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The space agency's plan to rescue its most important scientific instrument, the Hubble Space Telescope, with a robotic servicing mission looks increasingly like a bad bet. A panel of experts assembled by the National Academy of Sciences concluded last week that there was only a remote chance a robotic mission could be mounted quickly enough to succeed and some danger that it might damage the instrument. Instead, the panel said that NASA should send astronauts up on a shuttle flight to service and rescue this incredibly valuable telescope before its gyroscopes and batteries begin to fail a few years from...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The head of the U.S. Forest Service on Thursday approved a sweeping plan to manage 11.5 million acres of national forest land across the Sierra Nevada range, renewing debate over how best to prevent wildfires like those that devastated Southern California a year ago. Chief Dale Bosworth rejected appeals by environmental groups, prompting immediate promises of lawsuits as the administrative process grinds to an end. Regional Forester Jack Blackwell said the plan he approved in January will improve wildlife habitat while reducing fire danger particularly around mountain communities. Environmental critics called it a veiled effort to triple...

CHARGE!President Bush's 2nd term is charging ahead... with rapid changes This is an email-able, copyright-ready graphic you can use in emails, on blogs, in flyers, on posters... anything that's noncommercial.

Can't find definitive info on the whole changes

WASHINGTON (AP) - Environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to reverse a Bush administration decision to set aside Reagan-era rules aimed at protecting wildlife in national forests. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, seeks to reinstate a 1982 rule that required the Forest Service to ensure that "viable populations" were maintained of wildlife species that are not endangered, such as elk, Appalachian brook trout and river otters. The administration set aside the rule last month, saying officials now can rely on the "best available science" - a less specific standard - to guide their decisions....

Friends, I have a question. Yesterday a friend told me he had heard about a number of papers having changed their endorsement from GOP to Dem. I was surprised, in that I as a European did not know about the strong tradition in America of papers singling out a specific candidate as their choice. Of course I was none too pleased with papers changing over to JFK. But please tell me: how is the general status of the number of papers choosing Kerry over Bush or vice versa? And, most important of all, how much influence do newspapers have on...

Top Stories Impressive, but Misleading Remarks Washington Post - 30 minutes ago Sen. John Edwards and Vice President Cheney clashed repeatedly in their debate last night, making impressive-sounding but misleading statements on issues ranging from the ... Instant polls show Edwards wins vice presidential debate Xinhua Edwards, Cheney selectively interpret facts during debate San Jose Mercury News (subscription) ABC News - USA Today - Atlanta Journal Constitution (subscription) - Newsday - all 1,679 related » Daily Star Brazil condemns Israeli offensive on Gaza Strip Xinhua - 45 minutes ago The Brazilian government on Tuesday condemned Israeli incursions into the Gaza...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The second-in-command at the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is recusing herself from Indian gambling and recognition decisions so she can resign and join the private sector - just four months after the head of the department also recused himself from those issues. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Aurene Martin will resign effective Sept. 10, Interior Department spokesman Dan DuBray said Tuesday. Effective immediately, responsibility for tribal gambling and recognition decisions is being given to Mike Olsen, currently the counselor to the assistant secretary. Olsen will become the third official in less than a year...

Something bad is happening to Pings, 'My Comments', Messages........I hope it isn't permanent......Make it stop, Please

So many changes. I am sure that they are great. But I can't navigate FR like I used to. I feel so helpless, like John Kerry in a real war zone. Things are indented, and it looks like something is reading my mind (or trying to). Am I alone? This is not a complaint, just a global obesrvation. [x] This is SOOO Not an Excerpt.

Democratic Convention Media Area Not Ready Fri Jul 9,11:12 PM ET By JENNIFER PETER, Associated Press Writer BOSTON - A pavilion for working news organizations at the Democratic National Convention is not up to city codes and requires about $300,000 worth of work just two weeks before the event begins. "The building is not ready to be occupied," Lt. Richard Powers, a member of the fire department's public information office, said Friday. "They have certain standards which they haven't met." The pavilion is next to the FleetCenter sports arena, site of the convention. Several news organizations, including The Associated Press,...

The catastrophe that extinguished the dinosaurs and other animal species, 65 million years ago also brought dramatic changes to the vegetation. In a study presented in latest issue of the journal Science, the paleontologists Vivi Vajda from the University of Lund, Sweden and Stephen McLoughlin from the Queensland University of Technology, Australia have described what happened to the vegetation month by month. They depict a world in darkness where the fungi had taken over. It´s known that an asteroid hit the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico at the end of the Cretaceous Period. It left a 180 km wide crater and...

MARINA DEL REY, CA (PREWEB) March 18, 2004 -- Jody Eldred Productions, a television and film production company in Marina Del Rey, CA is in the final stages of preparing a nationwide television special to air this Easter called, "CHANGED LIVES: MIRACLES OF THE PASSION." The documentary is telling the stories of people forever changed as a result of seeing the film. These visual testimonies will give powerful witness to the life-altering power of Jesus Christ as presented through this incredible motion picture. SEEKING VIDEOTAPED STORY SUBMISSIONS As part of this documentary, the Jody Eldred Productions is asking people to...

<p>Two years after President Bush signed his far-reaching education reform law, lawmakers in Virginia, Utah and seven other states are taking steps to opt out or block using state funds for No Child Left Behind, calling the law an intrusion on local control. The Republican-controlled Utah House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill that would exempt the state from spending its own money on the law. The state Senate now considers it.</p>

<p>President Bush (news - web sites) will propose immigration law changes to allow workers from Mexico to enter the United States if they have jobs waiting for them, officials said Monday in previewing an election-year measure intended to bolster support among Hispanic voters.</p>

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Paul Martin became Canada's 21st prime minister on Friday and immediately announced sweeping reforms, declaring a wish to bring in "a new agenda of change and achievement" ahead of an election expected for next May. Martin, a 65-year-old multimillionaire businessman, replaced the man his supporters effectively drove from office, fellow Liberal Jean Chretien. The majority of Chretien's ministers lost their jobs. Martin, pledging to "restore the tone" of ties with the United States, created a new cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations and appointed a special parliamentary secretary to help smooth dealings with Washington. He also promised to...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate gave final congressional approval Tuesday to the most sweeping changes to Medicare since its creation in 1965, including a new prescription drug benefit for 40 million older and disabled Americans. The 54-44 vote sends the bill to President Bush, who is eager to sign it into law.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) - Global warming means epochal changes in the Sierra Nevada snow pack that supplies two-thirds of California's water and most of the water for northern Nevada, says a study being released Thursday.</p> <p>The snow pack will shrink and melt earlier in the year, reducing runoff in the dry spring and summer, predicts the Sierra Nevada Alliance. The snow line will climb 500 feet within decades as temperatures rise.</p>

<p>Now that Saturday's 5 p.m. deadline has passed, Californians should revisit the isle of sanity.</p> <p>While only about a fourth of the 500 people who had picked up filing papers actually turned them in, this ballot will still have more than a hundred candidates. Democrats ended up with only one prominent name on the ballot, improving their chances of holding the office against the four well-known Republicans.</p>