Free Republic

I got access to a computer at FBI headquarters recently and took the opportunity to see what they had on me. A lot, as it turned out. Up popped my name in an investigation of Scott Ritter, the former top Iraq arms inspector turned administration critic. I'd interviewed him on the telephone several times in the late 1990s. Scrolling down, I also saw a note on my 1972 membership in a group of graduate students and faculty who wrote scholarly articles against the war in Vietnam, evidently related to an investigation of Jane Fonda. There were also excerpts of articles...

In a filing Thursday at U.S. District Court in the I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby CIA/Leak case, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald -- in a 19-page affidavit -- offered few clues about the identity of the official or officials involved in the leak of former CIA employee, Valerie Wilson Plame's name to reporters, other than Libby himself. Libby, a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, was indicted last year on charges that he lied about how he learned Plame’s identity and when he told reporters. The affidavit does not unravel the mystery of who Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's "official"...

A Republican lawyer who works as legal counsel to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has filed an initiative that would raise the minimum wage--but also abolish the eight-hour day for overtime. Thomas Hiltachk filed the "Fair Pay Workplace Flexibility Act of 2006" with the Attorney General on Feb. 10. If it makes it to the ballot and is passed by voters, it would lift the state's minimum wage from the current $6.75 to $7.25 on July 1, 2007, and to $7.75 a year later. The initiative does not include automatic cost-of-living increases known as indexing. The initiative would also codify several rules...

Files 'lost' at bird flu centre By Charles Clover, Environment Editor (Filed: 02/12/2005) Confusion rose over the handling of bird flu in Britain yesterday when the Government said it had overlooked 2,000 birds processed by the quarantine centre where the first cases were found. Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary, said "misfiled" records showed that the birds from Tanzania had passed through the centre in July and August - two months before the disease was found. It had been thought previously that no shipments had passed through Pegasus Birds, in Essex, since March. She added in a Commons written statement that...

Files on Himmler 'murder' exposed as fake By Ben Fenton (Filed: 02/07/2005) Documents from the National Archives used to substantiate claims that British intelligence agents murdered Heinrich Himmler in 1945 are forgeries, The Daily Telegraph can reveal today. It seems certain that the bogus documents were somehow planted among genuine papers to pervert the course of historical study. Himmler: Forgeries implicated Churchill in his 'murder' The results of investigations by forensic document experts on behalf of this newspaper have shocked historians and caused tremors at the Archives, the home of millions of historical documents, which has previously been thought immune...

Since the inception of controversy over University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, the Rocky Mountain News has led all other media in news coverage, investigation and analysis. Now, that newspaper has published the results of a detailed, exhaustive two-month investigation into multiple allegations against the embattled professor. The five-part series of reports, which began on June 4, constitute remarkable journalism of a kind too rarely practiced, regardless of subject matter. It is thorough; it is careful; it is balanced. It is investigatory and scholarly, analytical and insightful, as clear and as compellingly written as any complicated, contentious story can be....

When I first heard the “big news” of the unmasking of "Deep Throat," my immediate reaction was: who cares? It isn’t just that the whole Watergate brouhaha happened long before I was even born. It was that the whole brouhaha was child’s play compared to what would go on in the Clinton White House. At best, Watergate was a about a second rate breaking and entering, not committed by or with the knowledge of Richard Nixon; one use of executive privilege to slow down the investigation of the break-in for a couple of weeks; and one lie, which wasn’t even...

Scores of lawmakers disclose travel files One representative missed the reporting deadline by years. The Associated Press Scrutiny of Majority Leader Tom DeLay's travel has led to the belated disclosure of at least 198 previously unreported special interest trips by House members and their aides, including eight years of travel by the second-ranking Democrat, an Associated Press review has found. At least 43 House members and dozens of aides had failed to meet the one-month deadline in ethics rules for disclosing trips financed by organizations outside the U.S. government. The AP review of thousands of pages of records covered pre-2005...

At the risk of piling on, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, in the latest of a series of strained attempts to justify a judicial-filibuster strategy that annihilates Senate traditions, has utterly destroyed the civility that once prevailed in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body. Reid took the floor to decry Republican attempts to restore the old traditions of voting yes-or-no on a president's judicial nominees. About two-thirds of the way through a 30-minute talk, he added the following ad-libbed passage: "Henry Saad would have been filibustered, anyway. He's one of those nominees. All you need to do is have a member...

A memo leaked to Narco News by some brave soul within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offers a revealing insight into the so-called war on terrorism. In short, the memo seems to show that for at least one federal law-enforcement agency, investigating terrorism is not unlike the childhood game of “Duck, Duck, Goose.” The memo, issued on March 28 by a high-ranking official with DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), essentially orders supervisors in the field to sanitize terrorism-related case files maintained in a major law-enforcement computer system called TECS. All told, TECS contains about 12,000 terrorism-related...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union is suing to block the federal government from leasing to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a site where more than 100 Mormons died in 1856. The ACLU claims the government converted Martin's Cove into a religious site and gave the church authority to place unconstitutional restrictions on visitors. "It's a violation of the First Amendment, and specifically it entangles church and state because the government has entered into a partnership with the LDS church," said Mark Lopez, an ACLU attorney in New York. The 25-year lease, signed with...

Jury probes effort to smear GOP Testimony focuses on State Police files and McGreevey's campaign A state grand jury is hearing testimony into allegations that former State Police officials and a former state senator conducted a covert operation that used confidential files in an effort to smear Republicans and help James E. McGreevey run for governor four years ago. ...A key witness in the investigation, retired State Police Lt. Vincent Bellaran, said in an interview this week he has testified three times before the grand jury in Trenton. In return for his testimony, Bellaran said, prosecutors who report to state...

When communist rulers cracked down on Poland's Solidarity movement in 1981, Malgorzata Niezabitowska risked prison to smuggle out photographs of tanks on Warsaw's streets and police turning water cannons on protesters. Today, Niezabitowska, the spokeswoman for Poland's first post-communist government in 1989-90, faces allegations that she collaborated with the secret police of the very regime she struggled against. The case is the most sensational to arise from Poland's recent opening of communist-era files to victims, journalists and historians. Such files have haunted former Eastern bloc countries since the end of the Cold War. Hungary, like Poland, is only now moving...

Gonzales misrepresented role in assisting President Bush escape jury duty WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the State Bar of Texas requesting an investigation into misrepresentations White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales made in a written response to a question posed to him by the Senate Judiciary Committee which is considering Gonzales’s nomination for Attorney General. The complaint alleges that Gonzales inaccurately portrayed his role in appearing before a Texas court when President Bush, then Governor of Texas, was summoned for jury duty. Gonzales has...

- Debt would be reduced by more than $5 billion - Mirant Americas Generation would receive a full recovery - All assets and operations would remain intact ATLANTA, Jan. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mirant (OTC Pink Sheets: MIRKQ - News) today filed its proposed Plan of Reorganization (the "Plan") and Disclosure Statement, putting into motion a process intended to allow the company to emerge from Chapter 11 protection by mid-year. The documents were filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth division, where the Honorable D. Michael Lynn is presiding over the case. The Plan...

For all the freepers that enjoyed the John Kerry "Massachussettes" file, well.. Apparently you enjoyed it a LOT! We ripped through 40 Gig of transfer in something like 72 hours... What I need is Freepers with some webspace to mirrie this SWF file, contact me, and I'll make the file available and list you as a Mirror. My Mail-box has been flooding since 10 a.m. eastern with people requesting the file. HELP!!!

LOS ANGELES (Nov. 6) - James Belushi has sued his next-door neighbor, actress Julie Newmar, accusing her of a "campaign of harassment" to drive him from his home. In a lawsuit filed Nov. 2, the 50-year-old actor claims Newmar vandalized his estate by destroying a fence and landscaping. He also contends she bad-mouthed him to neighbors and friends, spied on his family and caused a nuisance by playing loud music directed at his backyard. A telephone number for Newmar, who played Catwoman in the 1960s television series "Batman," was not immediately available. A call to Belushi's lawyers was not returned...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Republicans have filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing two Los Angeles radio personalities of "criminal behavior" for attacking a local congressman on-air and endorsing his Democratic opponent. The National Republican Congressional Committee contends that ongoing criticism of Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, by KFI-AM talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou represents an illegal in-kind donation of more than $25,000 to Dreier's challenger. "This behavior is illegal and must be appropriately punished," the committee says, adding that violating the law carries a penalty of fines and jail time. The hosts of the...

Dear Sir, As a long time employee of the federal government, I have confidence in the records that each government agency maintains. Many official federal records have formed the basis for legal decisions, major or minor. US courts find such records acceptable as evidence in criminal and civil trials, and, as evidence, these records are highly sought by parties of interest to major legal decisions. Obviously, such documents would be helpful in the determination of a citizen’s suitability to seek the highest office in the land.

Date: 8/8/02 Case Style: Bill L. Burkett v. William W. Goodwin, Jackie L. Taliaferro and Archie M. Meador Case Number: 03-01-00302-CV Judge: Puryear Court: Texas County of Appeals, Third Appellate District Plaintiff's Attorney: David Van Os Defendant's Attorney: Kamilla L. Stokes Description: Bill Burkett, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Texas Army National Guard, brought a personal injury action against appellees, William Goodwin, Jackie Taliaferro, and Archie Meador, all of whom were his superior officers. (1) Burkett appeals from the trial court's order dismissing his lawsuit. While Burkett sets out his appellate issue as "whether the court below erred in...