Free Republic

A Web Site Causes Unease in Police William Sheehan does not like the police. He expresses his views about what he calls police corruption in Washington State on his Web site, where he also posts lists of police officers' addresses, home phone numbers and Social Security (news - web sites) numbers. • A Web Site Causes Unease in Police State officials say those postings expose officers and their families to danger and invite identity theft. But neither litigation nor legislation has stopped Mr. Sheehan, who promises to expand his site to include every police and corrections officer in the state...

Old-Fashioned Democracy in a Thoroughly Modern State ORTHRIDGE, Calif. — One upon a time in America every Jane and Joe staked at least some of their dignity on a piece of the national ideal that said when the chips were down the little people could go up against the big guys and — without a lot of money, with nothing but decency and guts — they could win. For many people that populist ideal was the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Gettysburg Address rolled into one. But for decades now, the decline in voter turnout has measured the...

Trained killer stalks US troops By Peter Wilson, Baghdad July 12, 2003 A HIGHLY trained assassin is stalking American soldiers on the streets of Baghdad, according to the most senior US military commander in Iraq. General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of the Joint Coalition Taskforce for Iraq, confirmed the operations of the hitman, whose activities had been rumoured on the streets of the capital for weeks. "This is a very well-trained assassin who knows how to identify his target. He knows how and when to attack and when to escape. There is no doubt in my mind this is a...

<p>The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts will rule shortly on whether the state should grant marriage licences to seven same-sex couples.</p> <p>Court rulings in Ontario and British Columbia have lent momentum to the push for homosexual marriage, but in the U.S., 37 states and the federal government have passed legislation in defence of marriage.</p>

Government fraud called serious WASHINGTON - While lawmakers fight over a billion dollars here and a billion there for next year's budget, agency watchdogs said Wednesday that billions more are being lost every year to waste and fraud in federal programs with budgets beyond congressional controls. Progress has been made in fighting waste, fraud and abuse, Dara Corrigan, acting principal deputy inspector general of the Health and Human Services Department, told the House Budget Committee. But ''the problems that remain are serious, complicated and have profound consequences,'' she said. Her department oversees Medicare and Medicaid, the largest purchasers of healthcare...

Greenspan Ditches 'Green' for Natural Gas WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Thursday said growing U.S. demand for natural gas to fuel factories and electricity plants may outweigh environmentalists' desire to preserve wilderness areas that contain energy reserves. ADVERTISEMENT A sharp rise in natural gas prices and an unusually low stockpile of the fuel has grabbed the attention of the Bush administration and lawmakers. As a result, Greenspan -- whose appearances on Capitol Hill usually feature discussion of broad economic trends -- was asked to testify at the Senate Energy Committee on the impact of high gas...

Net tightens on North Korea By John Kerin July 11, 2003 AUSTRALIA'S navy and air force could be involved in intercepting North Korean ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction within months, as part of a new US-led global crackdown. South Korean military officers aboard a US ship / AP In a move that is almost sure to inflame a nuclear stand-off with North Korea, 11 nations meeting in Brisbane yesterday endorsed a proposal to start "joint military exercises" from September on the interception of ships, aircraft and even land shipments, as part of the crackdown. The US says...

<p>WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court's reference to foreign law in a ruling last month that overturned state anti-sodomy statutes stood out as if it were in bold print and capital letters.</p> <p>Writing for the majority in a landmark decision supporting gay civil rights, Justice Anthony Kennedy noted that the European Court of Human Rights and other foreign courts have affirmed the ''rights of homosexual adults to engage in intimate, consensual conduct.''</p>