Free Republic

Iran Jews express Holocaust shock By Sadeq Saba BBC News The Iranian president is accused of ignorance and political prejudice The chairman of Iran's Jewish Council has strongly criticised the country's hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for saying the Holocaust was a myth. In a letter to the president, Haroun Yashayaei said the leader's remarks had shocked the international community and caused fear in Iran's Jewish community. Mr Yashayaei described the Holocaust as one of the most obvious and sad events in the 20th Century. Six million Jews were killed in Nazi persecution during World War II. This is the first...

New Orleans residents express anger at first wave of rebuilding ideas By: CAIN BURDEAU - Associated Press NEW ORLEANS -- Angry residents expressed frustration Wednesday at the debut of rebuilding proposals for this devastated city, taking aim at a suggested four-month moratorium on new building permits in areas heavily flooded by Hurricane Katrina. "Our neighborhood is ready to come home," said property owner Jeb Bruneau of Lakeview, which borders Lake Pontchartrain. "Don't get in our way and prevent us from doing that. Help us cut the red tape." The Bring New Orleans Back Commission, appointed by Mayor Ray Nagin, released...

AL ASAD, Iraq -- When Iraqis took to the polls Oct. 15 to vote on their new constitution, Sgt. Katherine Weller and Lance Cpl. Carlos Chilla were in the mix, providing security for the poll workers as part of Operation Liberty Express. Two months later, as Iraqis voted for their national parliament, Chilla and Weller returned to Camp Liberty, serving the same duty as they had before, with a distinctive twist: they were battle buddies, standing post together. “I was grateful to be with her because we both knew what to expect,” said Chilla, a Wai Ko Loa, Hawaii, native,...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2005 – The United States has a winning strategy for Iraq that's showing steady success on the political, economic and security fronts, the president and vice president said today in separate forums. "Our strategy is one that ... will lead us to victory," President Bush said in response to a reporter's question following a meeting with Dr. Lee Jong-Wook, director of the World Health Organization. Terrorists have nothing to offer the Iraqi people, who Bush said are showing "incredible courage" in the face of violence by extremists desperate to reverse the wheels of progress. That progress continues...

CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, AR RAMADI, Iraq (Oct. 20, 2005) -- Dawn broke over Iraq to empty, silent streets Oct. 15. A lone bus cruised down an empty street. As it dragged to a halt the door opened and a handful of Iraqi citizens boarded. Their destination: one of the many polling sites across the country where the Iraqi people would vote on the draft Iraqi Constitution. Second Marine Division and Iraqi Security Forces wrapped up Operation Liberty Express this week, which provided security for 139 polling sites throughout Al Anbar province during the Iraqi Constitutional Referendum. The results of the...

PARIS (AFP) - Venus Express, the European Space Agency's first mission to explore Earth's closest neighbour, will be launched next Wednesday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The ESA gave the prospective launch time as 0443 GMT. The 1.27-tonne unmanned spacecraft, which will be taken aloft by a Russian-made Soyuz-Fregat rocket, is expected to arrive at Venus on April 6. Venus Express, equipped with seven instruments, is intended to map the Venusian surface and weather system, looking at temperature variation, cloud formations, wind speeds and gas composition. Its main goal is to help understand why Venus fell prey to runaway...

Political correctness is turning lethal. Stockport Council is now using resource packs provided by the Muslim Council of Britain to teach schoolchildren about Islam, an initiative which is to be extended across the nation. According to the Stockport Express, councillors think this will promote 'multi-racial [sic] harmony'. Councillor John Pantall, executive member for 'diversity strategy', said: 'If we can get to pupils at an early age we hope they can grow up understanding other cultures and religions and without prejudice. There is a great deal of ignorance about major faiths, resulting in dangerous and destructive myths. The use of the...

Imagine a missionary coming across an undiscovered people. Once the foreign language is learned, the missionary begins to delve into the religious mythology of the tribe to see if he can uncover some parallels he can use to introduce them to the Gospel of Christ. One of the myths concerns an omnipotent being who keeps track of everyone's good and evil deeds. This being lives in a far away land in a city beautiful beyond imagining. The only way to get there is if you are sent for, and then you will be conveyed there by magical transportation. The being...

Al-Jazeera, the Arabic news channel that gained international prominence during the Gulf war, has hit back at a "ridiculous" attack on its most senior editor in the Daily Express, which branded him "Bin Laden TV chief". The BBC has also defended its decision to hire al-Jazeera's editor-in-chief, Ibrahim Helal, to train journalists throughout the Middle East. In a front-page splash today, the Express lashed out at Helal under the headline: "Now BBC signs up Bin Laden TV chief - new insult to viewers just days after Kilroy sacking." The paper branded al-Jazeera "terror chief Osama Bin Laden's mouthpiece TV channel"...

Scientists examine first images from Mars Express 18:26 15 January 04 NewScientist.com news service Mission scientists for the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft saw the first images and data from the orbiter on Thursday. Mike McKay, flight operations director at mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, told New Scientist: "They blew me away." The images will be released to the public on 20 January, with the first scientific results and 3-D videos expected to follow three days later. Mars Express is now easing towards its intended orbit, and six of its seven instruments have been switched on and are working....

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 December 18 Express to Mars Credit: Mars Express, ESA Explanation: Hurtling toward its destination, the high resolution camera on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft recorded this tantalizing view of the Red Planet earlier this month on December 3rd. Seen from a distance of 5.5 million kilometers, features across part of Mars' western hemisphere are bathed in sunlight. The Martian night side is also prominent from the spacecraft's...

MOSCOW - An unmanned European spacecraft — poised for launch Monday on a Russian rocket — will orbit Mars for nearly two years and search for signs of life on the planet. AP Photo The Mars Express spacecraft is to be launched by the Soyuz FG booster rocket from the Russian-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:45 p.m. Monday (1:45 p.m. EDT), according to the Russian Space Forces, which runs the launchpad. The European Space Agency vehicle, which cost $350 million, will initially be put into the Earth's orbit. About 90 minutes later, it will be given a final push...

Powell Defends Visa Consul Nominee W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 1 — In the face of harsh criticism by relatives of Sept. 11 victims, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday the department is working hard to upgrade its visa-issuing system and defended the foreign service officer chosen to head the consular service. The relatives' group accused the nominee, Maura Harty, of incompetence and negligence and demanded that she resign. They said Harty was a top official in the Consular Services Bureau when visa applications were approved in Saudi Arabia for 15 of the...

Several vulnerabilities were reported in Outlook Express (OE). A remote user can send malicious e-mail with an attachment that will bypass OE's malicious file type filter and misrepresent the name and size of the file. http://securitytracker.com/alerts/2002/Jul/1004805.html

We are today seeing things that one year ago we would not imagine possible. What things can we not imagine today that will be happening to us within the next 10 years in the name of safety and security, diversity or any other current PC thought today? If this has been done before my apologies. I think that the age of sexual consent for minors will be lower to the age of 15. We will be operating on a cash-less basis. Churches will lose their tax-exempt status... there's an unless statement in there but I'll probably get flamed for saying...