouye, Daniel Leahy, Patrick Lincoln, Blanche Mikulski, Barbara Miller, Zell Murray, Patty Reid, Harry Schumer, Charles Wyden, Ron Republicans Bennett, Robert Bond, Christopher Brownback, Sam Bunning, Jim Campbell, Ben Nighthorse Crapo, Mike Fitzgerald, Peter Grassley, Chuck Gregg, Judd McCain, John Murkowski, Frank (elected AK Governor, will be filled by appointee) Nickles, Don Shelby, Richard Specter, Arlen Voinovich, George

NEW CLUES: Police say kidnapper didn't know girl's sister saw him Wednesday, June 19, 2002   Two weeks after the wee-hours disappearance of Elizabeth Smart from her home, few answers have developed as posters of the missing girl have been put up all over Salt Lake City and elsewhere. (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune) BY KEVIN CANTERA, ASHLEY BROUGHTON and LINDA FANTIN THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE    Thirteen days after the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart, police revealed Tuesday that the sole witness to her abduction -- the girl's 9-year-old sister -- had feigned sleep and apparently fooled the intruder into...

Wednesday May 23 1:04 PM ET Jeffords Delays Word on Possible Party Switch Jeffords Delays Word on Possible Party Switch Photos Reuters Photo By Thomas FerraroWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vermont Republican Sen. James Jeffords abruptly postponed until Thursday a widely anticipated announcement he was bolting the party, a bombshell move that would hand control of the Senate to Democrats and jeopardize President Bush (news - web sites)'s conservative agenda.``I wanted to be with my Vermonters when I made the decision,'' Jeffords told reporters on Capitol Hill, as fellow Republicans urged him to stay.Just hours earlier, Jeffords, 67, often at odds with ...

Tuesday May 22 9:41 PM ET GOP Senator Might Switch Parties GOP Senator Might Switch Parties By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush (news - web sites) and Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) worked urgently Tuesday to prevent veteran Sen. Jim Jeffords (news - bio - voting record) from leaving the Republican Party and delivering control of the Senate to the Democrats. ``I'm considering a lot of things,'' said the Vermont lawmaker.``I will be making an announcement tomorrow in Washington,'' said the 67-year-old senator, and Republican sources said he was weighing whether to ...

ASHINGTON, May 22 — Capitol Hill was aswirl with rumors early this evening that Senator James M. Jeffords, a Republican with a maverick streak, might bolt his party to become an independent. The Vermont lawmaker met with Vice President Dick Cheney at lunchtime and with President Bush a few hours later, according to people who have closely followed the unfolding political drama. Mr. Jeffords himself ignored questions from journalists who encountered him in a corridor off the Senate floor, then went back into the chamber escorted by an aide. Congressional aides said this evening that Mr. Jeffords intended to make ...