Free Republic

LAGOS, Nigeria — Protesters furious over spiraling gas prices set fires on an expressway Tuesday and at least one person was killed in the violent unrest after Nigeria's government did away with a subsidy program that had kept fuel costs down for more than two decades. One union leader described the federal government's hugely unpopular move as "immoral and politically suicidal," and urged Nigerians to resist "with everything they have." But Tuesday's protest showed that, once unleashed, the pent-up anger of the masses could be hard to curtail. Angry crowds vandalized gas stations, intimidated owners into keeping their pumps unused...

SACRAMENTO — On the stump, as he tries to sell his deficit-cutting plan to voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has tried to show a softer side toward those who will get hit hardest, often returning to a variation of a line he rolled out in an address to the Legislature in May: "I see the pain in their eyes and hear the fear in their voice." But every once in a while, the megamillionaire and movie star reveals himself as somewhat detached from the struggles of the poor. Last weekend, in a New York Times Magazine article, he spoke of getting...

Last year, more than 7 million American people -- that’s about one in every 32 adults -- were behind bars, on probation or parole. The United States has, for years, imprisoned more people than any other country in the world. Yet, we don’t have the highest literacy rate.... (snip) Inner-city schools fail half of their students, and jobs are removed from communities, replaced with guns and drugs, resulting in incarceration, if you’re lucky; death if you’re not. Nonetheless, many U.S. states have cut their education budgets to compensate for rapid growth in prison populations and prison construction. The misguided priorities...

They look for all the world like internment camps. The long rows of identical white trailers sit on flat, grim, barren expanses of land that are enclosed by metal fences. Armed guards are stationed at the entrances around the clock. More than a year after the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, thousands of the poorest victims from New Orleans are still living in these trailer parks run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They have ironic names, like Mount Olive Gardens and Renaissance Village. A more accurate name would be Camp Depression, after the state of mind of most of the...

With jazz music, prayer and offerings to the gods, hundreds of Hurricane Katrina survivors on Saturday demanded the government move faster to rebuild the city and provide evacuees with more disaster assistance. Shouting "We're Back," protesters said they feared the city's poor would be shut out of reconstruction after being dispersed far across the United States since the storm. City officials estimate more than 300,000 New Orleans residents have yet to return since Katrina flooded the city, reducing entire neighborhoods to a rubble-strewn wasteland. In one of the largest rallies in New Orleans since the hurricane, survivors marched to City...

It is a well-known fact that terrorists killing our troops in Iraq are not afraid of the M4 and its 5.56mm bullet -- but they are terrified of shotguns. Enter the AA-12. No felt recoil, high explosive rounds, gas-forged and heat-treated, this shotgun may give terrorists a run for their money.   Destructive device: The AA-12 and AA-12 CQB could very well have a dramatic effect on the Global War On Terrorism. Throughout the history of firearms, those firing multiple projectiles have always proven enormously effective at close-to-medium ranges out to 50 yards and beyond. This was especially true...

FUN WITH THE DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND Many Boortz listeners are now frequent visitors to the Internet's premiere comment board for Democrats. It's called DemocraticUnderground.com. Over the weekend my ever-alert listeners brought two different conversation threads to my attention. The first thread began with a suggestion by one Democrat that the Congress be equally divided between men and women. Why? Because "Congress is Unjust" That's why. This person didn't bother to explain why it would be "just" to deny to a voter the right to vote for a candidate of their choice. Here's your link to that thread. http://www.democraticunderground.com/duforum/DCForumID60/22942.html The second thread...