Free Republic

Washington (AFP) - President Barack Obama renewed his campaign to curb carbon emissions Saturday, saying the debate over climate change is over. Obama, who made the battle against climate change a core promise of his 2008 election campaign, has been stymied at the federal level by opposition from lawmakers. Congress "is full of folks who stubbornly and automatically reject the scientific evidence," Obama told a crowd of more than 30,641 people, including thousands of graduates at the University of California, Irvine. "They'll tell you climate change is a hoax, or a fad. One says the world might actually be cooling."...

WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives reauthorized the Patriot Act for one year Thursday. The vote was 315-97 . Many liberals in the House opposed the controversial act, saying it tramps Constitutional protections and civil liberties. *snip* The Senate ok'd the package earlier this week. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law.

Bush renews sanctions threat against Iran The Associated Press Published: September 29, 2006 WASHINGTON The Bush administration again threatened Iran with U.N. punishment Friday unless it responds positively to demands it cease work on processing uranium. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice plans to confer by telephone this weekend with senior European diplomat Javier Solana and the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns will have parallel talks with his counterparts, as well. Solana has been holding talks with Ali Larijani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator. There have been vague reports of some progress, but...

Locals gather as Soldiers of the 445th Civil Affairs Battalion hand out food items in Baghdad recently. Department of Defense photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Klika. BAGHDAD — Efforts this week to quell violence in the capital city are showing signs of progress, but Coalition leaders say the battle is far from over. “Abating the extremists in the capital will neither be easy nor rapid,”Multi-National Force - Iraq spokesman Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV said this week of progress in the capital city. “Challenges will ensue, but efforts will march forward block by block.” U.S. and Iraqi forces have been...

Argentina renews campaign over Falklands claim By Jeremy McDermott, Latin America Correspondent (Filed: 30/06/2006) Argentina sought yesterday to rally international support for its claim of sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and to isolate Britain in world opinion when it launched an aggressive campaign to win control of the distant outpost in the south Atlantic. The parliament in Buenos Aires established a special commission with a brief to "Malvinise" the country's political agenda in a concerted effort to force Britain to surrender its sovereignty over the islands known in Argentina as the Malvinas. A row over fishing licences has reignited Argentine...

NEW YORK - It's been 30 years, but Dick Tucker has no trouble recalling the French signs posted inside city buses that crisscrossed Montreal: "In French, we say it this way. We don't say it that way." Language is the words to the lullabies we were sung as babies, the fabric of our conversation around the dinner table, the whisper of prayer, the lessons of school. It clearly evokes strong feelings, framing not just our speech, but our thoughts. As U.S. lawmakers renew the long-standing debate over whether to make English the nation's official language, those bus placards make clear...

New Orleans Renews Search for the Missing Thursday March 2, 2006 11:01 PM By MARY FOSTER Associated Press Writer NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A full six months after Hurricane Katrina, officials renewed the search for bodies Thursday, moving slowly through ravaged neighborhoods with cadaver dogs in hopes of locating 300 to 400 people still unaccounted for. The search teams targeted 160 houses and 122 debris piles at or near addresses of people still missing. The addresses were culled from a list of about 2,300 people still listed as unaccounted for with state and federal officials. ``We have between 300 and...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A Democratic lawmaker has introduced a bill to allow a divorcing spouse to keep financial records private, less than a month after a court struck down a similar law that opponents contend was passed to help a wealthy campaign donor. Earlier this month, Sen. Kevin Murray, D-Culver City, took over a Senate bill dealing with homeland security that was awaiting action in the Assembly and turned it into a measure dealing with financial records in divorce cases. It would require a court to seal certain financial records at the request of one of the spouses in a...

Death renews iceman 'curse' claim Should working with Oetzi carry a health warning? The death of a molecular biologist has fuelled renewed speculation about a "curse" connected to an ancient corpse. Tom Loy, 63, had analysed DNA found on "Oetzi", the Stone Age hunter whose remains were discovered in 1991. Dr Loy died in unclear circumstances in Australia two weeks ago, it has been announced, making him the seventh person connected with Oetzi to die. Colleagues and family of Dr Loy have rejected the notion that he was the victim of a "curse". It is not known how many people...

ALBANY, N.Y. - Claiming Hillary Rodham Clinton is hiding behind her husband, possible Republican challenger Jeanine Pirro renewed her effort Monday to get New York's junior senator to take a pledge to serve a full, six-year term if re-elected. A major thrust of Pirro's campaign has been that Clinton wants to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008 and will be an absentee senator if she is re-elected. Thus far, the former first lady has refused to address the full-term pledge issue, although her husband said Sunday she shouldn't make such a promise again because she might become a...

WASHINGTON - Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said Saturday that positive responses from key supporters have reinforced his determination to keep talking tough even though some congressional Democrats have suggested he should tone down his rhetoric. "People want us to fight," Dean told the national party's executive committee. "We are here to fight." Addressing Iowa party activitists later Saturday in Des Moines, he added: "We need to be blunt and clear about the things we're going to fight for. I'm tired of lying down in front of the Republican machine. We need to stand up for what we believe in."...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-06-11-dean_x.htm?csp=34 USA Today piece. Howard Dean says he is bringing in $1 million weekly to the Democratic party. By Kevin Wolf, AP

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran has announced plans to turn tons of uranium into a substance that can be used to make nuclear weapons, the U.N. atomic watchdog agency said Wednesday in a report stoking concern about Tehran's nuclear agenda. The confidential report of the International Atomic Energy Agency said the agency had been informed that the Islamic Republic planned to process more than 40 tons of raw uranium into uranium hexafluoride. Uranium hexafluoride is spun in centrifuges to produce enriched uranium, which in turn can be used to generate power or make nuclear warheads, depending on the degree of...