Free Republic

Sen. Dianne Feinstein's tiebreaking vote for a controversial judicial nominee of President Bush has dismayed civil and gay rights advocates and prompted one California Democratic congresswoman to threaten to oppose any plans Feinstein has to seek re-election. "This was a test of whether Democrats were up to the task of applying scrutiny to Bush's judicial nominees," Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice, an association of civil rights, consumer advocates and other liberal groups, said Friday in criticizing Feinstein's vote on Leslie Southwick's nomination to a federal appeals court. Gays and lesbians in California "are not going to be silent...

Riots engulf South Africa's townships By Benjamin Joffe-Walt in Cape Town (Filed: 05/06/2005) Happy Valley does not remotely live up to its name. A shabby collection of makeshift homes that is half township, half rubbish dump, its crime-ridden alleys erupted into violence this week as part of a nationwide wave of rioting that threatens to engulf South Africa. Across Cape Town, township residents have been fighting with riot police armed with rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades in scenes that echo the anti-apartheid riots of the 1980s. This time, though, the focus of anger is the ruling African National...