Free Republic

Texas Builder Boycott Blocks Abortion Clinic Construction By Steve Brown CNSNews.com Staff Writer November 10, 2003 (CNSNews.com) - The willingness of some Texas pro-lifers to mix their personal views with their everyday professional lives has blocked the construction of a $6.2 million abortion clinic in Austin. San Antonio-based Browning construction, one of the largest such firms in the state, pulled out of the contract recently after a key contractors balked at the project because it was going to house a Planned Parenthood clinic where abortions were going to be performed. "We have requested that the construction contract be terminated because...

<p>It sold just three cookies, but a unique bake sale Wednesday at Indiana University turned up the heat in an ongoing debate about affirmative action.</p> <p>Modeled after similar events on campuses across the country, the sale offered cookies at different prices based on customers' race and gender. White males were charged $1; white females, Asians and Pacific Islanders, 75 cents; American Indians and Hispanics, 50 cents; and blacks, 25 cents.</p>

5/30/03 Maureen Dowd not wanted hereBy MARC R. MASFERRER The New York Times' considerable credibility problem is now our problem, as well. But unlike the Times, which has been engaged in a torturous exercise of naval gazing and self-flagellation, with its accustomed arrogance, since it was revealed that one of its younger reporters had committed all sorts of journalistic sins, we are doing something about it, and fast. Until she explains to our satisfaction her own ethical transgression -- an apparently deliberate distortion of a comment by President Bush &#8212; you will not find the work of Times columnist Maureen...

<p>NEAR TIKRIT, Iraq  — More than 260 prisoners were taken into custody Thursday in a pre-dawn U.S. Army raid near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit (search), including one man on the United States' "most-wanted" list of former Iraqi officials.</p> <p>During the 5-hour sweep dubbed "Operation Planet X," officers said U.S. troops faced no resistance from Iraqis.</p>

3 of Hearts Captured Fox News Brett Baier: Initial reports from senior military sources are that Fadil Mahmud Gharib, 28th most wanted (on the list of 55) and the 3 of Hearts in the Iraq Deck, was captured by coalition forces.

Anglosphere: Where have the fascists gone? By James C. Bennett From the International Desk Published 4/19/2003 10:56 PM WASHINGTON, April 19 (UPI) -- The term "fascist" has become one of the most overused terms of political abuse throughout the world. Judging from usage, its current meaning is something like "one who does not agree with me." More specifically, it means "someone not nice." For those striving for laser-like semantic precision, a fascist must have something to do with nationalism, war and theories of racial superiority. Expanding on the latter definition, a psycho-social explanation of fascism has become generally current...

Canada willing to send Mounties to Iraq, PM says OTTAWA (CP) — Canada is willing to send RCMP officers to help restore order in Iraq but nobody's asked for them, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said today. "We've sent RCMP officers to Haiti and elsewhere," Chrétien said during a news conference. "If it is a contribution that we can make, we will do it. If they want us to do something else, we will do something else." But Chrétien said Canada can't just send police officers without some preparation and planning. Looting continued in Baghdad for a third straight day today....

Washington 'D.C.' Renamed to Honor Dixie Chicks (2003-03-15) -- The 'D.C.' in Washington D.C. will no longer stand for District of Columbia if some Democrats have their way. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-SD, announced today that members of his party will introduce a bill Monday to officially call the nation's capital "Washington Dixie Chicks." "It seems only right," said Sen. Daschle, "Since the Dixie Chicks have just set a new record for one-day U.S. concert ticket sales, that we should honor them in this way. In addition, they have demonstrated that they have the pulse of American country music fans by...

Woman flees after running over husband By: ERIC ERVIN, Citizen Staff March 12, 2003 Webster Police investigators are looking for a Texas City woman who hit her estranged husband with her car after confronting him and his female companion in a local apartment complex parking lot.Miacona Charles Dickerson, 29, faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon stemming from the incident early Sunday, when she hit Clifton Leroy Dickerson, 29, after stabbing him with a 5-inch blade knife. At about 2:30 a.m., the suspect pulled into the parking lot of the Baystone Apartments, 800 NASA Road 1, to confront...

18 troops head to Gulf region By ALLISON DUNFIELD Globe and Mail Update — An platoon of 18 troops from the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry left for the Persian Gulf Wednesday to support troops already deployed in Operation Apollo. The troops will be performing security duties to support Canada's land, air and navy forces participating in the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism. "The remainder [17] will be deployed next week," Major Mike Audette, a public affairs spokesman with Land Force Western Area, told globeandmail.com. "They'll be assigned security tasks once they get there. It will be a fairly...

Trial for officers in Kmart raid starts June 2 By LISA TEACHEY Coypright 2003 Houston Chronicle Two former Houston police officers who were at the helm of a botched raid at a westside parking lot will go to trial June 2 to answer charges of official oppression. Capt. Mark Aguirre and Sgt. Ken Wenzel, who appeared in court today for the trial setting, each face five charges of official oppression for ordering the arrests of more than 300 people, including many teenagers, at a Kmart parking lot in the 8400 block of Westheimer on Aug. 18. The scene of hundreds...

8 Charged in Fed Indictment for Terrorism By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Eight people, including four U.S. residents, were charged in a 50-count indictment with supporting, financing and relaying messages for a violent Palestinian terrorist group blamed for the deaths of more than 100 people in and around Israel. The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Tampa, Fla., was unsealed Thursday. It charges that the men are members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, designated by the United States as a terrorist organization. Among them are a Palestinian professor at the University of South Florida, 45-year-old...

Corrosion suggested in shuttle crash   Weakened wing may have been vulnerable to impact of debrisBy James ObergSPECIAL TO MSNBC.COM        IN RECENT DAYS, NASA officials have expressed their frustrated bafflement over the observed debris impact on Columbia’s left wing. They have repeated studies made during the flight and still come up with results that show the worst-case damage is still far short of a mortal wound that could have prompted the catastrophic failure of the wing.        If the falling insulating foam were the triggering event, some additional factor or factors must have been present,...

HPD's Aguirre fired over raid By KRISTEN MACK Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Jan. 29, 2003, 3:51PM Houston police Capt. Mark Aguirre, commander of the controversial raid at a west-side Kmart in August, was fired this morning. Acting Police Chief Tim Oettmeier announced Aguirre's firing during a briefing to City Council on the Kmart raids. "What we witnessed was nothing more than the political lynching of Aguirre and they used Oettmeier as the henchman," said Aguirre's attorney, Terry Yates. Aguirre, who had his first chance to speak out today, said the department is using him as a scapegoat and HPD is...

Lotto Texas winner charged with cocaine possession 01/22/2003 Associated Press BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Easy come, easy go. Jose Luis Betancourt had a stroke of luck just before Christmas when his Lotto Texas ticket matched all six numbers, netting him a $7.5 million prize. But his luck ran out less than a month later when U.S. Customs agents found 1.63 kilograms of cocaine hidden in the dishwasher and pantry of his apartment. Betancourt, 53, of Brownsville appeared in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Feliz Recio Tuesday and was ordered held without bond on charges of cocaine possession and conspiracy to distribute...

Nov. 21, 2002, 10:35AM Testimony heard on police raid Lawyer: Focus is on Aguirre, sergeant By ROMA KHANNA Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Houston police Capt. Mark Aguirre and a sergeant who works closely with him appear to be the only targets of an investigation into the mass arrest of people in a Kmart parking lot, a lawyer for an officer cooperating with authorities said. "After reviewing all the evidence, my impression is that Aguirre and one other sergeant who is his right-hand man are the targets of this probe," said Clint Greenwood, who is representing Lt. Frank Jackson. Greenwood would...

A Harris County grand jury today will begin considering whether police handling of a mass arrest -- which already has led to lawsuits against the city of Houston and the suspension of 13 police supervisors -- also deserves criminal indictments. Public outcry was swift and furious after more than 270 people were arrested Aug. 18 in a Kmart parking lot in the 8400 block of Westheimer on the west side. Many who were caught in the roundup said they were customers at the Kmart or a nearby Sonic drive-in restaurant. City officials later dropped all trespassing and curfew charges resulting...

<p>The University of Michigan Thursday brought to an end the seven-year saga of booster Eddie L. Martin of Detroit, forfeiting victories as far back as 1992 and returning post-season revenues.</p> <p>The humbling day for the once-proud Wolverine basketball program began early in the morning when workers took down four banners from the ceiling of Crisler Arena -- the 1992 and 1993 NCAA finalist flags, the 1997 NIT Championship banner, and the 1998 Big Ten Tournament title.</p>

NASA hires writer to debunk Apollo theoryBy Ted StreuliThe Daily NewsPublished October 31, 2002DICKINSON — Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon, was harassed in Los Angeles last month by a man who claims NASA faked the six manned lunar landings. Videographer Bart Sibrel, 37, was four years old when Aldrin walked on the moon; his own tape of the incident showed him poking Aldrin with a Bible, demanding that the 72-year-old swear he really walked on the moon. It also showed Sibrel calling Aldrin a thief, liar and coward. Aldrin punched him in the...

<p>The police chief might go to prison for perjury. The captain who led the raid might eventually be fired. Twelve other officers have been relieved of duty. And the city faces millions in potential legal costs.</p> <p>The 5,300-man Houston Police Department is in turmoil, many aligning themselves behind either Capt. Mark Aguirre or Police Chief Clarence Bradford.</p>