Free Republic

“These people are going to end up rioting about this,” says Sheila Tyson, a community activist in Jefferson County, Ala. “If they let this stuff happen they are going to get the biggest riot the South has ever seen . . . I can see it coming.” That’s a pretty serious prediction. What could possibly start a riot that big? She’s talking about the likelihood of Jefferson County increasing its water and sewage bill rates. Oh. Is it really all that bad? “If the sewer bill gets higher, my light might get cut off and if I try to catch...

A Contra Costa County water supplier has laid eight miles of pipe across rural grasslands to prevent California red-legged frogs from drying out and dying in the blistering summer heat. The $163,000 project delivers water to 16 artificial ponds, breaking new ground in helping the threatened frog species celebrated in Mark Twain's story ``The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.''

SYRACUSE NY--Something didn't smell quite right to North Syracuse police when a village resident came in Friday looking for a little help. What stunk was Brian D. Courbat, 21, of 130 Lynhurst Ave. He wreaked of marijuana, police said. Officers Jeff Tripp and Rocco DePerno said when they asked him about the odor, Courbat told them he had just used marijuana, something he routinely does three or four times a day. In fact, Courbat had several packets of pot on him, police said. Courbat wanted the police to help him with the background check necessary for a pistol permit. Instead,...

=====Washington===== U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) fields a question during a press briefing at the White House, September 22, 2003. Rice spoke about President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s trip to New York tomorrow, where he will address the United Nations (news - web sites) General Assembly on the situation in Iraq (news - web sites). REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) listens to Iraqi Minister of Electricity Ayham Sameraei (R) as he speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House, September 22, 2003....

The Game plan called for the president from Texas to meet the Texas team, but the National Basketball Association champion San Antonio Spurs were forced to postpone their scheduled White House visit to meet with President George W. Bush (news - web sites) because of Hurricane Isabel(AFP/File/Stephen Jaffe) A US tank passes by as a crane removes a burned American military truck after US troops were ambushed near Khaldiyah on Sept.18, 2003. The Bush administration has asked Turkey, Pakistan and South Korea (news - web sites) to send a total of up to 40,000 troops to Iraq (news -...

I was driving down the road yesterday when I saw the back of a Fed Ex Truck. The logo on the back of the truck said "Never Underestimate An American" and on the side it said "Proud To Be An American" in red, white, and blue letters! I looked for a pic of this on the net and couldn't find it! Their was a website on the side of the truck and it said www.af.com Wrapped into his $87 billion budget plan for Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites), President George W. Bush (news -...

Marine Lance Cpl Chris Delavore, left, helps Luther Lewis fill plastic bags with beach sand on Atlantic Beach, N.C. as they continue preparations for Hurricane Isabel on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003. The storm is expected to make landfall on the North Carolina coast on Thursday. (AP Photo/Dave Martin) Vice President Richard Cheney sits next to Chief of Staff Andrew Card (L) during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, September 17, 2003. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) distanced himself from comments by Cheney that left the impression he saw a possible link between...

President George W. Bush (news - web sites) speaks in the East Garden of the White House, September 16, 2003. Bush pitched his 'Clear Skies' pollution control initiative as good for the economy, but ran into Democratic criticism that the plan served 'corporate polluters.' Photo by William Philpott/Reuters President George W. Bush (news - web sites) walks along the South Lawn of the White House on his way to the East Garden event, September 16, 2003. The U.S. Senate defied a second White House veto threat in as many weeks as Republicans displayed a willingness to break ranks with...

U.S. environmental groups on September 15, 2003 blasted the Bush administration for failing to appeal a Wyoming court injunction that blocked a Clinton-era rule designed to protect millions of acres of federal forest land. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) addresses supporters during a Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign fundraiser while in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, September 15. (Larry Downing/Reuters) Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) meets with families of victims killed in a March 1988 chemical gas attack, at a memorial built on a mass grave in the northern Iraq (news - web sites) town of...

US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), right, meets Saeed Hussein Al-Sadr, a senior Iraqi Shiite cleric before private talks in Baghdad Sunday Sept. 14, 2003. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo) Anti-government demonstrators chant 'Down with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide!' as they wait to participate in an anti-government march in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2003. The march drew thousands of opposition supporters who protested President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government and clashed with a counter-demonstration in Haiti's second largest city. (AP Photo/Daniel Morel) Anti-government demonstrators carry a man who was hit by a rock thrown by pro-government demonstrators during...

U.S. Army soldiers of the 101st Airborne Aivision patrol a street in Mosul, 400 kms (250 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq (news - web sites), Saturday, Sept. 13, 2003. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze) Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) (C), accompanied by Israeli peace activists Latif Dori (L) and Uri Averny, attends a rally in his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah September 13, 2003. Israel rebuffed a U.N. Security Council warning not to go through with its threat to exile Arafat, saying national security was at stake amid a new wave of suicide bombings. (Goran...

American soldier Maj. Bryan Luke of Mobile, Ala., 2nd in command of 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry keeps at the ready during a night patrol in Tikrit, Iraq (news - web sites), Friday, Sept. 12, 2003. Patrols are an ongoing exercise in Iraq as a show of force to attempt to reduce the activities of possible Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) loyalists. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith) Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean (news - web sites) rolls up his sleeves before taking the stage to babble to supporters during a campaign stop at Plymouth State College, Friday, Sept...

William Ledbetter from New York City shelters a candle from the rain during a memorial service Thursday Sept. 11, 2003 at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore. About 200 Americans and Singaporeans gathered at the embassy to commemorate those who died in terrorist attacks on New York and Washinjgton 2 years ago today.(AP Photo/Ed Wray) A New York City police officer consoles a girl during a memorial service marking the second year since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2003 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) An American flag, known as the 'Flag of Honor,'...

US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) insisted Wednesday that France and Germany were not opposed to a new resolution on Iraq (news - web sites), adding that he was open to suggestions on the US proposal.(AFP/File/Luke Frazza) US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) and his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov had a "constructive" telephone conversation on the Iraq (news - web sites) proposal that Washington has submitted to the UN Security Council.(AFP/File/Paul J. Richards) A U.S. soldier of the 1st Battalion (22nd regiment) of the 4th infantry division compares an Iraqi youth's face...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (news) receiver Joe Jurevicius (news) (83) catches a tipped pass for a touchdown in front of Philadelphia Eagles (news) cornerback Sheldon Brown (24) during the fourth quarter of their game Monday, Sept. 8, 2003 in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Miles Kennedy) Talk radio's Rush Limbaugh appears in this Friday, July 11, 2003, file photo from New York. Commentator Limbaugh made his ESPN debut at a fitting location: Washington, D.C. Actually, it was Landover, Md., in the parking lot of FedEx Field, but it was still familiar territory for the right-wing radio host best known as the host of...

No US Casulaties in 7 days. A U.S. Army soldier trains a new Iraqi fire fighter at a U.S. Army base in Mosul, 400 km (250 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq (news - web sites), Monday, September 8, 2003. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze The shadows of U.S. soldiers are cast on a wall as they guard an Iraqi detainee after an early morning raid in Tikrit September 8, 2003. U.S. soldiers came under attack in Baghdad and rounded up suspected guerrillas in Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s hometown Monday as President George W. Bush (news - web sites) prepared Americans...

Rummy Says: "Make My Day" U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld attends a meeting with Mayor of Mosul Ghanam Al-Basso in his office during his visit the northern Iraqi city of Mosul September 5, 2003. If they had the chance, U.S. soldiers at a base in Iraq (news - web sites) would have had one question for Rumsfeld: When are we going home? Photo by Stringer/Turkey/Reuters President George W. Bush (news - web sites) speaks to the Kansas City, Missouri, Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites) at the Kansas City Convention Center about the US economy.(AFP/File/Luke Frazza) President Bush...

Official word from Trent Lott's office - maybe you all knew this already. The Republican leadership has made a decision that they will not take control of committee chairmanships until after the lame duck session, even if Talent is confirmed giving the Republicans Majority status next week as expected. At first the person in Lott's office that I spoke to said they "can't" take the committee chairmanships until January. I pressed her on the meaning of can't, and she said that actually they could take the chairmanships but that a decision has been made by the Republican leadership not to....