Free Republic

I've been trying to verify how many people attended Sunday's Rally to Support The Troops. I've read several hundred posts on here, but not one states the actual number, only criticizms of the coverage. Our local conservative talk show host, Martha "(How can I fool them today?") Zoller, claims there were 20,000 supporters. All I've found so far is the AP article being cited by most of MSM.

Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas appeared on The O'Reilly Factor via telephone tonight. When O'Reilly asked her if she had enough National Guard she informed him that "we don't need 'em. We have our own Police force and fire department. We can handle it." Quite a contrast to the inept Mayor of New Orleans.

Can someone direct me to an article that appeared in one of the Brish Newspapers thanking America for the good we've done in the world. Don't know the paper, author, or date. Thanks in advance.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 11/23/03 Thank God for democracy It's no wonder we're having a hard time teaching Jeffersonian democracy to the Iraqis. It's still controversial in America. Take the precincts where Roy Moore holds sway. Moore, recently ousted as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, has become the standard bearer for Christian conservatives who believe that the United States is a "Christian nation." He has inspired hundreds of thousands of followers. Never mind that Moore insisted on placing a 2 1/2-ton Ten Commandments monument in the courthouse rotunda. Never mind that he argued that he's above civil law and...

Powell a party to deception Colin Powell has escaped the controversy that has engulfed President Bush and the intelligence services over the president's use of discredited information in his State of the Union speech. Powell didn't use those now-infamous 16 words about an alleged Iraqi attempt to purchase uranium in Africa when he addressed the U.N. Security Council in February. But he isn't off the hook. The intelligence Powell did use was equally dubious while arguably more persuasive. In his Feb. 5 brief making the case for war, the secretary of state repeated the canard that Saddam Hussein had forged...

CNN counts on Zahn in prime-time battle By CAROLINE WILBERT The Atlanta Journal-Constitution After more than a month off the air, Paula Zahn returned to CNN on a recent weeknight with a typically poised explanation. Dressed in a coral suit with matching necklace, she explained in a few quick sentences that she was on vacation for a while and now will be hosting an 8 p.m. news show. The show is "a work in progress" that will roll out new features, contributors and set in coming weeks, she added. "I'm very excited," said Zahn, who used to host the network's...

State revamps driver's licenses in security move ATLANTA - Georgia is revamping driver's licenses as part of a $20 million effort to reduce identity theft and keep illegal drivers off the road. It also should be easier to prevent alcohol sales to minors. The new design will include security features, specialized graphics and tamper-resistant materials, which will make the licenses harder to forge. It is expected to be available statewide by the end of September. At that time, copies of birth certificates, rental agreements and other documents required to obtain a driver's license will be scanned into a new state...

Blow, slur at funeral ruled hate crime By HENRY FARBER The Atlanta Journal-Constitution In the first application of Georgia's hate crime law in metro Atlanta, a Gainesville man has been convicted and sentenced for punching a 12-year-old Hispanic girl at his father's funeral. Timothy Steven Gearin, 43, walked up to the mentally disabled child near his father's casket at a funeral home. He complained that the dead man would have wanted no Hispanics there, and he struck the youngster once on the forehead with his fist, according to Henry County District Attorney Tommy Floyd. The girl is a distant relative...

For the needy, a poor excuse It is unfashionable to be poor in America. Even workers just a paycheck away from being poverty-stricken themselves -- an illness, a layoff, a car accident away from having the electricity turned off -- are contemptuous of those just beneath them on the socioeconomic ladder. The Horatio Alger myth is so powerful that one's fortune is either in the bank or in the near future. Hard times are just a temporary condition -- or so people believe. A Time-CNN poll during the 2000 presidential elections asked voters whether they were in the top 1...

UGA benches 17 players for violations By MARK SCHLABACH Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer Seventeen University of Georgia football players have been suspended or declared ineligible to play, and the Bulldogs could be without as many as seven projected starters when the defending SEC champions open their season against Clemson on Aug. 30. The breakdown: Nine players have been declared ineligible for selling their 2002 SEC championship rings, four players have been suspended for violations of unspecified team rules and five players were suspended last month after being arrested on charges of marijuana possession. Cornerback Tim Jennings, one of the players...

Bush soars, but how he'll land is another story Remember Bill Clinton's infamous haircut on board Air Force One? In 1993, according to front-page headlines and blaring broadcast reports, Clinton shut down Los Angeles International Airport to get a trendy haircut from a celebrity stylist. Those reports, which turned out to be dead wrong, took on a life of their own because of alleged inconvenience to the passengers left circling in frustration. Later news reports that put the episode in perspective -- there were no delays of scheduled commercial flights -- ended up on the back pages of newspapers or...

Bus driver suspended for marijuana possession The Associated Press - DUBLIN, Ga. A school bus driver who reported his marijuana stolen to the police resigned from his job Friday, a day after being suspended from his route. John Randolph, 29, called police to his home Monday and reported that someone stole $40 worth of marijuana, among other belongings. Randolph worked for McLendon and Sons Bus Service, where manager Harold McLendon made him take a drug test, which came out clean. Randolph told the officer investigating the burglary he was saving the marijuana to smoke when school was out. Randolph has...

Edwards' campaign slates Atlanta events By MATTHEW C. QUINN The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina brings his Democratic presidential campaign to Georgia on Friday, starting with a visit to Atlanta's Grady High School. Edwards will use his appearance at the Midtown school to highlight his support for education. On Saturday, he will address the annual Human Rights Campaign dinner downtown. The group promotes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. Edwards has visited Atlanta many times in recent months. But like those of other candidates, his previous visits have focused on fund-raising and private meetings. Jeff DiSantis, executive...

Isaacs' lawyer says prayer prejudiced his trial The Associated Press A lawyer for the nation's longest-serving death row inmate argued Monday that a minister's opening prayer that "God's will should be done" prejudiced the jury against him in a retrial. Attorney Jack Martin asked Georgia's Supreme Court to stay Tuesday's execution of Carl Isaacs because the court reporter never recorded the prayer, making it impossible for the defense to challenge it effectively. "This is an important enough issue that the court should stop, take a breath and look at it further," Martin told The Associated Press. Barring a last-minute stay,...

Students object to Thomas as speaker By MELANIE HORTON Published , May 02, 2003, 12:00:01 PM EDT The controversy surrounding the School of Law's commencement speaker has been reignited in recent weeks as the graduation date draws near. Last week, a petition was circulated around the law school questioning the methods used to choose Clarence Thomas, a U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Georgia native, as the commencement speaker, said Donald Wilkes, a law school professor. "The petition was circulated by the students," he said. "It was signed by 11 law professors last Tuesday, and it was signed by 50 students...

Guns in Baghdad Posted: May 5, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com As we speak, the National Rifle Association's nightmare scenario is unfolding in Baghdad. Unchecked, ruthless military authorities, operating in the absence of any constitutional restraints, without search warrants and without paying compensation, and without distinguishing between criminals, ordinary Baathists and law-abiding citizens, are seizing privately-owned weapons in clear violation of the principles of the revered, holy and sacrosanct Second Amendment. Where is the NRA to protect a gun-owner's rights? Well, in Baghdad, you don't have any right to bear arms. And no hand grenades, mortars or light...

Board rejects appeal to spare Alday killer Carl Isaacs The Associated Press The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied an appeal Friday to commute the decades-old death sentence of Carl Isaacs, the nation's longest-serving death row inmate. Isaacs, 49, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Tuesday for orchestrating the slaughter of six members of the Alday family in their home during a burglary in 1973. There were no extraordinary circumstances that would have justified commuting Isaacs' sentence, said Heather Hedrick, spokeswoman for the board. "Carl Isaacs needs to be executed," said Susan Chambliss, whose grandfather Ned Alday was...

Girl left alone at night in Gwinnett child aid office By BETH WARREN The Atlanta Journal-Constitution A 13-year-old girl in foster care was left alone at night inside the Lawrenceville headquarters of the Gwinnett Department of Family and Children Services. A police officer, responding to an alarm at the Northdale Road building, found the frightened child at 2:28 a.m. Thursday. "It's very alarming," said Reneé Huie, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Human Resources, the agency that oversees DFCS offices across the state. "I do not know of it ever happening before." Two caseworkers from child protective services have...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 5/1/03 Tax cut woos Greediest Generation The president's proposed $726 billion tax cut is not an economic policy. It is a crass appeal to greed, pitched to a nation conditioned to believe that greed is not a vice but a downright virtue. And that's just the beginning of the deceptions and distortions being used to sell this policy. The money that the tax cut would allegedly "return" to the taxpayer never came from the taxpayer in the first place. Every penny that taxpayers send to the federal government is spent by the federal government. So how is...

<p>Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley says it "might not be difficult" to get the Senate to approve a $450 billion tax cut but that it will be hard to get the full $550 billion tax cut President Bush is seeking.</p>