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SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal grand jury has again indicted the self-proclaimed "Guru of Ganja" on charges that he grew hundreds of marijuana plants for a dispensary. Ed Rosenthal was convicted in 2003 for cultivating the plants for a city of Oakland medical marijuana program. An appeals court overturned the conviction in April, citing jury misconduct, but it upheld federal powers to charge marijuana growers. An indictment unsealed Thursday charges Rosenthal with 14 felonies, including conspiracy to manufacture marijuana at his Oakland warehouse and distribute it to a San Francisco pot club. He also faces four counts of money laundering...

No one can seriously question one of the two major assumptions behind the $38 billion worth of construction and repair bonds proposed on the Nov. 7 state ballot. Traffic relief is a must in myriad parts of California. Port security isn't a tenth as tough as it needs to be. Who can argue against battered women's shelters and housing assistance for senior citizens, veterans and working families? Overcrowded public schools need relief. And the levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta area are a disaster waiting to happen. Taken together, all those realities make up one big assumption behind the...

Mayor: 'Either the Judeo-Christian philosophy will survive or the Islamic philosophy will survive'SACRAMENTO, CA -- (OfficialWire) -- 09/11/06 -- The Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) today called on Californians to repudiate remarks insulting to Muslims made by a mayor in the northern part of that state. CAIR-SV said that Redding, Calif., Mayor Ken Murray claimed Shia Muslims "believe it's acceptable to lie, cheat, steal and kill as long as it ultimately glorifies Allah." "Folks, they're not like us," said Murray. When asked about his offensive remarks, Murray drew a distinction between "mainstream" and Shia Muslims,...

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq, June 15, 2006 – The Iraqi deputy prime minister called on about 450 Iraqis being freed from the Abu Ghraib detention facility today to work for peace in Iraq, the Middle East and the world. Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Salim al-Zawbai speaks with detainees released from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison June 15. The Iraqi government plan aims at getting "low-risk" detainees back into the workforce and working toward a new Iraq. Photo by Jim Garamone  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Salim al-Zawbai spoke to the men before they were released from the facility. It is...

Iraq's vice president has asked President Bush for a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq, the Iraqi president's office said. Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni, made the request during his meeting with Bush on Tuesday, when the U.S. president made a surprise visit to Iraq. "I supported him in this," President Jalal Talabani said in a statement released Wednesday. Al-Hashimi's representatives could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. Bush made it clear during his visit that the U.S. military presence — now at about 132,000 troops — would continue, though he stressed the fate of...

Gonzales Asked Germany to Hold Hijacker Wednesday December 21, 2005 11:16 PM By ANNE GEARAN AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales personally asked the German government not to release a terrorist accused of killing a Navy diver, but was rebuffed, the Bush administration said Wednesday. Mohammed Ali Hamadi was freed on parole by German authorities after serving 19 years of a life sentence for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA plane during which a U.S. Navy diver was killed. The 17-day ordeal riveted the United States and brought Middle East terrorism home for many Americans. ``We...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Corporations are being asked to donate tens of thousands of dollars to fund Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's upcoming trade mission to China and some will be along when he talks to officials there, it was reported Monday. The governor, who came to office on a promise to take state government away from special interests, is raising money to pay for the trip through a nonprofit foundation that is not required to publicly reveal the names of donors, the Los Angeles Times said. Some companies have been asked to give $50,000 to the California Protocol Foundation, the Times...

WASHINGTON - Two Democratic senators said Wednesday that they want Supreme Court nominee John Roberts to explain before his confirmation hearings why he continued to judge a lawsuit against the Bush administration while being interviewed to be a justice. "It is clear that you have long understood the ethical issues raised by continuing to work on a case in which a party is considering you for another position," Judiciary Committee Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin said in a letter to Roberts. White House spokesman Steve Schmidt said in response that "the opponents of Judge...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States and several other nations have asked the United Nations to designate January 27 as an annual day to remember the six million Jews and the countless others who perished in the World War II Nazi Holocaust. A letter from the nations, which also included Russia, Israel, Australia and Canada, circulated Thursday requests the General Assembly to add the proposal to its agenda, noting that this year's 60th anniversary of the United Nations coincides with the 60th year of the end of the war. "The Holocaust constituted a systematic and barbarous attempt to annihilate...

NEW YORK - A federal judge considering whether the government should be forced to reveal the identities of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base detainees suggested Friday that each one be asked whether he wants his name made public. Judge Jed S. Rakoff offered the idea as he considered the government's position that the United States must hide the identities to protect the detainees and their family members from potential reprisals. If asked, "that person may be saying, `Yes, please, tell the world,'" Rakoff told Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Wolstein. Wolstein said there might be "military reasons" for not engaging in such...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States has charged a Dutch citizen with conspiring to kill Americans in Iraq, the first U.S. criminal case connected to terrorist activities there, the Justice Department said Friday. Iraqi-born Wasem al Delaema, 32, was arrested in May during a raid on his home in the Dutch city of Amersfoort. On Wednesday, U.S. authorities filed a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court in Washington and asked the Dutch government to extradite him for prosecution. Among the charges is conspiring to kill Americans overseas. U.S. authorities allege al Delaema helped plot attacks near Fallujah in October 2003....

WASHINGTON - With dropout rates rising, governors nationwide are being asked to lead a high school overhaul that demands more skills of students and help from colleges. The call for action, outlined Tuesday by leaders of an upcoming national summit on high schools, would change everything from core course requirements to state graduation standards. It came as the Educational Testing Service reported Tuesday that high school completion rates dropped nationally from 1990 to 2000, with about one third of students failing to graduate. It is the latest in a string of sobering assessments of high school performance. "Students can make...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia asked the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to impose sanctions on British-based Saudi dissident Saad al-Faqih for allegedly providing financial and material support to al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden. The United States and Saudi Arabia also asked the council to impose sanctions on Saudi businessman Adel Abdul Jalil Batterjee, who was instrumental in founding the Benevolence International Foundation, an Islamic charity that the United States has previously deemed a global terrorist group. Council diplomats said the two names were circulated among the 15 Security Council members on Tuesday. If...

WND AT THE WHITE HOUSE Is Pardongate probe dead? Spokesman asked about Marc Rich/Bill Clinton investigation Posted: December 17, 2004 5:21 p.m. Eastern Editor's note: Each week, WorldNetDaily White House correspondent Les Kinsolving asks the tough questions almost no one else will ask. And each week, WorldNetDaily brings you the transcripts of those dialogues with the president and his spokesman. If you'd like to suggest a question for the White House, submit it to WorldNetDaily's exclusive interactive forum MR. PRESIDENT! By Les Kinsolving © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com At today's White House news briefing, WND asked presidential press secretary Scott McClellan...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

SAN DIEGO ---- County supervisors today could ask the state to toughen election laws by requiring people to show proof that they are U.S. citizens when they register to vote and identification at the polls before being allowed to vote. Under current law, people are not required to show proof of citizenship, and only first-time voters who register by mail are required to show identification ---- which does not have to include a photograph ---- at the polls. Supervisor Bill Horn, who recommended the Board of Supervisors petition the state to change state voting laws, said having to show birth...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's lawyer asked a judge Tuesday to throw out a libel lawsuit filed by a Hollywood stuntwoman who alleged the former actor groped her on film sets. Judge Robert L. Hess took under submission two motions to dismiss Rhonda Miller's lawsuit. "Arnold Schwarzenegger never should have been sued in this case," lawyer Martin Singer said in court. "It was an absolute lie. Pure fabrication. Why would this woman come forward 13 years after the alleged event, the day before the election, with a press conference?" Miller, 53, claims Schwarzenegger and his campaign defamed her...

Who the **** are you, asked the man from special forces (Filed: 06/04/2003) On a bridge into Basra, Olga Craig bumped into the SAS as it was gathering intelligence from Iraqis fleeing the mortar shells of Saddam's militia As a greeting, it was neither conventional nor civilised - but then neither were the circumstances. I was in retreat, he was advancing. It was 4pm one afternoon last week on the bridge into Basra, and Saddam Hussein's elite militia were sending a rain of mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades from the city. In the smoke and the confusion and the deafening...

Kinneret Rosental, mother of eleven and daughter of Hevron-pioneer Rabbi Moshe Levinger, will begin her four-month prison sentence today. Her crime: hitting a police horse. The incident began six months ago when she drove up to a Jerusalem courthouse and a police officer told her to stop - while another officer told her to go. Confused, she began to drive, at which time a third policeman took out his gun and threatened to break her windshield. Beginning to panic, she started driving quickly away and ended up hitting a traffic island - on which was standing a police horse. The...