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Newly obtained military records of one of Sen. John F. Kerry's most vocal critics, who has accused the Democratic presidential candidate of lying about his wartime record to win medals, contradict his own version of events. In newspaper interviews and a best-selling book, Larry Thurlow, who commanded a Navy Swift boat alongside Kerry in Vietnam, has strongly disputed Kerry's claim that the Massachusetts Democrat's boat came under fire during a mission in Viet Cong-controlled territory on March 13, 1969. Kerry won a Bronze Star for his actions that day. But Thurlow's military records, portions of which were released yesterday to...

To the West In America’s vast heart an ember’s kept And sometimes we may slumber to its burning. Yet times have come to wake for what has slept, To remember myths and truths... and souls returning. In Washington’s moist skies of mourning grey Salutes have thundered to a good report-- As clouds have wept for him who’s passed away-- For good endures, though all our time is short. All Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Princes May hold their reigns awhile, but all will bend To Providence, Who will seek evidences, That each was just, and humble in the end. Now...

What do you do when your seventh grader tells you that he has to dress up like a Bedouin nomad to get an A in his Islamic Studies class? If you are Alicia Rodriguez, you just say no."From the beginning, you and your classmates will become Muslims," the simulation directions that went with the course promised. "During your journey, you will travel in caravans, enact generosity and hospitality, engage in trade, dress up as a desert nomad or Bedouin, eat authentic food from the Islamic world, build Islamic structures, produce poetry, create works of art, and race to be the...

PARIS A growing sense of France's decline as a force in Europe has developed here. The idea's novelty is not the issue itself. Rather it is that for the first time in a half century that the notion of a rapid descent in France's influence is receiving wide acknowledgment within the French establishment. At its most hurtful and remarkable, and yet perhaps its most honest, there is the start of acceptance by segments of the French intellectual community that French leadership, as it is constituted now, is not something Europe wants - or France merits. Several current books, three on...

Tread lightly - the bottom has fallen out of J. Lo's world! As the July 30 opening of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's ill-starred movie ``Gigli'' approaches, studio sources aren't denying what is already apparent to any eagle-eyed pop vulture: J. Lo's famous bootylicious bottom is much smaller in movie posters than in what passes (even in Hollywood) for real life! In keeping with the film's newest incarnation as a romantic comedy instead of an action flick, publicity photos for ``Gigli'' feature Lopez and her fiancee co-star embracing while staring dreamily into one another's eyes. A Hollywood insider who has...

NEW YORK - Tom Cruise said he learned to overcome his learning disability through Scientology. "When I was about 7, I had been labeled dyslexic," he told People magazine for its July 21 issue. "I'd try to concentrate on what I was reading, then I'd get to the end of the page and have very little memory of anything I'd read. I would go blank, feel anxious, nervous, bored, frustrated, dumb." After "Top Gun" came out in 1986, Cruise became a Scientologist and discovered the "Study Technology" the religion's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, developed in the 1960s. "I realized I...

Muslim Woman Fights To Keep On Veil For License Photo Posted: 12:34 p.m. EDT May 27, 2003 Updated: 2:51 p.m. EDT May 27, 2003 ORLANDO, Fla. -- Florida's refusal to issue a driver's license to a Muslim woman unless she is photographed without her veil violates her religious rights, an ACLU attorney argued in court Tuesday. The requirement by the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is a burden on Saltaana Freeman, a 35-year-old convert to Islam whose religious beliefs require her to keep her head and face covered out of modesty, said Howard Marks, an attorney...

Former congressman Jay Dickey wasn't happy with the coverage he was getting from an Arkansas newspaper in the race to reclaim his old House seat. More...

Rodimer needs to level with his flock Just before Easter, Paterson's Roman Catholic bishop gave his flock some instructions on what to do about sexual abuse by priests. Report it to the cops, said Bishop Frank Rodimer.The bishop's letter stands in sad, ironic contrast to the fix he now finds himself in. Rodimer needs to tell us what he knows about a priest-friend who sexually abused a boy. Otherwise, the bishop looks like he's hiding something.This story begins three decades ago. Two priests rented a beach house at the Jersey shore. Rodimer and his friend, the Rev. Peter Osinski, enjoyed...

On Sunday, the nation will celebrate an increasingly archaic holiday -- Father's Day. The culture has decreed that fathers are irrelevant. Men get the message. Forget global warming. There's a daddy drought that's blighting the social landscape. The National Fatherhood Initiative has compiled some startling statistics. In America today, 34 percent of all children are living in households without their biological fathers. More than a quarter of American children are raised in fatherless homes. About 40 percent of the kids who are growing up in what the group calls "father-absent homes" haven't seen the old man in the past...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. Welcome to "Warrior Wednesday" Where the Freeper Foxhole introduces a different...

ST. STEPHEN — A ban on smoking in Maine is boosting business in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. As of Jan. 1, a new state law prohibits smoking in all public places, including bars and taverns and that has some Americans who like a cigarette with their drink, heading north. Mike Reynolds is a smoker in Maine Mike Reynolds has been a patron of The Schooner in Calais, Me. for 20 years but says the smoking ban has ended the relationship. "I'm going to miss this place. Socially, I'm not more apt to come here instead of sit at my house...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

The Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health on Wednesday refused to suspend its countywide smoking ban, setting up a court date this morning with the Entertainment Industry Coalition, which had requested such a move. The Olympia-based coalition, which this week organized owners of businesses, private clubs and charities affected by the ban, will ask a Pierce County Superior Court judge to block its implementation, coalition director Linda Matson said. The Health Board held an executive session after its regular Wednesday meeting to discuss the coalition's request for a temporary suspension, so that the two sides could try to work through their...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. Welcome to "Warrior Wednesday" Where the Freeper Foxhole introduces a different...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

NEW YORK (AP) - Most states have failed to pay for tobacco-prevention programs and protect people from second-hand smoke despite receiving billions of dollars in settlement money to take such measures, according to a report. The American Lung Association's report, released Tuesday, gave 38 states grades of F for failing to fund tobacco prevention and control programs. Thirty-five states received Fs for their smoke-free air laws. The annual report also found that 23 states received failing marks because of their inability to keep tobacco out of the hands of minors. "How many more preventable deaths must occur and how many...

IMPORTANT NOTICE Jim Robinson has received notice for the legal firm representing the USO.They are demanding that Free Republic discontinue using "USO" or "USO Canteen" on Free Republic and remove all references to the "USO" trademark, logos, etc, from Free Republic. I have been in touch with Jim and this is what we have come up with. "Free Republic Canteen" is acceptable."FReeper Canteen" in the title of the thread and "FR Canteen" in the small graphics and banners. Nothing has changed with the the Canteen EXCEPT for the "new graphics" AND we can now "discuss" politics.As you recall the USO...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... . U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. . . Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family...

By John Pike© 2004 Insight/News World Communications Inc. Hormesis, the scientific theory that humans actually need small amounts of poison in their diets, could be the most important environmental event of the 21st century if proved valid. Billions of dollars could be saved in environmental cleanup costs, say researchers, while at the same time improving the health of all organisms, including humans. But at first examination, hormesis appears kooky. The knee-jerk reaction is to reject this phenomenon as pseudoscience or propaganda by polluters, and a few uninformed observers have done just that. But hormesis is a possible, if not highly probable, iconoclastic...