Free Republic

The recent raids by immigration agents could be keeping undocumented immigrants in Flint, Michigan from opening their doors to government workers who have been going from home to home to give out bottled water and distribute crucial information. A series of immigration raids on Jan. 2 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, targeted Central Americans who had outstanding deportation orders. Though only 121 mothers and children were targeted in the raids, it caused widespread panic in Latino communities for weeks afterward. Immigration advocacy groups advised people without legal documents not to open their doors to prevent agents from entering...

Huge 'launch ring' to fling satellites into orbit 16:00 03 October 2006 NewScientist.com news service David Shiga A ring of superconducting magnets fires a projectile off a ramp at 8 kilometres per second, fast enough to reach orbit (Artist’s conception: J Fiske/LaunchPoint) A cone-shaped shell would protect the payload during its passage through the atmosphere into space, and includes a rocket at the back end to adjust its trajectory (Illustration: J Fiske/LaunchPoint Technologies) An enormous ring of superconducting magnets similar to a particle accelerator could fling satellites into space, or perhaps weapons around the world, suggest the findings of a...

Segway is recalling all 23,500 of the self-balancing scooters it has shipped because of a software glitch that can make its wheels unexpectedly reverse direction, throwing off the rider -- and in at least one incident, break some teeth. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday said consumers should stop using the vehicles immediately. Segway is cooperating on the voluntary recall.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The Ku Klux Klan is the central paradox of Robert C. Byrd's life — "an extraordinarily foolish mistake" that has haunted him for 40 years but the very thing that launched one of the longest careers in the U.S. Senate. "It has emerged throughout my life to haunt and embarrass me, and has taught me in a very graphic way what one major mistake can do to one's life, career and reputation," the West Virginia Democrat says in an autobiography being released Monday. "I displayed very bad judgment, due to immaturity and a lack of seasoned reasoning."...

Wow, did you hear the latest on the runaway bride? Turns out she was going to New Mexico to visit an ex boyfriend to get some action before her wedding. Todd Kendrick, a CPA, said, “she liked sex,” and added, “It wasn't serious. It was what it was,” referring to their brief, but steamy, relationship. Kendrick never did hook up with Jennifer this time, but stated that “we broke up when she started freakin’ out on me, I mean who wants to have sex in a hot tub filled with Cheetos®?” Sources report that Kendrick said Wilbanks had a healthy...

THE beauty said to have had a fling with presidential hopeful John Kerry has recorded a bombshell tell-all interview. Journalist Alex Polier taped a talk with a US TV network at Christmas. The former Washington intern, 27, told all about an alleged fling with the 60-year-old super-rich senator in spring 2001. The channel is sitting on the tape until it has enough evidence to back her story. If the sex claims are true, they would shatter his White House hopes. Kerry, a married dad of two, has denied the fling. But Alex told pals she fled to Kenya on his...

News in Science 2/4/2003 Caterpillars fling faeces afar to fool foes [This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s822336.htm] [photo] Above: a skipper caterpillar lays down a silk guy-wire for its leaf shelter. Below: adult skippers make some more (Pics: M Weiss, C Williams) Caterpillars shoot their faeces more than a metre from their homes to protect themselves from predators, an American ecologist has discovered. Dr Martha Weiss of Georgetown University in Washington, wondered if animals gain an evolutionary advantage by developing sophisticated strategies to manage their waste. In the current edition of Ecology Letters, Weiss reports on experiments with...