Free Republic

Insurgent groups mourn al-Zarqawi's deathBy SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 30 minutes ago A woman grieves for her brother who was killed by a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol in an outdoor market, killing four people and wounding 27, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, June 10, 2006. The explosion at the al-Sadriya market missed the police patrol, killing and wounding civilians in this Shiite-Sunni Arab neighborhood in central Baghdad. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim) BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni insurgents posted their condolences over Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death on Web sites Saturday and warned Sunnis not to cooperate with the Iraqi...

Bird flu risk to Indonesian quake survivors: aid groups JAKARTA (AFP) - Some quake survivors on Indonesia's Java island have taken shelter in chicken sheds, exposing themselves to the risk of contracting bird flu and other diseases, a British aid group has warned. More than 100 people left homeless by the quake were sheltering in six large poultry sheds built from bamboo in Pundong in hard-hit Bantul district, said Yolanda Bayugo, health director of the London-based Merlin group in Indonesia. "We are concerned that people using poultry sheds as shelter are at risk from avian flu and possibly salmonella infection,"...

Every firefighter knows the inherent risks of his or her job, but what many don't realize when they are called to a fire like the 103 Fire on the border is that there is a whole new set of challenges. The corridor between Naco and Nogales, right where the 103 Fire is burning has been known for years as a popular smuggling route for armed traffickers of both humans and drugs, also making it well known for high speed pursuits. Rangers describe smugglers as doing whatever they have to do to get back across the border without being caught. A...

Amnesty Republicans create new wave of forced unionism; NAWER says Business community will not stand with you against forced unionism cut deal with unions instead 5/25/2006 11:34:00 AM

Even as Latinos in recent weeks have pushed for immigration reform on the streets and over the airwaves, another goal has emerged among a broader immigrant community: Translating street activism into political participation. Latino and Asian civic groups last week reignited voter-registration drives by calling upon the thousands who participated in protests to take their enthusiasm to the ballot box in November. But experts said that if history serves as any guide, short-term gains are likely to be few, while long-term gains will be significant. ‘‘If the next step and what we are seeing in the streets moves toward citizenship,...

He fought off a challenge to the state's three-strikes law, endorsed the Jessica's Law initiative cracking down on sex offenders and has denied clemency on every petition sent his way from death row. But coming into the 2006 political season, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger still found himself vulnerable on the crime issue, thanks to a relentless campaign waged against him last year by the California prison cops union and two leading victims rights groups that it supports. Schwarzenegger's top-level administrative staff, however, has shifted into overdrive this year to shore up his standing with his adversaries on the criminal justice front,...

CAIRO, Egypt - When terrorists blew themselves up in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula this week, the radical Palestinian group Hamas quickly joined Arab governments and Western leaders in condemning a "criminal attack against all human values." Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood called the bombings "aggression on human souls created by God." The denunciations were unexpectedly harsh from the Islamic fundamentalist groups — Hamas has killed hundreds of Israeli civilians in suicide bombings, and the Brotherhood is determined to impose an Islamic government — but experts agree that radical Muslim organizations want to distance themselves from al-Qaida. The widening rift largely has not...

Nobody is above the law, says Hamas after rival groups clash By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem (Filed: 03/04/2006) Hamas yesterday faced its toughest internal challenge since being swept unexpectedly to power in the Palestinian territories when rival militant groups in Gaza took part in a series of clashes that left four dead and dozens wounded. Clashes were sparked by the murder of Abu Yussef al-Gouga Said Siam, the newly appointed Hamas interior minister, appealed for calm and warned that his government would clamp down heavily on armed groups who used their weapons against each other rather than in the struggle...

Trying to harness the momentum of marches nationwide, local leaders are planning a series of events, culminating with a massive demonstration next weekend to support undocumented immigrants. The organizers of the April 9 event are from about 30 community and religious groups in the county, including some that traditionally do not take to the streets. “We can't remain silent while the people, many of whom pray in our churches, keep living in the shadows and facing the fear of deportation,” said Rosemary Johnston of the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, one of the organizers. The marches have a common goal:...

CHICAGO, March 28, 2006 – Grassroots supporters of America's troops agree their efforts are acts of gratitude, not charity. America Supports You member Christina Finn, founder of the Patriotic Pillow Project, speaks with Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michelle Schuerman, a public affairs officer at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill. They met during the America Supports You regional meeting in Chicago, March 27. Photo by Paul X. Rutz  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "It's our way of saying thank you," Anna Sherony, co-chair of the nonprofit "Wounded Heroes Foundation," said. "The hardest part is to get (the troops) to call...

WASHINGTON, March 10, 2006 – The leaders of several grassroots organizations associated with the Pentagon's America Supports You program met today at the White House to discuss their efforts to support the men and women of the U.S. armed forces with President Bush and first lady Laura Bush. 'AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU' - President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush, center, meet with members of the Defense Department's 'America Supports You' program, which highlights grass-roots and corporate efforts to support U.S. servicemembers. Bush met with the group at the White House March 10. Photo by Evan Sisley  (Click photo...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2006 – Two organizations have teamed up to send valentines to troops in Baghdad in a union made possible by "America Supports You." From left, Shauna Fleming, Peter Angel, and Paul Holton stand in front of a FedEx truck, loaded with 200,000 valentines, Feb. 7 in California. Fleming, the 16-year-old founder of "A Million Thanks" has partnered on this project with Holton, founder of "Operation Give," to send the shipment to troops in Baghdad just in time for Valentine's Day. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Since November 2004, the Defense Department program to...

ATLANTA, Feb. 11, 2006 – Twelve representatives of seven grassroots troop support organizations met here yesterday for the first of eight planned regional "America Supports You" summits. America Supports You is a Defense Department outreach program designed to recognize citizens' support for U.S. servicemembers and their families. The summits are designed to provide a venue for a two-way discussion about what is working well for support groups and what could work better. Tips to help the groups grow and improve their effectiveness are part of the focus as well, said Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs,...

Not only were neither Saddam Hussein nor Iraq mentioned in a film about the Iraq-Kuwait war, but the Manchurian corporation's technicians rewire the brains of the abducted U.S. soldiers with false memories of al-Qaida-type jihadists so that they will lay the blame for their terrorist acts on an innocent Muslim jihadist. Why don't the movies have plausible, real-world villains anymore? One reason is that a plethora of stereotype-sensitive advocacy groups, representing everyone from hyphenated ethnic minorities and the physically handicapped to Army and CIA veterans, now maintain liaisons in Hollywood to protect their images. The studios themselves often have "outreach...

The head of the Mexican American Political Assn. on Tuesday called on Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to drop support of an ambassadorship for an owner of Ameriquest and urged him not to use the mortgage company's jet again. --snip-- In a letter to the mayor, MAPA National President Nativo Lopez said his group was "taken aback" by an article in The Times on Tuesday that detailed Villaraigosa's use of the Ameriquest jet and his letter of support to the Senate for the nomination of Ameriquest principal owner Roland E. Arnall as ambassador to the Netherlands. Lopez said his organization...

Anti-nuclear and environmental activists, backed by California and three other states, asked a federal appeals court on Monday to shut down a new storage facility for nuclear waste at Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s Diablo Canyon plant until a federal agency studies the risk of a terrorist attack. "Everything has been done in secret that relates to security at Diablo Canyon,'' Diane Curran, lawyer for San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace and the Sierra Club, told a panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Referring to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's current security planning review, Curran...

WASHINGTON - International conservation groups proposed a $404 million effort Monday to preserve frogs and other amphibians whose sensitive, porous skins often make them the first indicator of when nature goes awry. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Conservation International and other groups said they plan a series of emergency actions and long-term research that includes describing at least 1,000 new species, preventing future habitat loss and reducing trade in amphibians for food and pets. The groups are looking to governments, private institutions and individual donors for funding. "The frogs are trying to tell us something," said Andrew...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A coalition of anti-war activists have launched a national campaign, claiming that military recruiters are unfairly targeting minorities at high schools. The advocates plan to educate students and their parents "to keep our children from being cannon fodder," Rosalio Munoz, coordinator for Latinos for Peace, said during a news conference Monday in East Los Angeles. The groups made the announcement on the 35th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium, a protest against the disproportionate number of Hispanics being killed in the Vietnam War. The 20,000-member march ended in a riot and the deaths of three people, including...

News media reports from meetings organized by billionaire George Soros say he and some rich allies are now funding groups intended to counter the efforts on college campuses of the Leadership Institute and other conservative educational organizations. Although Soros and his allies hope through their spending to increase the effectiveness of the left on campus, I do not fear that activities they bankroll will significantly increase the left's campus influence. Nor can Soros stop the growth of campus conservative activities. My Leadership Institute's Campus Leadership Program, for example, grew its number of active, independent, conservative campus groups from 216 in...

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Organized hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan have historically terrorized blacks and Jews in the Southeast. But the recent influx of Hispanic immigrants to the region has given hate groups a new target, and officials say Hispanics are increasingly targets of hate crimes. Former Klansman Daniel Schertz, a 27-year-old from the southeast Tennessee town of South Pittsburg, was indicted in June on charges of building pipe bombs to kill Hispanic immigrants. Imperial Wizard Billy Jeffery of the North Georgia White Knights denied any connection to the bomb plot and said he banished Schertz from the group,...