Free Republic

The planned unveiling in London of a memorial to the 55,573 Royal Air Force Bomber Command airmen killed in World War II has sparked muted criticism in Germany, where many regard the Allied air raids that destroyed entire cities and killed over 500,000 civilians as unjustified and criminal. Helma Orosz, the mayor of Dresden, which was devastated in an Allied attack in February 1945, criticized the plans for the monument when they first became public in 2010, and spoke to London Mayor Boris Johnson about it. "The planned memorial triggered astonishment in Dresden and was judged critically by us in...

SACRAMENTO -- The state Legislature easily passed a $117.5 billion spending plan Thursday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign next week, paving the way for the start of talks over his government reform package. The Assembly approved the financial plan 65-13 and the Senate, 34-4. "This budget puts California on the path toward rebuilding to make our state great once again," Schwarzenegger said in a written statement. "However, California still has a broken budget system that spends more than the state takes in. "We must now use this same bipartisan spirit to work together to bring needed, fundamental...