Free Republic

Actor's bare breast too much for health ministry 01 August 2003 The Health Ministry has pulled the plug on a World Breastfeeding Week promotion featuring the bare breast of actor Michael Hurst. Acting on the ministry's directive, Auckland-based Women's Health Action yesterday asked the Manawatu Standard newspaper not to use the image of Hurst, shirt unbuttoned, with a baby to his breast. The image invites people to consider whether it would be easier to breastfeed at work if men had to do it. Returning to work is one of the key reasons women give for stopping breastfeeding, according to a...

A senior mechanic who was sacked for being gay has been awarded more than £50,000 by the Ministry of Defence. Christopher Brown, 40, from the Isle of Man, was discharged after nearly 20 years of exemplary service when his homosexuality was uncovered in 1999. The case was taken to the European Court of Human Rights, but settled out of court. Mr Brown's solicitor Stephen Grosz said his client was "pleased" with the award of £52,500, which included damages and costs. But added that he regretted the fact he did not serve his country in the recent conflict with Iraq. "I...

Iceman cometh - from Italy By Jo McAllister in Vienna July 25, 2003 A BITTER row between Austria and Italy over which country can claim to be home to the world's oldest ice mummy has been settled thanks to the work of a scientist from an Australian university. The 5300-year-old mummy, known as Oetzi after the Oetz Valley region between the two countries where he was found, was at the centre of the bizarre ownership row after his corpse was found on the mountainous border region separating the two, in the disputed region of South Tyrol. The question of whether...

24 Jul 2003 20:07:59 GMTBible verses back up at Grand Canyon PHOENIX, July 24 (Reuters) - The bible is back at the Grand Canyon - at least for now. Three bronze plaques inscribed with biblical passages that were removed this month from scenic overlooks at the canyon's South Rim have been reinstalled pending legal advice, David Barna, a National Park Service spokesman, said on Thursday. The plaques were pulled from Hermit's Rest, Lookout Studio and Desert View overlooks earlier this month after the Arizona chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union concluded that they violated the U.S. Constitution's precepts...

How man jailed by a tyrant repaid him - by leading US troops to his sons and earning a $30m bounty By David Usborne 24 July 2003 Only two things seemed clear yesterday. The American military confirmed that they had in their custody an Iraqi man who had tipped them off to the presence of Saddam Hussein's sons in the mansion of Nawaf al-Zaydan. And Mr Zaydan was nowhere to be seen. The raid on Tuesday that ended with the killing of Uday and Qusay and two others wrecked the imposing villa, fronted by ornate columns. Mr Zaydan has lost...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ark. - The last time Terry Wallis was conscious of the world around him, Ronald Reagan was president, Bill Clinton was the governor, the Soviet Union was the enemy and the World Trade Center still stood. Thrown into a stupor after an auto accident in 1984, he recently spoke his first words in 19 years: "Mom. Pepsi. Milk." Only in the last two weeks has the 39-year-old Wallis realized that Reagan no longer is president, answering "I don't know" when asked who is in office now. "He's beginning to realize he's in a different place now," said his...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A man who confessed to killing seven people in one of the worst mass murders in the city's history was sentenced Monday to seven consecutive life terms in a case in which police originally arrested the wrong men. Shihean Black pleaded guilty in February in the December 2000 bloodbath, in which four masked men burst into a row house, told people inside to lie down and then opened fire, killing seven and wounding three. Judge Benjamin Lerner praised Black for his willingness to come forward, even when police at first did not believe his confession. Police initially...

RACINE, Wis. - A man was ordered to stand trial on charges he stalked a woman he had briefly dated in high school three decades ago, calling her, sending her unsigned presents and apparently fishing a clump of her hair out of the garbage. At Wednesday's preliminary hearing, Carla Beyerl pointed out her alleged stalker, Frank Fuchs, 49, in court. Now 46, she had dated him in 1971 as a high school freshman. "I never know when he's going to show up. I never know what his actions might be," Beyerl said. Beyerl had obtained a restraining order against Fuchs...

IDEAS? Thank you, Mr. Jefferson! Many of us agree that 'ideas' represents an anemic effort by the U.S. in dealing with Iraq and other Middle East countries - and a few others. Pushing a concept of 'democracy' is rightly perceived as merely 'political' and thus unacceptable under their philosophical and religious criteria and appears to be shallow when compared to America's true potential offering to the world out of our unique founding and inventive creative-growth values and experiences. The definitive in human nature is the ability to make choices at the individual level. (Is there any other kind of human?...

"Women and Islam--A Westerner's Perspective" Posted by Doc Farmer Wednesday, June 04, 2003 I've lived in the Middle East region for over five years now. And although I'm not a female nor a Muslim, I think I've got a bit of an understanding of the position of women as regards the religion of Islam. It's not what you've been led to believe, either. First, let's get this misconception out of the way straight up. Female circumcision is NOT sanctioned or supported by Islam. There are some cultures that did this practice far before the rise of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh),...

A man has a right to take an innocent late-night walk without being waylaid and beaten up by police -- even if he turns out to be carrying heroin, a Toronto judge has ruled. Tossing out heroin-trafficking charges against Vincenzo Pitaro, Ontario Court Judge Joseph Bovard said police lied to obscure the fact that they stopped Mr. Pitaro "on a phantom of a suspicion that he might be up to something." Judge Bovard said the two Toronto police officers who accosted Mr. Pitaro on Sept. 27, 2001, were on a "fishing expedition," and stopped the man to note his identity...

You Guys are going to flame me for this but here goes: I have a couple who are dear freinds. They are retired conservative parents of a disabled adult/child. They have a wonderful son who is part of the Portland Coast Guard. He is an active Libertarian who has a home here on the coast down the street from the Parents so as to care for his disabled sister on the week ends. Great young man at 38 never been married looking for a very conservative woman (keeps dating not by choice Liberal woman). Looking for marraige and does not...

Man Admits Cutting Dogs' Tails Off; Says He Needed To Be Entertained Dog Tails Found In Freezer Posted: 6:24 p.m. EDT May 29, 2003Updated: 7:06 a.m. EDT May 30, 2003 A 36-year-old Central Florida man admitted Thursday that he chopped the tails off five of his landlord's six dogs and then stored their tails in a freezer because he needed to be entertained, according to Local 6 News. Nelson Rodriguez was arrested after sheriff's deputies found his landlord's missing Akita-mixed dogs mutilated inside the Rodriguez's Pine Castle home. Rodriguez told Local 6 News Thursday that he cut the dog's tails...

Jewish Man Beaten In Berlin (IsraelNN.com) An Orthodox Jew was beaten up in Berlin. Tuesday's attack on the 19-year-old, who wears a black hat and sports a beard, occurred in the Berlin subway. Three youths made anti-Semitic remarks to the man. They then followed him out of the subway, throwing fruit at him and asking if he is Jewish. They beat him when he refused to answer. The men are believed to be of Arab descent, police said. Earlier this week, a non-Jewish man who was wearing a Star of David also was beaten in Berlin by attackers who mistook...

Who was that masked man? By Adam Lusher (Filed: 11/05/2003) Loud music in the pubs, the drunks stealing one's hanging baskets, the dreadful parking problems and, oh, the graffiti! Yes, on the mean streets of Royal Tunbridge Wells, the residents were crying out for a superhero. On Easter Monday, their prayers were answered. The superhero appeared, in full costume: cape, mask, boots, mysterious symbol on rippling chest, tight belt. They say that Ellen Neville was the first to spot him. There was trouble in the Pantiles area of town. The Pantiles? Think Batman, think the dark streets of Gotham City;...

"The Great 20th Century Art Scam: or how Arrogance, Greed andFolly Nearly Destroyed 2500 years of Western Art" F r e d R o s s "Nobody who has invested much time downa blind alley likes the messenger who shinesa light at the brick wall up ahead." For over 90 years, there has been a concerted and relentless effort to disparage, denigrate and obliterate the reputations, names, and brilliance of the academic artistic masters of the late 19th Century. Fueled by a cooperative press, the ruling powers have held the global art establishment in an iron grip. Equally, there...

PRESS RELEASEDate Released: Friday, April 18, 2003 Boeing Boeing Launches Orbital Space Plane Design Boeing engineers are designing the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) for NASA utilizing nearly 50 years of expertise in producing spacecraft.Boeing is one of three contractor teams developing proposals for the program which includes the spacecraft, ground operations and all supporting technologies needed to conduct missions to and from the International Space Station.Boeing was awarded a $45 million contract modification on the NASA Space Launch Initiative program for work on the space plane. The modification extends the current contract through July 2004.The Orbital Space Plane will...

WONDER WEAPON Buck Rogers, your new rifle is ready. BY SANDRA I. ERWIN Photos by Spencer Jones The OICW will be the most versatile weapon ever built. It can kill targets hidden around corners or dug in half a mile away. American soldiers going into battle in the next century may carry a weapon so advanced it will make today's assault rifle seem as primitive as the muskets fired at Bunker Hill. Understand that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the venerable M16 rifle, its fraternal twin the M4 carbine or their trusty sidekick the M203 grenade launcher. It...

India plans moon landing 04apr03 SCIENTISTS have met to debate India's plans to send an astronaut to the moon, with the chairman of the country's space agency saying the project would "electrify the nation". The Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO, is holding the meeting amid criticism from some scientists that the mission would strain scarce resources without yielding much scientific benefit. In a project that needs to be approved by the Indian government, the ISRO hopes to send a small unmanned satellite to circle the moon by 2005 and an astronaut by 2015. The unmanned satellite project would...

New DNA evidence suggests "African Eve", the 150,000-year-old female ancestor of every person on Earth, may have lived in Tanzania or Ethiopia. A genetic study has shown that the oldest known human DNA lineages are those of East Africans. The most ancient populations include the Sandawe, Burunge, Gorowaa and Datog people who live in Tanzania. Researchers found a very high amount of genetic variation, or diversity, between the mitochondrial DNA of different individuals in these populations. Mitochondrial DNA is passed down exclusively through the maternal line. The longer a population has existed, the more variation accumulates in its DNA...