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The U.S. Army has finally addressed years of complaints about the M-4 and M-16 assault rifles. The M-4 is a short barrel M-16, and has become very popular with the troops. The army has asked the Department of Defense for permission to spend a few hundred million dollars on upgrades for its 400,000 M-4 assault rifles. The big change is replacing the main portion of the rifle with a new component that contains a short stroke piston gas system (to reduce buildup of carbon inside the rifle) and a heavier (by five ounces) barrel (which reduces barrel failure from too...

On the anniversary of his election, President Barack Obama will visit Madison on Wednesday to talk about the progress states are making on education reforms he's championed since taking office and the imminent competition that will have many of those states vying for extra federal stimulus funds for schools. Is there more to the president's visit than just a pat on the back for Wisconsin? Many suspect the latter for a number of reasons: • The governor's race. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has not announced whether he will run for governor, and some say Obama, who has intervened in local politics...

Complete text of Officer Barrett's e-mail Below is the text of Boston Police Officer Justin Barrett's e-mail sent to Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham following her July 21, 2009, column about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. The message was sent all in one paragraph. Punctuation and spelling are the author's.

Here is video of Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Officer Justin Barrett appearing on Larry King Live last night where he sought to defend what he wrote in an email about Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Barrett called Gates a "Jungle Monkey" in the email, and made other disparaging remarks. In the interview, Barrett offered an apology, saying his "choice of words was lacking." He said "I am not a racist," and that he "intended no racial bigotry, harm, or prejudice" with his words. Barrett said he has never used such words before. Obviously, there is no defense for what Barrett...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A jury has convicted an imprisoned sex offender of murder in the 1975 strangulation death of a Girl Scout in Tennessee. Nine-year-old Marcia Trimble disappeared while delivering Girl Scout cookies in her Nashville neighborhood, and her body was found near her home 33 days later. A jury on Saturday convicted 62-year-old Jerome Barrett of two counts of second-degree murder. He faces 44 years in prison on each count in this case. Barrett is currently serving a life sentence for the 1975 rape and murder of a Vanderbilt University student. The Girl Scout killing is considered Nashville's most...

Emphasis on mercilessly, especially when he says, “I have devoted my life to the conservative cause.” The Palmetto Scoop caught it all, and no wonder: Barrett’s been eating crap from South Carolinians for his TARP vote for months so everyone knew what was coming here, right down to the guy screaming “Go home!” for the full six-minute duration. Believe it or not, according to CNN, Barrett’s planning to run for governor next year. Don’t get your hopes up, Gresh. Normally the sight of a Republican being booed off a stage would be instant “Daily Show” material, but Stewart’s naturally got...

I've been busy with a new job that I started last week and have not had the opporunity to keep up with much of the activities here on FR but I wanted to respond to the comments that were posted regarding the Greenville, South Carolina Tea Party. It is clear that from the crowd and comments here on FR that many folks are either just plain clueless or are backing another horse in the South Carolina 2010 campaign for governor and have taken Congressman's Barrett's vote on the October TARP as a way to paint him as RINO, loser, piece...

none: Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QsY2r7HbTM The message from folks in Greenville to Congressman Gresham Barrett was clear Friday evening: Voters are mad about the bailout he voted for and the massive government stimulus package he is now supporting.

video 5:31

Dear Friend, It’s no small secret that for some time I’ve been giving serious consideration to running for Governor. This past weekend, after a great deal of thought and prayer, after talking things over with my family – with my wife, Natalie and our children Madison, Jeb, and Ross – and after seeking the advice of close friends, I‘ve made my decision. Today, I’m excited to tell you that I will seek the Republican nomination for Governor of the great state of South Carolina in 2010. We’ve put together a short video about why I’m running for Governor, and I...

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Elvis has left the vehicle. A man was arrested on more than 50 traffic citations — all in one day. Police said Elvis Alonzo Barrett, 46, fled from police trying to stop him for a traffic violation Thursday morning. Police said he ran through red lights, crashed into another car and a fence. Police said they found crack cocaine and a crack pipe in his car.

History will be made September 9 in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, as two Libertarian candidates square off in the first Libertarian Congressional primary in the party’s history. Ben Olson III and Kevin Barrett are vying to become the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin’s candidate in this Congressional race. The winner will face Democrat incumbent Congressman Ron Kind and Republican challenger Paul Stark in November. Olson, from Wisconsin Dells, works as a builder, sawyer and bartender. He is running on the limited government and personal responsibility platform endorsed by the national Libertarian Party. Barrett, from Lone Rock, is a leader in the...

Wisconsin's version of Ward Churchill, ultra left wingnut Kevin Barrett, has accused Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI03) of promulgating "an act of war propaganda whose knowing transmission arguably constitutes a war crime." Barrett sent out the following press release via email: ------------------------------------------------------- Barrett to Kind: Retract "Wiped off the Map" Lie! For Immediate Release - June 27, 2008 Contact: Dr. Kevin Barrett; 608-583-2132, kbarrett@merr.com Rolf Lindgren; 608-279-5889, rolfusaugustusadolphus@yahoo.com Kevin Barrett, the peace candidate for Congress who is challenging pro-war Democratic incumbent Ron Kind in Wisconsin's District 3, has written to Kind demanding that he retract his false and libelous statement...

Carlos Zambrano's dugout and clubhouse run-in with teammate Michael Barrett ended with Barrett going to the hospital with a split lip. CHICAGO -- Instead of swinging for the fences, the Cubs now are taking swings at each other. Chicago pitcher Carlos Zambrano, apparently angered by Michael Barrett's defensive mistakes, took a swing at the catcher in a dugout scuffle Friday in the Atlanta Braves' 8-5 win over the Cubs. Zambrano (5-5) and Barrett had to be separated after a skirmish in the dugout in the fifth inning. The Braves had just scored five runs, including one on a combination passed...

Sean Barrett has seen a lot in his four years at Harvard. He’s consistently been among the top Crimson finishers at various regional meets since his freshman year. He’s seen coaches come and go. He’s competed with and against formidable tracksters across New England and beyond. Now he’s getting ready to embark on a journey that will show him more about himself and his world than he could ever imagine. Barrett has joined the U.S. Marine Corps and has committed, initially, to serving four years. It’s a decision that seems almost incongruous for a bright athlete from the Ivy League....

Rutherford County law enforcement agencies were concerned about homeland security safety after an incident at Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc. Around 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, an unidentified man of Middle Eastern descent approached an employee outside Barrett Manufacturing, asked about what was made there, and if he could see inside. The employee responded with information tours planned in advance. The man wanted to know if he could buy metal from the company with the $15,000 to $20,000 in cash he had on him at the time. The employee offered to give the man's name to management, but he left in a white...

HILLARY! RAMPS UP CLINTON SECRET POLICE THREAT INTENDED TO SILENCE OPPONENTS by Mia T, 01.24.07 TO SOROS, OBAMA ET AL.: A SUGGESTION... LEAK! LEAK THE BARRETT REPORT DOCUMENTING CLINTON ABUSE OF POWER LEAK THE FORD BUILDING CLINTON-ABUSE-OF-WOMEN EVIDENCE LEAK THE CLINTONS' RAW FBI FILES   HILLARY CLINTON THREATENED JUANITA BROADDRICK 2 WEEKS AFTER BILL CLINTON RAPED HER (VIDEO)    by Mia T, 12.11.06 JUANITA BROADDRICK: They came in, but just before they did, the driver who'd gone to the airport to pick them up came over to me and said that--he was a local pharmacist in this area and...

The former Pink Floyd star died from cancer in July at the age of 60.Late Pink Floyd star Syd Barrett left his brother and two sisters a $2.25 million estate in his will. The former singer/songwriter died from cancer in July at the age of 60. His family was forced to write Barrett's will for him, because he was considered incapable himself under the Mental Health Act. Barrett left the legendary band in 1968 after suffering an LSD-induced breakdown.

Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who investigated whether senior Bush administration officials illegally leaked the name of a CIA operative for political payback, has spent $1.4 million in his probe over the past three years, his office reported yesterday -- a figure that establishes him as remarkably frugal in the ranks of recent special investigators. Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr's investigations of President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica S. Lewinsky and his ties to the failed Whitewater land investment cost $71.5 million and took eight years. Independent Counsel David M. Barrett's examination of Clinton housing secretary Henry G. Cisneros over...

Last week Jack White’s house in Detroit was up for sale and this week, for a similar price, the late Syd Barrett’s can be yours too. The house, in “a nice area of” Cambridge, UK, was his home from 1981 until his death earlier this year. It was originally his mother’s house, but she moved out to give him more space. It will be auctioned by British auction house Cheffins. Cheffins will also auction off some of Barrett’s possessions, which include artwork that he has never before seen, as well as two bicycles that he had painted and used regularly...

This fall, Barrett, a Muslim, who believes the September 11 terrorist attacks were secretly conducted by U.S. government, will be paid $8,247 by the University of Wisconsin to teach a course titled, “Islam: Religion and Culture.” Barrett recently told Sean Hannity that he thought it was “really important to cover these political issues and one of them, of course, the so-called ‘war on terror.’ Now, the fact is that the great majority of the world’ Muslims believe that 9/11 was an inside job.” Since this appearance on the Hannity Show, the University of Wisconsin conducted a search on Barrett’s record...

Wis. lawmakers want univ. instructor fired 35 minutes ago More than 60 state lawmakers are urging the University of Wisconsin-Madison to fire an instructor who has argued that the U.S. government orchestrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A letter sent Thursday and signed by 52 Assembly representatives and nine state senators condemns a decision to let Kevin Barrett teach an introductory class on Islam this fall. UW-Madison Provost Pat Farrell launched a review after Barrett spoke last month on a talk show about his views that the terrorist attacks were the result of a government conspiracy to spark war in...

KEVIN BARRETT, a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has now taken his place alongside Ward Churchill of the University of Colorado as a college teacher whose views on 9/11 have led politicians and ordinary citizens to demand that he be fired. Mr. Barrett, who has a one-semester contract to teach a course titled “Islam: Religion and Culture,” acknowledged on a radio talk show that he has shared with students his strong conviction that the destruction of the World Trade Center was an inside job perpetrated by the American government. The predictable uproar ensued, and the equally predictable...

Unfortunately, I saw this coming. It is the inevitable downside to Jessica McBride's outing of 9/11 crackpot Kevin Barrett and his enablers within the University of Wisconsin system. By definition, a true kook refuses to acknowledge that he (or she) is a kook. A kook's world view is that everybody else in the world is either uninformed, ignorant, a dupe of the government or just plain crazy. No amount of discussion will ever dissuade your true kook. True kooks also crave attention. I think this is because your true kook probably gets bored sitting around wearing a bed sheet talking...

<p>A University of Wisconsin-Madison lecturer who has sparked controversy by teaching that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were an inside job lashed out Sunday at public officials who have questioned his right to teach.</p> <p>Speaking at a gathering at UW-Milwaukee, Kevin Barrett took aim at state Rep. Stephen Nass (R-Whitewater), U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Wis.) and Gov. Jim Doyle.</p>

Following a thorough review, University of Wisconsin-Madison Provost Patrick Farrell today announced that lecturer Kevin Barrett will teach, as scheduled, a class titled "Islam: Religion and Culture." Barrett's remarks regarding his theories on the events of Sept. 11 recently drew widespread attention and criticism. As a result, Farrell, along with Gary Sandefur, dean of the College of Letters and Science, and Ellen Rafferty, chair of the department of languages and cultures of Asia, met with Barrett. They reviewed his course syllabus and reading materials and examined his past teaching evaluations. "There is no question that Mr. Barrett holds personal opinions...

Wisconsin's Ward Churchill? UW-Madison lecturer on Islam is leading 9/11 conspiracy theorist who thinks the U.S. government blew up the Trade Center and wrote letter discussing Bush execution ++++++++++audio coming soon How is UW-Madison lecturer Kevin Barrett like Ward Churchill? Actually, he's not. He's whackier. Churchill believes the terrorists caused the World Trade Center attacks. He just thinks they were justified in some manner. And now the university where he has tenure in Colorado is trying to fire him. Remember how upset we all got about Churchill, who was just a prof from another state who was in town for...

Lost in the tumult over Islamic port deals and Katrina video capers is the recently released -- and willfully ignored -- Barrett Report. David Barrett, you'll recall, is the independent counsel appointed in 1995 to investigate allegations of impropriety against President Clinton's Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros. Mr. Barrett found his path mined by the Justice Department, the Internal Revenue Service and President Clinton's attorneys, even after Mr. Clinton departed the White House. He prepared 18 felony indictments against Mr. Cisneros but had to settle for a guilty plea on a misdemeanor charge (lying to the...

Full Report on Clinton Years Is Sought by GOP Senators BY BRIAN McGUIRE - Staff Reporter of the Sun January 20, 2006 URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/26218 WASHINGTON - Republican senators are puzzling over how to ensure full release of a long-awaited independent counsel's report that alleges obstruction at the highest levels of the Clinton administration but which omits by court order a large narrative chunk that some conservatives think could be damaging to the former first lady, Senator Clinton. The New York Sun reported exclusively on Monday that a 10-year probe by independent counsel David Barrett into allegations of tax fraud by...

~snip~ The decision by the lawyers, working under former Attorney General John Ashcroft, was disclosed in the final report of the independent prosecutor, David M. Barrett, which was issued Thursday. Mr. Barrett's investigation of Mr. Cisneros, the longest independent counsel inquiry in history, concluded that there was a possible cover-up by Clinton administration officials at the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service. ~snip~ "Barrett's allegations of a cover-up are nothing short of laughable, given that the Bush administration was in charge for the majority of his investigation, and it's clear he's simply making excuses to justify his expensive and...

Barrett charges Clinton team with Cisneros-probe cover-up Makes public final report with sarcastic title: 'What we were prevented from investigating' -------------------------------------------------------- Posted: January 19, 2006 3:12 p.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com David M. Barrett, the independent counsel charged with investigating wrongdoings of Bill Clinton Cabinet Secretary Henry Cisneros, released his final report today, saying the ex-president's administration successfully prevented him from getting to the truth. Said Barrett in a press release: "This has been a long and difficult investigation. It is my hope that people will read the entire report and draw their own conclusions. An accurate title for the...

Last month Italian authorities arrested three Algerians who were members of the al Qaida -linked terror group GSPC. The three were plotting attacks on ships, railway stations and stadiums in the United States in a bid to outdo the casualties caused on 9/11, said Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu. The arrests made front page news in newspapers in Italy, Britain and France. But apparently the only U.S. newspaper to mention them was the Philadelphia Inquirer, in a short AP dispatch on page A-6. The AP did not mention that the principal targets of the plotters were in the U.S. The incuriosity...

Excerpts - WASHINGTON _ A special prosecutor's long-delayed report charges that a coverup at senior levels of the Clinton administration killed a tax fraud case against former Cabinet member Henry Cisneros, the New York Daily News has learned. David Barrett's 11-year, $23 million probe, which will be released Thursday, states in stinging terms that the Clinton coverup succeeded. [snip] Before Cisneros' 1999 guilty plea, Barrett's office began a second phase based in part on allegations in a 1997 memo to IRS headquarters by whistleblower John Filan, an IRS criminal investigations chief in Texas. In a memo obtained by the Daily...

Brit Hume just reported that the Barrett report is going to be released soon. Says Barrett blames the Bush administration for the delay.

In Monday's edition of the NEW YORK SUN, reporter Brian McGuire and contributor R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., break the first look at the long-anticipated report from Independent Counsel David Barrett, whose investigation lasted 10 year and cost taxpayers $23 million. The SUN outlines the report's details surrounding the alleged illicit activity and cover up that involving former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros before and during his time in the Clinton Administration. The Sun reveals that the Barrett report connects the dots that allege that senior officials of the Clinton Administration hindered investigations by the IRS in both...

In Monday's edition of the NEW YORK SUN, reporter Brian McGuire and contributor R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., break the first look at the long-anticipated report from Independent Counsel David Barrett, whose investigation lasted 10 year and cost taxpayers $23 million. The SUN outlines the report's details surrounding the alleged illicit activity and cover up that involving former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros before and during his time in the Clinton Administration. The Sun reveals that the Barrett report connects the dots that allege that senior officials of the Clinton Administration hindered investigations by the IRS in both...

USA Today piece. Link only.

Perhaps you remember Henry Cisneros. He's the former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development who pleaded guilty in 1999 to lying to FBI investigators during his pre-appointment background check about hush payments to a former mistress, on which it also happens he hadn't paid the requisite taxes. Well, the special counsel report investigating all this still hasn't been made public, thanks largely to procedural roadblocks by Mr. Cisneros's attorneys. And now, all of a sudden, a rash of news stories and editorials are urging Independent Counsel David Barrett to wrap up his investigation forthwith, without releasing his findings.

Report Could Torpedo Hillary Clinton's Prez Plans Two Washington pundits are warning that Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential plans may depend on whether congressional Democrats can continue to keep Independent Counsel David Barrett's final report on IRS abuses during the 1990s under wraps. "Prominent Democrats in Congress have spent much of the last decade in a campaign to suppress Barrett's report," columnist Robert Novak reported yesterday. "Its disclosures could dig deeply into concealed Clinton administration scandals." Notes Fox News Radio's Tony Snow: "By all accounts, the 400-page Barrett report is a bombshell, capable possibly of wiping out Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential...

The last remaining U.S. independent counsel, David Barrett, after spending $21 million over 10 years, on Jan. 12 finally will close down his investigation of former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros' lying to FBI investigators about hush money paid to an ex-mistress. The political significance is that the Barrett report's shocking allegations of high-level corruption in the Internal Revenue Service and Justice Department are likely to be concealed from the public and from Congress. A recently passed appropriations bill, intended to permit release of this report, was altered behind closed doors to ensure that its politically combustible elements never saw the...

Its time for a Campaign to expose the coverup for a decade of the Clinton abuse of the IRS and Justice dept as found in the Independent Counsel report by David Barrett . The democrats as led by Levin ,Dorgan,Kerry and Durbin have sucessfully been able to sneek through Congress with the help of a couple Republicans language that will mutilate the report and cover up all the evidence found by Barrett of the Clintons use of the IRS and the Justice dept in the Cisneros scandal. Time to demand that all support be given to Charles Grassley who is...

WASHINGTON -- All's well, Senator Byron Dorgan of the great state of North Dakota has done come clean. Senator Dorgan is the vice chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee. In that capacity he accepted $67,000 in contributions from Indian tribes represented by the recently indicted Jack Abramoff, a fabulous fixer here in the capital of the Free World. Abramoff, a Republican, has obviously been an equal-opportunity fixer, and apparently Dorgan was not above accepting his help, though Dorgan claims he never met the rogue and never backed any of his programs knowingly. Now there is an adverb to contemplate, "knowingly."...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "No wonder they call us the Stupid Party," said a disgusted Republican operative in Washington. "You've got to wonder what these guys were thinking." At issue was the publication of a report by David Barrett, an independent counsel who has spent the better part of a decade looking into some of the most hair-raising allegations of presidential malfeasance in American history. Like most independent counsels, Barrett didn't set out on such a mission. He was assigned the duty of looking into whether former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros committed tax fraud in trying to cover...

With “Powerful Rifle” article, journalist shoots self in the foot Michael Marks Director of Legislative Affairs Fifty Caliber Institute Nov. 29, 2005 Journalism is a venerable and timehonored profession, steeped in tradition and burdened with the singular responsibility to tell the truth. The very concept of freedom of the press is founded upon the belief that the public need for reliable information outweighs many of the barriers set up by individuals, companies and governments. It is therefore incredulous when members of this ostensibly noble brotherhood are so will to flush their profession, good name and credibility down the toilet. Nowhere...

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) -- When U.S. soldiers need to penetrate a tank's armor from a mile away, they count on a weapon that evolved from the garage tinkering of a former wedding photographer. The .50-caliber rifle created by Ronnie Barrett and sold by his company, Barrett Firearms Manufacturing Inc., is the most powerful firearm civilians can buy. It weighs about 30 pounds and can hit targets up to 2,000 yards away with armor-piercing bullets. That kind of power has drawn a customer base of gun enthusiasts, Hollywood actors and Barrett's most loyal buyer, the U.S. military, which has been buying...

Here's the relevant excerpt. The conference report gives the judiciary panel that oversees Barrett the authority to "make such orders as are appropriate to protect the rights of any individual named" in Barrett's report. What that means, in practical terms, is that Section 5 of Barrett's report, the portion of the document that is thought to be most controversial, dealing with the behavior of the Internal Revenue Service during the independent counsel's investigation, might never be released.

A three-judge panel overseeing Independent Counsel David Barrett's investigation into abuses by the Internal Revenue Service under the Clinton administration has ordered Barrett to make "discrete deletions" is the draft he submitted 15 months ago. The deletion order "has stoked speculation that [it] has more to do with the next presidential campaign," reports the Wall Street Journal, noting widespread rumors that "the draft report contains information potentially embarrassing to another Clinton administration figure, former first lady and current New York Sen. Hillary Clinton." "The one Clinton official rumored to be implicated in the report is former IRS Commissioner Margaret Richardson,...

Excerpts - WASHINGTON -- When former Housing Secretary and Democratic star Henry Cisneros pleaded guilty in 1999 to lying to the FBI about money he paid years earlier to his mistress, newspapers said it marked the end of an independent counsel's investigation that was already four years old. But reports of the probe's death were greatly exaggerated. But the court also ordered Mr. Barrett to first make some "discrete deletions" from the draft report he submitted to it 15 months ago. That has stoked speculation that has more to do with the next presidential campaign than with Mr. Cisneros, the...

This is the website of the Office of Independent Counsel in the investigation and prosecutions involving matters relating to former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry G. Cisneros. In the latter half of 1994, accusations surfaced that then Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry G. Cisneros had made false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") in late 1992 and early 1993, when the agency was conducting a routine background investigation for his appointment and confirmation. The false statements concerned monetary payments he had made to Linda Medlar,1 with whom he had had an extramarital affair in...

EDITOR'S NOTE: Late yesterday, Byron York reported that the court which oversees independent counsel David Barrett has ordered the release of Barrett's report on the Henry Cisneros investigation. The report has been finished since August 2004, but some Clinton-era officials, apparently worried that the report would cast them in a negative light, have filed a number of secret motions with the court to delay its release. Yesterday, after Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley asked the court for a copy, the judges issued a decision that would release part of the report to the public, and all of the report to...