Free Republic

A good week for jihadists in the U.S. First, news that the U.S. government refuses to deport a Syrian terrorist linked to the 9/11 attacks, now this via ’82 Pan Am bomber who killed boy freed – The Japan Times. NEW YORK – Mohammed Rashed, who placed a bomb that damaged a Pan Am jet over the Pacific in 1982, killing a Japanese high schooler, was released from federal prison Wednesday, a U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman said. “He was released early this morning,” Chris Burke said, adding that Rashed, 63, was being held at a facility in Pennsylvania....

Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent a new proposal to liberalize the country's antiquated labor laws to lawmakers on Saturday as he seeks to fast-track the legislation before leaving office at the end of November. Calderon's draft bill, submitted at the start of the new Congress by Interior Minister Alejandro Poire, is aimed at helping spur stronger growth in Latin America's second biggest economy. Agreeing on labor reform has long proved difficult in Mexico, and the proposal could be a litmus test of how the PRI and Calderon's conservative National Action Party, or PAN, cooperate in the new Congress, which lasts...

With Mexico's presidential election one month away, the leftist candidate is making modest gains while the incumbent party's contender has slipped, polls show. The polls thus far, however, do not alter the front-runner status of Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI, which is attempting to return to presidential power after a loss in 2000 ended its seven-decade rule. Opinion surveys released this week showed Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, heading a coalition of leftist parties, inching into second place, dislodging Josefina Vazquez Mota of the National Action Party, or PAN, of President Felipe Calderon. The margin between...

Wildlife experts frequently remind campers, hunters and hikers what to do should they encounter a mountain lion. Hitting the big cat with a frying pan is probably at the bottom of the list. Nevertheless, a Chino Valley, Ariz., man grabbed his cast-iron pan — his closest weapon — to fend off a cougar after it attacked his dog earlier this month. According to The (Prescott, Ariz.) Daily Courier, Brandon Arnold, 24, was camping with his girlfriend, Tessa Gerdes, and seven other friends — including three children — early in the morning on May 4 in the Tonto National Forest when...

Refer to the link and see how weird is this...

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "The photo was sent by email late Thursday to Mexico's major newspapers without any information about its source, but there is a likeness between the blindfolded man in the picture and Fernandez de Cevallos, 69. The newspaper El Universal reported that family members had confirmed the photo's authenticity, while the newspaper Reforma said the exact opposite." SNIPPET: "Fernandez de Cevallos, who disappeared last week, ran for president in 1994 representing the ruling conservative National Action Party (PAN). His vehicle was found at his ranch near the town of Queretaro bearing "signs of violence," the prosecutor's office...

ELYRIA, Ohio – The 70-year-old wife of an Ohio judge said teens who tried to rob her made her so angry that she whacked one in the head with a sauce pan. Ellen Basinski said she was on the phone with her husband Tuesday when four boys pushed their way into her home in Elyria, west of Cleveland. Lorain County Judge David Basinski overheard the scuffle and raced home, while his wife grabbed her favorite pan to defend herself against the intruders rifling through her purse and cabinets. One of the teens told police he threw a bottle of whiskey...

There are now so many Mexicans living in California that a major political party, the National Action Party, known by the acronym PAN, recently held its convention in Los Angeles. In 2000, the party's successful presidential candidate, Vincente Fox, and his rival both campaigned in California to reach Mexican voters who, since 1996, have with dual citizenship legally voted in Mexican as well as U.S. elections. There are estimates of between 12 and 20 million in the U.S., a growing number with dual citizenship. Many of them exercise an assertive Mexican identity, resist assimilation and dream about reclaiming that part...

Opposition protesters egged and then tore down a bronze statue of former Mexican President Vicente Fox down on Saturday, just hours after it was erected.

Chávez lashes out at Mexico On the same day the Calderón administration took steps to ease rocky relations with Venezuela and Cuba, Venezuela´s Hugo Chávez on Thursday hurled personal insults at his Mexican counterpart Wire reports El Universal Viernes 02 de febrero de 2007 On the same day the Calderón administration took steps to ease rocky relations with Venezuela and Cuba, Venezuela´s Hugo Chávez on Thursday hurled personal insults at his Mexican counterpart. Chávez´s ire was raised as he attacked Calderón for comments the latter made in Davos, Switzerland, last week criticizing countries that "nationalize industries" and "interfere in the...

The wines and herbs in the land of Pan A survey of ancient Greek sources reveals the surprising properties of certain wines that continue to provoke the curiosity of scholars today A parody of Circe offering Odysseus wine that contains a magical herb that will make him behave like an animal. Hermes has given the ancient Greek hero another herb called moly so that Odysseus is not seduced by Circe. Medical historian Sevasti Karahaliou says moly must have been an anti-aphrodisiac. (From an early 4th century BC Boeotian cup, Ashmolean Museum.) By Stavroula Kourakou (1) In early December, the interdisciplinary...

Marines settle in at San Lazaro1 Andrea Merlos & Ricardo Gomez El Universal Mexico City Thursday 30 November 2006 1:40 a.m.   At least ten trucks of the Marines of Mexico2 arrived in the early morning this Thursday at the Chamber of Deputies with 40 soldiers, each one of whom put himself in place on Congreso de la Unión Avenue. One day before the Toma de Protesta3 of Felipe Calderon as incoming President of the Republic, security was reinforced to the maximum in those squads who are covering the area up to the corner of Viaducto and Congreso de la...

Deputies act out new confrontation at the rostrum After the quarrel, the PRD Deputy for the State of Mexico, Alberto Lopez, had to be evacuated from the sessions room in a wheelchair Ricardo Gómez & Andrea Merlos El Universal Mexico City Tuesday 28 November 2006 4:56 p.m.   A new confrontation among federal deputies of the National Action Party (PAN) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) was provoked at the foot of the rostrum of the Chamber of Deputies, which continues to be occupied by legislators of both factions. At 4:13 p.m., the legislators of both groups were...

The Oaxacanization of the Country: From the Myth of Fraud to that of Ingovernability It was left clear this week, the connection between the insurrectional strategy of Oaxaca and that of AMLO, which already seems to be weakening between desertions and the universal loss of prestige. The difference is one of perspective: For AMLO and his landscaped spaces it was considered vital to exhibit as a survival certificate the oxygen tank which he offered to the Popular Assembly of the People (sic) of Oaxaca (APPO) to identify its goal with that of the defeated presidential candidate: that of preventing...

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president-elect says murder and mayhem fueled by drug smuggling have overwhelmed the governments of the nation’s capital and key states across the country. Felipe Calderón said the wave of bloodshed knows no politics; it is ravaging state governments controlled by each of Mexico’s three major parties. He singled out Mexico City, the northern states of Sinaloa and Tamaulipas, the southern state of Guerrero and his home state of Michoacan, as being especially hard-hit. “It seems to me that drug violence has overwhelmed the governments of the PAN, the PRI and the PRD,” Calderón said in a...

Convention Names AMLO "Legitimate President" After voting on this convention's proposals, the delegates agreed that they will not recognize Felipe Calderon as President-Elect nor the government which he heads 6:27 p.m. The resolutions of the Democratic National Convention designated Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as "Legitimate President." After voting on this convention's proposals, the delegates agreed that they will not recognize Felipe Calderon as President Elect nor the government which he heads. In the midst of shouts of acceptance, the sympathizers await the arrival of Lopez Obrador, as reported [on the radio program] Formato 21. More information shortly

The 10 Points of AMLO's Message Redaction EL UNIVERSAL.com.mx El Universal Mexico City Wednesday 6 September 2006 After the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Power of the Federation (TEPJF) gave its qualification of the presidential election and declared Felipe Calderon President-Elect, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in his informative session [said the following]: 1. He accused the magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Power of the Federation of submission, "they did not have the courage, the dignity, the pride, the arrogance to act as free men," in ratifying the triumph of the PAN candidate. 2. He stated that he...

Fernandez Noroña: "We are arriving first at the Zocalo Capital Plaza" The PRD spokesman rejects that they can be evicted by federal forces, because "they will need some five policemen per protestor, because they will have to carry us away." "We are arriving first" at the Zocalo capital plaza of Mexico City, Gerardo Fernandez Noroña, spokesman of the PRD, maintained while arguing that they will celebrate the National Democratic Convention on this spot,1 independently of what the Mexican Army anticipates, which is that the 16th of September will be an Independence Day parade. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has summoned more...

Entire text of the message of President Fox to the nation Message of President Vicente Fox Quesada to the Nation on the occasion of his VI Government Report Mexican men and Mexican women: As President of the Republic, the Constitution obligates me to attend the Congress each year, to present before the Deputies and Senators, a report about the results of the management of the Federal Government. On this occasion, a group of legislators of the Party of the Democratic Revolution prevented the President of the Republic from being able to direct his message to the Congress and to the...

PRD vows to block Informe BY JONATHAN ROEDER/THE HERALD MEXICO El Universal August 31, 2006 Though presidential spokesman Rubén Aguilar on Wednesday said he trusted that President Vicente Fox´s annual State of the Nation Address (Informe) will be received with respect by congressmen, a top official from the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) countered that "at least 10" ways of preventing the speech from being delivered were under consideration. Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, the PRD´s secretary-general, said he and three other party leaders will decide "exactly two hours" before the event on Friday what action will be taken. "There will be no...