Free Republic

Violence finally forced US to follow path suggested by Britain last year By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 29/06/2004) A month before the war in Iraq, hundreds of American officials secretly gathered in a Washington auditorium for a "rock drill" - the US military term for a meeting to plan scenarios - to decide how Iraq would be run after the downfall of Saddam Hussein. It included a small band of British officials who had been drawing up options for an international administration in Iraq lasting up to two years, based on previous experiences in Cambodia, East Timor and...

Computers using Microsoft's Windows XP or 2000 operating systems are the target of a new Internet worm that spreads from machine to machine without user intervention. The worm, dubbed Sasser, takes advantage of a flaw in Windows that was patched by a fix issued in mid-April. However, because not all users take advantage of an auto-update feature included in Windows XP and 2000, there are still many systems connected to the Internet that are vulnerable. Sasser attacks a component of Windows called LSASS.EXE, and installs a file called AVSERVE.EXE, which then begins scanning the Internet and local networks for more...

<p>When Democratic political consultant Darry Sragow showed up for the first meeting of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's bond-measure campaign, he met an unfamiliar sight.</p> <p>"I look around and say, 'This looks like a corporate boardroom, a lot of guys wearing white shirts and ties,'" Sragow said of the Jan. 14 meeting in the office of veteran strategist Rick Claussen. "It was not a meeting of Democrats. It was, relatively speaking, very corporate."</p>

<p>One hundred days is not much time to streamline a massive and entrenched public school system. But that was the bold promise of Arnold Schwarzenegger when he became California's new governor last November.</p> <p>Schwarzenegger still has a long way to go, but after two months on the job, he has taken some notable steps.</p>

While "World Trade Center" signs around the new PATH station startled commuters and visitors this week, a smaller but even more poignant graphic remnant of the past was hiding in plain sight across Church Street. "What has 200 elevators, 1,200 restrooms, 40,000 doorknobs, 200,000 lighting fixtures, 7 million square feet of acoustical tile ceilings, more structural steel than the Verrazano Narrows Bridge — and was built for a final cost of over one billion 1970s dollars?" asks the colorful sign between seven-foot cast-iron posts, outside Century 21, near the corner of Cortlandt Street. "That's right, the World Trade Center." Just...

NEW YORK (CBS) A chilling story you'll see only on CBS 2. There’s been an apparent oversight by the people who ran the World Trade Center. A message that has shocked every person who has heard it. Victims families are beyond outraged. They're speechless. CBS 2's Lou Young has more. “Go upstairs to the World Trade Center mall....” says the recording. Until late Tuesday it was possible to direct dial into a cruel fantasy in which the World Trade Center had never been destroyed. 1-800-234 -PATH. The folks at the 9-11 Coalition of Families were shocked, nearly speechless when CBS...

<p>A NEW DAY, A NEW LIFE: Thelma Stuart, who lost her husband, Officer Walwyn Stuart, on 9/11, waits with daughter Amanda to board in Jersey City.</p> <p>November 24, 2003 -- A PATH train carrying passengers from New Jersey pulled into the World Trade Center station yesterday for the first time since the fall of the Twin Towers - marking a milestone in the recovery of terror-struck lower Manhattan.</p>

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Commuter train service reopened Sunday at the World Trade Center site, marking the first rebuilding project to be completed there and the first time the public is allowed back since Sept. 11, 2001. The first train glided smoothly into the rebuilt station, filled with officials and politicians and uniformed train conductor David McQuillan peering out one of its side windows. "It just feels good," said the 15-year veteran of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the train service connecting the two states under the Hudson River. The station for what are...

<p>November 23, 2003 -- Anyone trying to measure 9/11's impact on New York's economy - and, particularly, its transportation infrastructure - should take a trip to Ground Zero today and witness a truly historic event: the resumption of PATH train service to New Jersey.</p>

PATH arrival at The Pit is solemn triumph By GREG GITTRICHDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER A PATH train, carrying only a conductor and an engineer, zipped under the Hudson River and eased into a bare-bones station at Ground Zero yesterday. The commuter train came to a stop at 1:42 p.m. - weeks ahead of schedule. There was no fanfare. No political speeches. But the moment foreshadowed a significant triumph in the long, hard recovery of lower Manhattan. It also marked a painful moment for some who lost loved ones and consider the disaster site sacred ground. When the seven-car test...

<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) - Arnold Schwarzenegger is often compared to Ronald Reagan, another movie star-turned-politician who blazed California's gubernatorial trail decades ago.</p> <p>But Reagan actually had more relevant experience than Schwarzenegger, having spent years as head of the Screen Actors Guild and as a corporate spokesman for General Electric. And unlike Schwarzenegger, he also was a social conservative. Indeed, in the view of most, there are as many differences as similarities between California's two premier actor-politicians.</p>

Work to restore PATH service to Downtown Manhattan is ahead of schedule with resumption of train service to a new temporary passenger terminal at the World Trade Center site expected in November. The PATH Terminal at the World Trade Center served some 67,000 passengers per day when it was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. With resumption of PATH service to Downtown Manhattan as its top priority, the Port Authority forged a unique partnership that allowed contractors to order materials and mobilize for construction even as engineers were completing design work. This collaborative approach, coupled with non-traditional sequencing...

<p>In politics and business, professions teeming with ambitious people, Rep. Darrell Issa stands out for his pursuit of wealth and influence.</p> <p>Hard-working, opportunistic and unafraid to make enemies, Issa seized control of a small car-alarm company and built it into a multimillion-dollar business. Then, with his estimated $250 million fortune behind him, the Republican from San Diego County set his sights on politics.</p>

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 July 24 Our Busy Solar System Credit & Copyright: MPC, CBAT, Harvard CfA, IAU Explanation: Our Solar System is a busy place. Although the major planets get the most press, a swarm of rocks, comets, and asteroids also exist. The above plot shows the placement of known inner Solar System objects on 2002 July 20. The light blue lines indicate the orbits of planets. The green dots...