Free Republic

I think this joke shows how absurd the current situation really is---

NASA will try for three shuttle flights this year if the space agency is able to launch Discovery in May or July, a top NASA official said Tuesday. But that's a big "if," said space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale. Engineers are still are working out problems with the external fuel tank and other details.

But there is a broader issue that warrants consideration at the highest levels--excessive U.S. reliance on foreign-flagged ships and foreign crews for routine international trade and even for defense work. Foreign-flagged cargo ships now carry better than 97 percent of U.S. commercial imports and exports. Many of these ships are registered in unaccountable flag of convenience countries like Liberia (which has been said to use ship registry revenues to help finance a brutal rebel faction in neighboring Sierra Leone) and Panama (awash in fraudulent seafarer certificates and licenses for sale

Eventually, the school district acknowledged it had no policy preventing a student from praying during free time, and allowed Yasmeen to use an empty classroom to unfurl her prayer rug, face Mecca and touch her head to the floor in a few moments of worship. Her case was part of a nationwide grass-roots effort by Muslim parents to make public schools more friendly and accommodating to Muslim students. The movement has gained strength since the September 11 terror attacks. "The reality for many Muslim students in public schools is very difficult," said Ingrid Mattson, vice president of the Islamic Society...