Free Republic

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) formally threw his hat into the ring to replace ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), pushing the need for unity in a letter to colleagues. “Our strength as a Conference comes from our unity, and we have seen when we unite as a Conference, we can deliver wins for the American people. Now we need to take those unified positions and work to extract conservative wins from the Democrat Senate and White House by leveraging upcoming deadlines,” he wrote. “While we need to be realistic about what can be achieved, if we stay united, we...

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that his country would get involved if Israel entered Lebanon. Speaking in Beirut, Erdogan asked, "They want to invade Lebanon and Gaza with advanced planes and tanks, to kill women and children, to destroy medical centers and schools, and expect us to remain silent?"

Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is running for president as a member of the Green Party, which she says shares her views on ending the Iraq war, protecting the environment and other issues. McKinney, who served five terms in Congress before losing her seat to a fellow Democrat last year, declared her candidacy in a video posted late Sunday on the Web site of a group that had been drafting her to run. "The Democrats are no different than their Republican counterparts, eat out of the hands of corrupt lobbyists and feed at the same corporate trough. I am proud...

MAUCHE, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan followers of a U.S.-based religious sect which predicted the world would end after a September 12 outbreak of nuclear war moved into bunkers on Wednesday despite the failure of their prediction. Dozens of members of the House of Yahweh -- dressed in gas masks, gloves and long overcoats -- have built a network of underground hideouts in the small highland village of Mauche. They have stocked the bunkers with dried fermented flour meant to feed them for a year, by which time sinners would have been wiped off the Earth, according to their beliefs. "Those...

ABOARD USS IWO JIMA, At Sea (NNS) -- The USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) Expeditionary Strike Group entered the U.S. 6th Fleet’s area of operations June 12, supporting Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe's strategic initiative to strengthen emerging and enduring partnerships with the nations and navies of Greece, France, Cyprus, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. While in the theater, the approximately 6,000 U.S. Sailors and Marines assigned to the ships, submarine and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) will provide combat power and work alongside coalition naval forces to deny European waters to maritime security threats. “The Sailors and...

Black minister, Nagin critic enters mayor's raceBy CHEVEL JOHNSON Associated Press Writer February 17. 2006 4:50PM The Rev. Tom Watson III, an influential black pastor and frequent critic of Mayor Ray Nagin, declared his candidacy for mayor Friday, saying Hurricane Katrina exposed the weaknesses of Nagin's administration. "We have put up with the political foolishness for a long time and the impact from poor leadership was not shown until the storm showed it," Watson said to about 50 supporters on hand for the formal announcement. Watson is the first black challenger to Nagin, who also is black. Nine others, all...

French violence enters 10th night Nearly 900 vehicles were burnt on Friday night Urban violence in France has entered a 10th night, with fresh arson attacks in suburbs of Paris and elsewhere. Reports say that the Essonne region south of the capital and the southwestern city of Toulouse are the latest to be affected. The attacks came as the French authorities said they were determined to stop the unrest. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy warned of stiffer jail sentences for arsonists following Friday's damage. Nearly 900 vehicles were set on fire, as incidents were reported in Nice, Lille, Marseille and Dijon...

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- The Navy commissioned its newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey (DDG 97) July 30 in a ceremony at Pier J, Naval Air Station North Island, Coronado, Calif. Arizona Sen. John McCain, former naval officer, was the key speaker for the event. In his speech, he paid special tribute to his grandfather Adm. John McCain and Fleet Adm. William F. “Bull” Halsey. “My family owes a great debt of gratitude to Adm. Halsey, who personally ordered my grandfather be present on the deck of the USS Missouri when the Japanese formally surrendered,” said Sen. McCain. “For...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA managers put a brief but embarrassing setback behind them as the countdown to the first space shuttle flight in 2 1/2 years entered its final hours Wednesday, with only predicted thunderstorms posing some concern. A temporary window cover fell off the shuttle and damaged thermal tiles near the tail Tuesday afternoon, just two hours after NASA declared Discovery ready to return the nation to space for the first time since the Columbia disaster. The mishap was an eerie reminder of the very thing that doomed Columbia — damage to the spaceship's fragile thermal shield. Discovery...

JERUSALEM - Israeli forces entered the Palestinian town of Tulkarem early Wednesday, killing two Palestinian police officers who opened fire on troops carrying out an arrest raid in response to a suicide bombing hours earlier, the army and Palestinian security officials said. The army's raid on Tulkarem effectively means Israel has taken back control of the town it handed over to the Palestinians under the terms of a cease-fire declared in February. The raid targets Islamic Jihad, the group responsible for Tuesday's suicide bombing, which killed three Israelis.

Chelsea Clinton enters political arena by stumping for Kerry Saturday, October 30, 2004 Story last updated at 11:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 30, 2004 By KEN THOMAS Associated Press Writer KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton, shielded from the public during her years in the White House, delivered her first political speeches Saturday as she campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. The only child of former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said she was "a little nervous" about making her first speech in Tampa. That was followed by appearances in the Orlando area and...

Battle for Najaf shrine 'enters its last hours' By Toby Harnden in Najaf (Filed: 25/08/2004) American forces, newly supplemented by Iraqi National Guard troops, tightened the screw on the insurgents occupying Shia Islam's holiest site yesterday as the Baghdad government said the battle for Najaf was entering its "last hours". There were strong signs that the Americans were preparing for a final assault that would see a swift penetration of the Old City that encircles the shrine so that the Iraqi National Guard, almost certainly supported by US special forces soldiers in Arab dress, could enter the holy site. Iraqi...

General Ashley Wilkes Enters The Race September 17, 2003 I cued the Dr. Strangelove music as I began Wednesday's program discussing the 10th dwarf in the Democratic presidential primaries. I quoted Richard Goldstein's Village Voice piece talking about Democrats "searching for the candidate with the right kind of masculine presentation." He writes, "If Bill Clinton was a bottom-feeding Rhett Butler, then Wesley Clark is Ashley Wilkes..." Folks, Ashley Wilkes was a wimp - and he was on the losing side of the Civil War! Women hate him because he depended on Scarlett O'Hara to do everything! Note also that liberal...

<p>SACRAMENTO - As soon as he becomes governor, veteran Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock vows he would slash the vehicle license fee by two-thirds.</p> <p>McClintock is already championing two measures to abolish the car tax, which is set to triple beginning in October, or reduce it to $1 a year. This is the latest anti-tax crusade for the conservative lawmaker, who now wants to take his message of limited government to the governor's office.</p>