Free Republic

I apologize for the vanity, but I believe it is a topical reflection or logical extension of current news that I cannot find any analysis or discussions of anywhere else. If you as a consernative or republican *had* to vote for Hillary or Obama for president, who do you pick? "I'll take the bullet" is not an option. I guess there is part of me that, as horrid as it may be, would choose Hillary. At least she's a known quantity. Plus, she seems so completely inept that hopefully she couldn't get anything done, even with a Dem congress. Obama...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Grammys could take a rare step into the political arena on Sunday if the Dixie Chicks win the coveted album-of-the-year award, as observers of the music industry's biggest honors are predicting. The Texas country trio is reveling in its new outsider status after picking a fight with President George W. Bush in 2003, and watching its popularity plummet as the Republican-leaning country music establishment snubbed the chart-topping group. The Chicks' first album since the brouhaha, "Taking the Long Way," yielded five Grammy nominations, including three for the wry single "Not Ready to Make Nice." The...

The government awarded 70 percent of its contracts for Hurricane Katrina work without full competition, wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in the process, says a House study released Thursday by Democrats. The report, a comprehensive overview of government audits on Katrina contracting, found that out of $10.6 billion in contracts awarded after the storm last year, more than $7.4 billion were handed out with limited or no competitive bidding. In addition, 19 contracts worth $8.75 billion were found to have wasted taxpayer money at least in part, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the report....

A House panel decided Tuesday to do a little editing on the Ten Commandments. Lawmakers made the alterations as they debated which version of the ancient biblical law — Protestant, Catholic or Jewish — should be embodied in a proposed state law. The House and Governmental Affairs Committee then advanced Senate Bill 476 to the full House. The bill would allow the display of the Ten Commandments, along with other documents of religious historical significance, in government buildings. The wording of the bill is designed to comply with recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding the separation of government and religion....

The Oscars opened the closet door to gay-themed films but shut it almost as quickly. >>>snip<<< The victory for "Crash" suggested Oscar voters were more comfortable with a tale that exploited the seamy underbelly of racial conflict in contemporary Los Angeles than with a heartbreaking tale of love between two married men. "Perhaps the truth really is, Americans don't want cowboys to be gay," said Larry McMurtry, 69, who shared an Oscar for best adapted screenplay with Diana Ossana for "Brokeback." No overtly gay love story has ever won a best picture award and, as of Monday morning, none has....

Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Robert Wooley will not seek re-election as the chief regulator of companies that write insurance policies in the state. Wooley said in a written statement Thursday that he will step down on Feb. 15 to work in the private sector. His chief deputy, Jim Donelon, will take over until voters can pick Wooley's elected successor, the statement said. Wooley took over the insurance commissioner's job in 2000, after his predecessor, third-term incumbent Jim Brown, was convicted of lying to the FBI and served a six-month prison term.

A bunch of politicians has returned from a junket in Holland. Sorry, let me rephrase that. A delegation of selfless public officials is just back from a fact-finding mission that will help us adapt Dutch flood-control technology in Louisiana. OK, evacuees. You all can move back, because there'll be no repeat of the Katrina disaster. We've got the skinny now. Gov. Kathleen Blanco has gawped at the Maeslandt Barrier, and we can all sleep easier. Of course, Blanco had plenty of back-up. It would have been foolish to send a small team and risk missing some useful tidbit. The delegation...

NEELTJE JANS, The Netherlands (AFP) - US senators braved howling Atlantic winds and rain to get a closer look at Dutch super-dams, as they sought answers to the hurricane threat facing their own Gulf Coast. With harsh western winds whipping over the artificial island of Neeltje Jans, created to facilitate the building of the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier, delegates said a massive upgrade of the Gulf Coast's hurricane defences was needed to prevent a repeat of the New Orleans disaster last year. They visited the Dutch Delta works, a network of storm surge barriers built to withstand weather so...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Thousands of children in regions devastated by South Asia's earthquake are at risk of death from cold, malnutrition and disease, UNICEF said. The U.N. agency said the international relief effort must focus on keeping children alive in the weeks ahead.

LONDON - Muslims gathered uneasily for afternoon prayers Friday, murmuring about fears of a backlash. A bomb threat forced the evacuation of one of London's largest mosques, and someone dumped gasoline near a suicide bomber's home. A tremor of apprehension shook Britain's Muslim community of 1.6 million Friday after undercover officers on the London subway shot and killed a man described by witnesses as a South Asian. The shooting followed a series of small bombings Thursday in which four men placed backpacks of explosives on three trains and a bus. The attacks came two weeks after four suicide bombers killed...

Lamar Advertising is one of two billboard companies that have rejected a PETA ad in Little Rock that would have showed the pneumatic Pamela Anderson in a skin-tight tank top, the Arkansas Business Journal reports. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Karl Rove of animal rights groups, is using the ads to protest how chickens are handled in a West Virginia plant in hundreds of markets around the country. Tom Gibbens, Lamar GM in Little Rock, told the Arkansas publication that Lamar rejects ads that are not "morally and ethically up to community standards"

England's Sentencing Hearing Begins; Defense Seeks Leniency, Says England Oxygen-Deprived at Birth FORT HOOD, Texas May 3, 2005 — Defense lawyers sought leniency for Pfc. Lynndie England at a hearing Tuesday to determine her punishment in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, with a psychologist testifying that the reservist was oxygen-deprived at birth, speech impaired and had trouble learning to read.

The human race is living beyond its means. A report backed by 1,360 scientists from 95 countries - some of them world leaders in their fields - today warns that the almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth is being degraded by human pressure. The study contains what its authors call "a stark warning" for the entire world. The wetlands, forests, savannahs, estuaries, coastal fisheries and other habitats that recycle air, water and nutrients for all living creatures are being irretrievably damaged. In effect, one species is now a hazard to the other 10 million or...

Toby Harnden in Fallujah observes American soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division taskforce avenging their fallen comrades as battle begins After seven months in Iraq's Sunni triangle, for many American soldiers the opportunity to avenge dead friends by taking a life was a moment of sheer exhilaration. As they approached their "holding position", from where hours later they would advance into the city, they picked off insurgents on the rooftops and in windows. "I got myself a real juicy target," shouted Sgt James Anyett, peering through the thermal sight of a Long Range Acquisition System (LRAS) mounted on one of...

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a key U.S. ally and supporter of the Iraq war, has resoundingly beaten centre-left opposition Labour at a national election to win a fourth straight term in office. Howard was returned with what appears certain to be an increased majority and in December will become Australia's second-longest serving prime minister. "This nation stands on the threshold of a new era of great achievement ... a nation which can achieve anything it wants, if its sets its mind to it," a beaming Howard told supporters at a downtown Sydney hotel with his wife Janette and their...

Democratic adviser is a loss leader At 0-7, Bob Shrum is well-acquainted with the concession speech Each day at the Democratic convention in Boston, a team of 10 speechwriters would convene in a windowless office behind the Fleet Center podium to help compose and polish that night's speeches. In the spirit of camaraderie, the speechwriters discussed making T-shirts for themselves. One suggested a design featuring the slogan "Reverse the Curse" over a picture of Bob Shrum, the Democratic strategist whom many perceived to be presidential candidate John Kerry's closest adviser. "The Curse" referred to Shrum's career-long slump in presidential campaigns,...

Further scrutiny lessens doubts on Bush memos: Some skeptics now say IBM typewriter could have been used After CBS News trumpeted newly discovered documents Wednesday that referred to a 1973 effort to "sugar coat" President Bush's service record in the Texas Air National Guard, the network almost immediately faced charges that the memos were forgeries with typography that was not available on typewriters used at that time. But specialists interviewed by the Globe and some other news organizations say the specialized characters used in the documents, and the type format, were common to electric typewriters in wide use in the...

Health care costs continued to surge this year as family premiums in employer-sponsored plans jumped 11.2 percent, the fourth year of double-digit growth, according to a new study. The cumulative effect of rising health care costs is taking a toll on workers: There are at least 5 million fewer jobs providing health insurance in 2004 than there were in 2001, according to the survey of 3,017 companies by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust. --- snip --- "Health insurance is becoming unaffordable, especially for small employers. We should expect the ranks of uninsured to grow...

What is the story on Bodansky? As the Director of the Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of the U. S. Congress, it seems like he would have some credibility. He set forth some pretty articulate explanations of where Saddam's WMDs may be (Syria) and that al Quada did receive support and training from Iraq. Is he just pushing a book or does he know what he's talking about? And if any of what he is saying is true, why hasn't anyone else picked it up? I know that the "mainstream" media would totally ignore it, of course, but...

To counter potential threats from Canada, U.S. officials are beefing up security and surveillance along the U.S.-Canada border, known as the longest undefended border in the world. In response to the Sept. 11 attacks, a new command centre, a new plane with sensor equipment, marine units and a Black Hawk helicopter will be deployed to the border between British Columbia and Washington state by the U.S. Office of Air and Marine Operations. Gary Bracken, a spokesman for Air and Marine Operations, said U.S intelligence shows there's enough of a threat to warrant an increased presence along the border. "Along the...