Free Republic

It's been nearly a month since Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakahan blamed "Zionists and neo-cons" for "manipulating" President Bush into invading Iraq - before blasting "wicked Jews" in Hollywood for promoting "lesbianism [and] homosexuality." Yet, outside of a few newspapers in Chicago, the same press that showers positive coverage on Farrakhan's Million Man marches has yet to get around to covering his Feb. 26 Saviours Day speech. "These neo-cons and Zionists have manipulated Bush and the American government and our boys and girls are dying in Iraq and in Afghanistan for the cause of Israel, not for the cause...

Chirac blamed for the failings of France by Colin Randall in Paris (Filed: 18/03/2006) As the sun begins to set on the era of Jacques Chirac, students rampage in the Latin Quarter, the unions are restless and opinion polls reveal a nation that has lost all faith in its leaders. France, in other words, is much as Mr Chirac found it when he entered the Elysée in 1995.And little more than a year before his expected departure from high office after four decades in politics, Mr Chirac has just been handed another reason to fear history's judgment. Jacques Chirac: 'In...

NEW ORLEANS - A foundation problem — although not the one targeted by earlier studies — caused the 450-foot-long break in a floodwall and levee on New Orleans' western edge when Hurricane Katrina hit, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Friday. A naturally occurring, 20-foot-thick layer of clay that helped support the floodwall was too weak for the job, according to a report by a Corps task force set up to find out why the levees broke. Had the floodwall and levee held, much of the western half of the city would have escaped flooding. Previous analyses by other...

Broken ice dam blamed for 300-year chill 14:21 10 January 2006 NewScientist.com news service Kurt Kleiner A three-century-long cold spell that chilled Europe 8200 years ago was probably caused by the bursting of a Canadian ice dam, which released a colossal flood of glacial meltwater into the Atlantic Ocean. Two new papers, using different computer models, show that the massive freshwater flood accounts for evidence of the sudden climate change, which cooled Greenland by an average of 7.4°C, and Europe by about 1°C. It was the most abrupt and widespread cool spell in the last 10,000 years. Evidence for the...

LONDON - The blood thinner may be to blame for the severity of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke, but his doctors should not be criticized for prescribing it, independent experts said Thursday. Sharon was fighting for his life in an Israeli hospital after seven hours of surgery to remove blood from the right side of his brain following a burst blood vessel, or hemorrhagic stroke. His doctors said they planned to keep him sedated for another 72 hours. Experts say his chances of recovery are slim. Experts agree that while the blood thinner, an anticoagulant called enoxaparin, did not...

La. Gov. Blamed for Slow Removal of Bodies By LARA JAKES JORDAN Associated Press Writer Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, left, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, background center, and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco leave a meeting where they addressed the immediate, post-hurricane priorities for the New Orleans hospitality industry, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Cheryl Gerber) WASHINGTON — Bodies of people killed by Hurricane Katrina went uncollected for more than a week in the New Orleans area as the federal government waited for Louisiana's governor to decide what to do with them, according to memos released Thursday...

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - The head of the secret police under Gen. Augusto Pinochet said in a court document that the former dictator was responsible for the abuses committed by the feared security service, his lawyer said Friday. Retired Gen. Manuel Contreras also submitted a document to the Supreme Court disclosing the fate of more than 500 dissidents who disappeared after being arrested by his force, said Juan Carlos Manns, Contreras' lawyer. The report confirmed that many of the victims were thrown into the sea after being killed - a disclosure that had already been made last year by a...

WASHINGTON - Anti-Muslim Internet traffic and radio broadcasts are fueling an atmosphere of hate and contributing to increased discrimination, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Wednesday. Hate crimes against Muslims rose 52 percent to 141 last year compared with 2003, and civil rights violations reported to the council jumped 49 percent to 1,522. "Whenever there is a beheading or act of terrorism overseas that involves Muslims, we see a rise in reported incidents here," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the council. The trend is toward "rising Islamophobic rhetoric in American society," said Arsalan Iftikhar, the council's legal director. The...

LOGAN, Utah - A rancher who authorities allege habitually lets his cattle run loose was arrested for manslaughter after a woman was killed in an accident involving one of his steers, police said. An arrest warrant alleges that Darrell Kunzler, 69, has demonstrated a 30-year pattern of failing to properly contain his livestock, despite repeated requests by law enforcement. The warrant cites 31 police reports from the last four years regarding Kunzler's stray cattle, including five collisions involving cows that escaped from the field onto the highway. "It would have to be outrageous before we felt like it was appropriate...

It is interesting to learn that I am legal again. Not that I was really concerned about it, that is. The old law was just slightly aggravating to me. You see, I am the proud owner of an old M1 Carbine. As rifles go, it's just a small 30 caliber semi-automatic. It is not really great for most types of hunting, but very easy to carry and handle. Mine was especially easy to carry and handle because I changed the stock, and a few other little things, to improve its portability and quick shooting ability in the field. The problem...

Hurricane Victims File for Unemployment 3 minutes ago By ALLEN G. BREED, Associated Press Writer PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - Still smarting over the loss of their homes, Hurricane Charley's victims turned out by the hundreds in 90-degree heat Tuesday to cope with the storm's latest blow to their lives — the mass shutdown of businesses that has left them without jobs. "Charley laid me off," said Rose Vito, a 57-year-old telemarketing assistant in red-plaid pajamas, lined up outside the Employ Florida mobile benefits station in Port Charlotte's Harold Avenue Recreational Center parking lot. "Without phones and computers, they can't function."...

Major website blackout blamed on massive attack 17:13 16 June 04 NewScientist.com news service Some of the world's most popular internet sites suffered blackouts on Tuesday following a co-ordinated and distributed online attack. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and several other major sites faltered as a result of the attack, which started at 10:45 EST on Tuesday and lasted for over two hours. The problems were traced to Akamai, in Massachusetts, US, which provides support to the internet giants though a vast network of distributed servers for all of the sites. Technical experts said the incident was consistent with an attack on...

An 18-year-old computer hacker has been identified as the person behind the damaging Blaster computer virus that swept the globe, the FBI has said. The agency is not naming the American teenager but further details are expected to be released in the near future and he is expected to be arrested. He is accused of writing one version of the worm-like virus. Different versions of the worm, also called LovSan, hit around 500,000 computer networks worldwide this month in one of the worst outbreaks this year. All the Blaster variants took advantage of, and highlighted a flaw in Microsoft Windows...

A Brooklyn man charged with fatally shaking his girlfriend's 15-month-old son said the death was "the baby's fault," the tot's mother testified yesterday. Nyerere Moses made the astounding comment at the 75th Precinct on Nov. 16, 2001, during a brief conversation with his girlfriend, Monica Munroe. "He said it was the baby's fault," Munroe testified in Brooklyn Supreme Court. "[The baby] was crying, so he picked him up and shook him." Moses, 23, is charged with murdering little DeAndrew Munroe in the mother's apartment on Barbey St. in East New York. The defendant was baby-sitting while Munroe, his girlfriend of...

As supporters of Jonathan Pollard prepare for a prayer rally on his behalf at the Western Wall on June 4, it appears that one of the most important questions surrounding his case has been answered. Former federal prosecutor John Loftus, in an article in the June issue of Moment Magazine, writes the following: "There is a good reason why neither Congress nor the American Jewish leadership supports the release of Jonathan Pollard from prison: They all were told a lie - a humongous Washington whopper of a lie. The lie was [that] Pollard had supposedly given Israel a list of...

Embassy blamed for bombings Saudis accuse British staff of destabilisation campaign Paul Kelso and David Pallister Saturday September 7, 2002 The Guardian British embassy staff in Riyadh have been accused by the Saudi Arabian authorities of coordinating a campaign of anti-western terrorist bombings in the kingdom, the Guardian has learned. The accusation that the British embassy in Riyadh coordinated the bombings to destabilise the Saudi regime is the latest and most bizarre piece of information to escape the pall of secrecy behind which the Saudis have been conducting legal proceedings against seven westerners who say they have been tortured into...