Free Republic

Herman Cain is no longer running for president. He doesn't think he's likely to be picked as the eventual nominee's running mate, either. But he does have a Cabinet post in mind should the GOP win the White House next fall: secretary of Defense. [....] Cain shared the idea with ABC's Barbara Walters during her annual special on the "10 Most Fascinating People." And the veteran journalist was just a bit surprised. Cain said he thought he'd be a good pick because he wants to "influence rebuilding our military the way it should be." Walters, still stunned, reminded Cain of...

The real political defect of the Cain plan is that it imposes a new national sales tax while maintaining the income tax. Mr. Cain's rates are seductively low, but the current income tax was introduced in 1913 with a top rate of 7% amid promises that it would never exceed 10%. By 1918 the top rate was 77%. Part of Mr. Cain's appeal is his willingness to challenge political convention, and he certainly has with his tax proposal. Voters like that he isn't a lifetime politician but a successful business owner who has met a payroll and created jobs. But...

By JEFFREY GOLD – 6 hours ago CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — An anonymous jury will hear the case of six men accused of plotting to attack soldiers at Fort Dix, a federal judge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler rejected defense complaints that such a jury would be biased. He agreed with federal prosecutors that the trial presents an exceptional case and could create apprehensive jurors. Several factors led to his decision, including pretrial publicity, he said. The six were arrested in May and charged with planning to raid the New Jersey military installation, which is being used...

The government never accused Muslim Tatar, a 55-year-old pizza shop owner, of doing anything illegal. But Tatar says his life fell apart after his son was among six men charged last May in connection with a plot to attack Fort Dix. He sees his son, who he says is innocent, only through the glass wall at a federal detention center. He has been called a terrorist - and worse. He has health problems. He lost his pizza shop and struggled to find another job as a part-time cook. "My mortgage is behind," he said. "Everything's a big problem. My family...

CAMDEN, N.J. - Six Muslim men suspected of plotting to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were ordered held without bail Friday. Prosecutors argued that the men, all born outside the United States, pose a flight risk. They are being held at a federal detention center in Philadelphia. The men were arrested Monday night during what the FBI said was an attempt to buy AK-47 machine guns, M-16s and other weapons. They targeted Fort Dix, a post 25 miles east of Philadelphia that is used primarily to train reservists, partly because one of them had delivered pizzas there and was...

Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

A defense attorney says his client will plead guilty to conspiracy in a bizarre 2003 bank robbery that led to the collar-bomb death of a Pennsylvania pizza delivery man. Attorney Jamie Mead of Erie said Friday that Kenneth Barnes will plead guilty Wednesday to his role in planning the heist.

ERIE, Pa. — A pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and was killed when the bomb around his neck exploded wasn't a hostage — he was a conspirator in the plot, federal authorities said Wednesday. The deliveryman, Brian Wells, 46, had told police before the bomb exploded in August 2003 that he was an innocent victim and had been forced by gunmen to rob the bank. However, in the indictments unsealed Wednesday, Wells is named as a co-conspirator. Two other people, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and her friend Kenneth E. Barnes, are charged with bank robbery, conspiracy and a firearms count.