Free Republic

David Cameron is facing turmoil after a UKIP surge enabled the scandal-hit Liberal Democrats to cling on in the most crucial by-election battle for 30 years and pushed the Tories into a humiliating third place. The Liberal Democrats held the South Coast seat of Eastleigh seat vacated by Chris Huhne - despite an unprecedented period of bad publicity over the Lord Rennard scandal and record lows in national opinion polls.

It was not the hurricane season we expected, thank you. With cataclysmic predictions that hurricanes would swarm from the tropics like termites, no one thought 2006 would be the most tranquil season in a decade. Barring a last-second surprise from the tropics, the season will end Thursday with nine named storms, and only five of those hurricanes. This year is the first season since 1997 that only one storm nudged its way into the Gulf of Mexico. Still, Florida was hit by two tropical storms, Alberto and Ernesto. But after the pummeling of the previous two years, the storms barely...

BILOXI, Miss. With drywall, two-by-fours and a patient faith in a sometimes-exasperating God, Burke resident Bart Tucker is trying to raise a small neighborhood from the dead. But in this Gulf Coast City of 50,000, a slender thumb of land smashed by the winds and waters of Hurricane Katrina, nothing comes easy -- least of all miracles. Since arriving in Biloxi with a convoy of supplies and volunteers from his fairfax County church, Lord of Life Lutheran, shortly after Labor Day, Tucker hs spent a total of eight weeks here. He goes home only to raise more money and recruit...

BILOXI, Miss. The Czech ambassador to the United States will travel to the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this week to deliver money for Hurricane Katrina recovery. Petr Kolar, the country's former deputy minister of foreign affairs, will present a check Wednesday for over 111-thousand dollars to the Tapia Public Library in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, which plans to buy books. On Thursday, Kolar plans to present a 100-thousand-dollar check for the revitalization of the Saint Vincent de Paul Community Pharmacy in Biloxi. The money will help the charitable facility purchase medical supplies. Media officials with the Czech embassy said the...

Scotty Hancock spent a week in southern Mississippi, seeing Hurricane Katrina’s destruction firsthand. Monday night at the old Kroger building on Hicks Drive, Hancock, the Floyd County Emergency Management Agency director, shared his photos, videos and personal accounts of the devastation with RomeKares volunteers. His message to them: You’re doing more good than you could possibly know. “I wanted to let these folks see what their time and donations are going toward,” he said. “There is a lot of good going on down there.” While no pictures may truly capture the scene, volunteers got what some called their best portrayal...

Seemingly before the wind stopped, certainly before power was restored, they began arriving. The initial wave brought the food, the drink, the clothing, the gasoline to get through those first desperate, chaotic days. The second wave brought hammers, saws, shovels, drills, all the tools necessary to begin removing Hurricane Katrina’s afterbirth. As summer turned to fall and fall to winter, they came, wave after wave after wave. From near and far, points domestic and international, some 350,000 volunteers set aside their lives to help us rebuild ours. And still they come. To paraphrase volunteer Elizabeth Ryan, they climb, pound, beat,...

The President and the first lady spent the weekend at the President's father's house in Kennebunkport Maine, attending a Wedding, church and the President also went fishing with his father. Today the President and the First Lady visited the Gulf Region to check on progress as the one year anniversary of hurricane Katrina approaches. Today Vice President Dick Cheney addressed the 107th National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

President and Mrs. Bush are spending Labor Day weekend at their ranch in Crawford, Texas.* *This is based only on the information I could find. I could be wrong. On Tuesday, September 5, the president will resume his series of speeches which remind us all of the true nature of our enemy (the Islamic fascists), while criticizing the critics of the WOT (the leftist appeasers). With no other news available, today’s Dose will recap the best photos of the week. Enjoy your Saturday visit to Sanity Island

PASCAGOULA - Unlike many other Coast cities, Pascagoula is moving ahead with plans developed through the renewal and recovery sessions sponsored by the governor's office and community leaders. The city is partnering with developers to build new homes that draw on the vision New Urbanists have for rebuilding the Coast. In addition, the city is putting an emphasis on its long-term plans for recreation, and is entering into a lease-purchase agreement to buy government-subsidized property for a new community center and retail shops. Pascagoula was among the first South Mississippi cities to adopt FEMA's new elevation requirements, and its residents...

Comic Relief held its 20th event Saturday night from the Harrah's property in Las Vegas to help raise money and awareness for victims of Hurricane Katrina. That's a noteworthy cause, to be sure, and we in South Mississippi were gratified to hear that more than a year after the storm, people still recognized we need help here. Of course, that was before the pre-event press releases came out, advertising appeared and the show itself was aired simultaneously on HBO and WTBS. The media advances talked about how bad New Orleans was affected. The billboards and at least one full-page ad...

This historic waterfront city was on the verge of becoming the great gambling destination of the South. Then came Hurricane Katrina. Now the Gulf Coast is fighting to get back in the game. BILOXI, Miss. -- Olivia Boglin stood in her yard, staring down at a pile of Sheetrock. Just staring in the Mississippi heat, dabbing the sweat off her forehead with a wadded-up tissue. A block away, a guy was riding a bicycle slow, so the front wheel swerved with each crank of the pedals. The heat, the humidity and the noon hour had everything almost at a standstill....

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Saturday renewed the nation's commitment to help victims of last year's Gulf Coast hurricanes and thanked U.S. troops fighting abroad. In his Saturday radio address, Bush said Americans are grateful to those who rallied after hurricanes Katrina and Rita to bring food, water and hope to people who lost everything. "We renew our commitment to help those who are still suffering and to rebuild our nation's Gulf Coast," Bush said. This week, the president will attend a NATO summit in Europe and will meet in Jordan with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. On Saturday, he...