Free Republic

RIGA (Reuters) - A drunk Latvian had a blood-alcohol content more than 17 times the legal driving limit in the Baltic state when he was run over and killed, police said Tuesday. The 50-year-old unnamed pedestrian, who also had more than twice the alcohol level considered lethal for most humans, was lying drunk on the road near his home in a remote part of eastern Latvia in the early hours. Police said the man had probably been drinking home-made alcohol for several days because of the impossibility of reaching his blood-alcohol level of 0.9 percent in just a day. They...

Syria accuses US of launching lethal raids over its borders By Harry de Quetteville in Baghouz (Filed: 29/10/2005) Syria has accused the United States of launching lethal military raids into its territory from Iraq, escalating the diplomatic crisis between the two countries as the Bush administration seeks to step up pressure on President Bashar Assad's regime. Concern: A Syrian soldier looks across at Iraqi border Major General Amid Suleiman, a Syrian officer, said that American cross-border attacks into Syria had killed at least two border guards, wounded several more and prompted an official complaint to the American embassy in Damascus....

British keep out of Basra's lethal Islamic take-over By Oliver Poole (Filed: 15/07/2005) The bodies of young women began to appear in Basra six weeks ago. First there was a group of three, then two, and last week the corpses of six were found, each victim riddled by gunshots and left on the street to die in pools of blood. Protesters in Basra demonstrate against government attempts to arrest supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr The Iraqi police say they have no strong leads. But it is an open secret in the port city why they died. They worked as prostitutes and...

Seven high-security federal prisons will be getting lethal electrified fences in a $10 million project intended to reduce the number of perimeter guards needed. The 12-foot-high "stun-lethal" fences, similar to ones already used at some state prisons, can be set to deliver a shock if touched once, and a fatal jolt if touched a second time. The federal Bureau of Prisons expects to award contracts for the fences in late fall, spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said. "This new technology will serve as new security and help us to deter potential escapes, allow us to operate more cost-effectively by reducing the guard...

Health - HealthDay U.S. Executions by Lethal Injection May Not Be Humane 1 hour, 3 minutes ago Health - HealthDay THURSDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- Prisoner executions by lethal injection in the United States may not be painless or humane, and may not even meet veterinary standards for putting down animals. So claims a research letter in this week's issue of The Lancet. The authors concluded that prisoners executed by lethal injection may have experienced awareness and unnecessary suffering as they died because they weren't properly sedated. Anesthesia during lethal injection is essential to minimize the prisoner's suffering. Lethal...

From the Ionatron website: Why Directed Energy Weapons? Ionatron developed and patented LIPC weapons because we saw a need for a reliable, humane, light-speed defense mechanism against the growing threat of terror attacks. The U.S. government recognizes the value of LIPC technology and has commissioned Ionatron to produce LIPC units for testing. These weapons are also appropriate for commercial security firms, local and regional governments, police forces, border patrols, energy facility security forces, port authorities, and other organizations that protect people, places, and resources. Terror threats are unpredictable by nature; the need to counter quickly and effectively is paramount. LIPC...

<p>Stopping an adversary in his boots with a nonlethal ray gun is no longer just a sci-fi pipe dream, according to a local defense contract official.</p> <p>Nonlethal directed-energy scientists have tested a weapon that does just that, only on a slightly larger scale than a handgun, said Wade W. Smith, deputy of Raytheon Missile Systems' Directed Energy Weapons division.</p>

BARTOW, Fla., Sept. 2 — Paula Burcham ran the kind of day care working mothers dream about.Her house was immaculate, the meals for the children were home cooked. Kids would line up to get a hug from “Mama Paula.” BUT THE FAMILIES who trusted Burcham didn’t know she was giving over-the-counter medicines to their children without their permission. Now they suspect she was using the drugs to sedate cranky little ones. On August 15, Burcham was sentenced to eight years in prison for giving a 3 1/2-month-old girl a lethal dose of Benadryl to quiet her. And in the 20...

It wasn't exactly the deer-in-the-headlights look some candidates get when they realize that running for president is unlike any other political endeavor. But it was close -- as it should have been. Watching Howard Dean, the Democratic contender and former governor of Vermont, worm his way through his evolving support for the death penalty is not pretty. Even if he's sincere (big gulp, please), he's still wrong. This bit of political sausage-making came into public view on Sunday, a day on which Dean would have profited from not getting out of bed. Dean appeared on Meet the Press. It was...