Free Republic

Hack the Olympics! There's been some widely publicized controversy regarding the competition age of the Chinese women's gymnastics team recently. Rather than be too CNN, I decided to take a page from my friend Johnny and investigate on my own. I have an Internet connection, that means I should be able to verify the age of the gymnasts in question with primary state-issued documents and find out for myself if someone's cheating, right? Right. Let's go to work.

Barack Obama's campaign changed the rules of a highly publicized fundraiser Tuesday, after gambling regulators said the contest — a chance at one of 10 trips to the Democratic National Convention — was an illegal lottery. "We are happy to have resolved this issue working closely with state officials," said Nick Kimball, spokesman for the Obama campaign ... A spokesman for the Colorado Secretary of State said Democrats would have to get a license if they were conducting "a standard raffle where they're buying tickets" in order to win. But under the new rules, supporters don't have to donate money...

There have been many sites crop up recently that claim to predict what will happen in November. My favorite since 2004 - and I think the most accurate - has been Election Projection. They predicted the 2004 race between Bush and Kerry to within 3 EVs of the actual result and got every Senate race right in 2006. Anyone out there agree? Disagree? Discuss...

A family owned commercial fishing business in Virginia and two of its owners paid $6.8 million in fines and forfeitures after pleading guilty to hiring 126 illegal aliens to work on their boats. The charge is a misdemeanor and federal prosecutors had recommended home confinement in addition to the monetary penalties, but U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson sentenced Yvonne Michelle Peabody, the company’s vice president, to three months in prison. At the sentencing hearing last month, the judge said he was making an example out of Peabody, who had served on the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Council’s law enforcement subcommittee at...

California is facing a cash crisis this summer, putting pressure on elected officials to submit an on-time state budget or risk asking taxpayers to pay a premium on loans. In the past, the state has been able to pay its bills despite projected deficits by borrowing money internally from some state special funds and by selling short-term notes on Wall Street. But a lack of cash reserves this year combined with lagging revenues has led officials to predict that the state will run out of cash as early as August, giving lawmakers a smaller-than-expected window to strike a budget deal....

SAN LORENZO -- Alameda County sheriff's investigators raided suspected houses of prostitution and "flipped" one of them - taking over the business to solicit customers - during a multicity operation that resulted in 32 arrests, authorities said today. Sheriff's deputies searched eight businesses and five homes in Castro Valley, Hayward, San Leandro and Fremont on Thursday, sheriff's Sgt. J.D. Nelson said. Investigators took over one business on Lewelling Boulevard in San Lorenzo and arrested nine men. "We raided it and then we just assumed the operation," Nelson said. Authorities seized $50,000 in cash, froze another $200,000 in assets and seized...

TEL AVIV – Israel arrested a suspected Syrian militant operating on Israeli soil accused of preparing attacks against the Jewish state, WND has learned. The militant was arrested July 29, weeks before Israel's Sept. 6 air raid on a remote site in Syria that has been described by independent analysts and some U.S. politicians as a potential Syrian nuclear reactor. Security officials would not say whether the arrest was tied to the air strike. According to security sources, his activities were known to Israeli intelligence agencies for at least one year prior to his arrest

ARLINGTON, Va. - A high school teacher has been arrested for soliciting sex with a minor on the Internet, according to Arlington County Police. Matthew McGuire, 29, of Alexandria was arrested Wednesday night at his home on West Myrtle Street. John Lisle, spokesman for the Arlington County Police Department, says McGuire "made contact with someone who he believed was a young girl on the Internet, and during the course of this contact, he engaged in sexually explicit communications." McGuire, a teacher and coach at Chantilly High School in Fairfax County, is being held without bond on charges of using a...

MIL-IRAQ-MNF-OPERATIONS MNF fighter jets raid Al-Qaeda hideout BAGHDAD, Jan 9 (KUNA) -- US warplanes destroyed one of Al-Qaeda hideouts and Kazakh forces found a weapons depot in separate operations in Iraq. US F-16 fighter jets dropped two 500-pound bombs, destroying a house used by al-Qaeda to make and store improvised explosive devices in Busayefi, near the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, the MNF said in a statement on Wednesday. According to the statement, the operation, conducted on Sunday, was executed by the MNF Center soldiers. The house-turned-hideout was destroyed and explosive making materials were found and confiscated. Another MNF statement said members...

A three-pound Chihuahua mix named Tink is being praised for helping police catch a Christmas Day fugitive. The dog's adventure began when four suspects who were fleeing police crashed a stolen minivan into a hillside. Auburn homeowner Wendy Anderson said Tink, her son's Pomeranian and Chihuahua mix, found a suspect hiding under a neighbor's motorhome and chased him into the woods. Her son and husband directed a law enforcement helicopter to where 20-year-old Marvin Gonzales was hiding. "The Chihuahua gave him up," California Highway Patrol officer Jeff Herbert told The Associated Press. The three other suspects, including the driver, were...

Former President Bill Clinton answers a question from a reporter upon arrival for a book-signing appearance for his latest book, "Giving." 11/2/07 San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) REDMOND, Wash. (AP) - Former President Clinton said Friday that a letter he wrote to the National Archives was to expedite release of his papers, not slow the process or hide anything as rivals are suggesting in criticism of his wife. Hillary Rodham Clinton was quizzed during this week's Democratic presidential debate as to why correspondence between her and her husband from their White House years remained bottled up at the National...

ADL Responds To Open Letter From CAIR; Releases Photo Of Group's Leader Speaking Next To Hezbollah Flag http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Teror_92/5122_92.htm ADL Responds To Open Letter From CAIR; Releases Photo Of Group's Leader Speaking Next To Hezbollah Flag New York, NY, August 30, 2007 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), in response to an "open letter" from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) suggesting that their organization has "acted numerous times … to condemn terrorism," today released a photograph of CAIR's executive director speaking at a podium next to a known anti-Semite and the flag of the terrorist group Hezbollah. Glen S. Lewy, ADL...

I did not see this posted anywhere.. Listen to this.. and judge for youself... I think Sen. Craig is TOAST.. IMHO

GLOUCESTER Gloucester County's sheriff and several deputies helped pull a Newport News man out of the York River on Monday before arresting him in connection with a lunchtime bank robbery on U.S. 17. Mario Anthony Orlikoff was arrested shortly after noon by Sheriff Robin P. Stanaway and several deputies, according to information released by the Gloucester County Sheriff's Office. He is a former assistant sports editor of the Daily Press.Employees of Chesapeake Bank in the Wicomico community called police at about 12:15 p.m. to report a robbery. The callers said the robber handed a teller a note demanding money. The...

It's in a subscribers only link at the Wall Street Journal. The Congressman wants $8,000,000.00 to pay for marketing of wild American shrimp and $2.3 million to fund research into shrimp-fishing. These are but two of the Congressman's 65 earmarks sought thus far this year to the tune of $400,000,000.00. HIs chief spokesman pulled a Tom DeLay and said "Reducing earmarks does not reduce government spending, and it does not prohibit spending upon those things that are earmarked," the spokesman said. "What people who push earmark reform are doing is they are particularly misleading the public -- and I have...

Jhannet Sejas and her boyfriend were celebrating her 19th birthday by taking in a matinee showing of the hit movie "Transformers" at the theater at Ballston Common mall. Sejas was enjoying the movie so much that she decided to film a short clip of the sci-fi adventure's climax to get her little brother hyped to go see it. Minutes later, two Arlington County police officers were pointing their flashlights at the young couple in the darkened theater and ordering them out. They confiscated the digital camera as evidence and charged Sejas, a Marymount University sophomore and Annandale resident, with a...

In a story of betrayal worthy of an episode of Dateline NBC, undercover producer Michelle Madigan was exposed and forced out of the conference on Friday Dateline NBC Producer Michelle Madigan was publicly outed at the Defcon security conference in Las Vegas Friday after show organizers were tipped off that she was trying to film show attendees with a hidden camera. ... Madigan ran from the show after organizers publicly threatened to escort her from the event at the beginning of a 4 p.m. conference session by noted hacker HD Moore. "She literally kicked the door open," said "Priest," a...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Former Vice President Al Gore said he has "fallen out of love with politics" and has no intentions of running for office again. When asked why he wouldn't run for president again -- when presumably a president could shape an agenda to fight global warming -- Gore said those in power must have the support of the people to make it work. "The key players are the American people," he said. "When the American people have the awareness of what this means for their children, and for their grandchildren, that all of civilization is at risk...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A state trooper accused of letting a drug charge slide in exchange for oral sex from a porn star has been fired, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said Thursday. The state also is considering criminal charges against James Randy Moss related to her claims that he threw away her bottle of prescription pills before their alleged encounter, Department of Safety spokesman Mike Browning said. Moss has not indicated whether he would contest his firing and did not immediately return a message left at his home Thursday evening. Moss was suspended earlier this week while the THP investigated the...

<p>A porn star claims a state trooper who stopped her on a highway let drug charges slide in exchange for oral sex. And she says she's got proof — the trooper's own video images of the roadside tryst.</p> <p>The allegations have led to a Tennessee Highway Patrol investigation and the trooper's suspension.</p>

A teen accused of posting pictures of his potted marijuana plants and drug paraphernalia on MySpace.com faces charges after police monitoring for gang activity traced the information to him. Authorities said a label on the picture of potted pot plants read: "My Mary Jane thats growin in my closet right now.'' "People think that Web sites are more private than they are,'' Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco said. "This is just another tool for us to use.'' The criminal complaint filed in Circuit Court Wednesday against Moua Yang, 18, of Sheboygan said police were monitoring another Web site when...

A former US policeman and undercover drug agent has appalled narcotics officials by introducing a Christmas video for drug users on how to avoid arrest and fool the police.Barry Cooper, who is described by former colleagues as perhaps the best drug- enforcement officer in America, will next week begin marketing Never Get Busted Again, which will show viewers how to “conceal their stash, avoid narcotics profiling and fool canines every time”. Mr Cooper, who supports the legalisation of marijuana, made the video because he believes that the fight against drugs in America is a waste of money. The convictions of...

SNYDER, Okla. -- An Oklahoma police chief's job is in jeopardy and his town is in an uproar because of his wife's profession. Snyder Police Chief Tod Ozmun and his wife, Doris, live in Snyder, just west of Lawton. However, the chief's wife is known worldwide for her work as a plus-sized model on a pornographic Web site. Officials said the Snyder mayor is requesting an investigation by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Technically, the mayor cannot request an OSBI investigation. However, the district attorney's office can, and officials said the focus of any such investigation would be to...

Since their arrival in San Diego aboard a Coast Guard cutter two weeks ago, the accused head of the Arellano Félix drug cartel and six other men have been held in small cells on the fifth floor of a downtown jail. They can't use the phone, they can't exercise and they've only been allowed out of their cells for lawyer visits, court and a 15-minute shower once every three days, their lawyers said. “They're being treated more harshly than some of the worst convicted criminals we've had in this country,” said David Bartick, lawyer for Francisco Javier Arellano Félix, accused...

Following Reuters report that its armored vehicle was hit by IDF, expert says: 'Damage on vehicle sustained long time ago, probably not by rocket' Representatives of two armored vehicle manufacturers cast doubt on claims by Reuters that its armored vehicle had been struck by an Israeli air strike in Gaza. Last week, Reuters condemned the IDF and demanded an investigation after it said one of its armored vehicles, containing a Palestinian journalist and a Reuters photographer, had been struck. But experts from Inkas Armored Vehicle Manufacturing and First Defense International Group, both armored vehicle manufacturers, told the Confederate Yankee blog...

One of 11 missing Egyptian students has been picked up in Minneapolis, Minn., NBC News’ Pete Williams reported and the FBI confirmed Wednesday. Local police in New Jersey also believe they have apprehended two more of the Egyptian students. Federal agents, however, have not yet confirmed the identities of these students. Eslam Ibrahim Mohamed El-Dessouki, 21, was arrested "without incident" by FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said. El-Dessouki is being held on an administrative immigration violation because he did not turn up for his monthlong exchange program at Montana State University, Kolko...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, July 2, 2006 – News reports published June 30 that claimed coalition forces fired rockets in Afghanistan's Kunar province, allegedly killing a school headmaster and injuring two others, are false, military officials here said today. A Combined Forces Command Afghanistan statement said the three people noted in news articles are, in fact, Taliban extremists responsible for conducting attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. According to the statement, three extremists attacked a coalition patrol on a road in the province's Pech district June 29, and the soldiers responded with small-arms and mortar fire, all positively observed by...

welve men have been arrested in Toronto on terror charges, Canadian police have confirmed. They are also holding five youths. Police said the men were planning to commit a series of "al-Qaeda-inspired" terrorist attacks in southern Ontario. They had obtained materials used in bomb-making, including three tonnes of ammonium nitrate. Officials said the group "posed a real and serious threat. It had the capacity and intent to carry out these attacks." Ammonium nitrate is a commonly-used fertiliser. "To put it in context, the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people was completed with...

Bust nets suspected terrorists across GTA Toronto red Star Jun. 2, 2006. 11:56 PM MICHELLE SHEPHARD AND STAN JOSEY STAFF REPORTERS Police from across the GTA, led by the RCMP's anti-terrorism task force, swooped down on as many as 12 locations Friday night to arrest members of what is being described as a homegrown terrorist cell. Police remained tight-lipped about the massive operation, but have scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Saturday. RICK MADONIK/TORONTO STAR This officer is one of numerous heavily-armed police standing guard in front of the Durham Regional Police station at Kingston and Brock roads...

Members of an alleged British terror cell talked of blowing up London's famous Ministry of Sound nightclub, the Old Bailey has been told. The jury heard one defendant, Jawad Akbar, said they would not be blamed for killing "those slags dancing around". In secret recordings made by security surveillance teams, Akbar and Omar Khyam, another member of the alleged al Qaeda-linked cell, appear to discuss possible targets. Akbar says the central London venue was a soft target for a terror attack, according to the prosecution. Akbar: "What about easy stuff where you don't need no experience and nothing and you...

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (UPI) -- A dancer for Minneapolis-based funk/rocker Prince was busted at the Rio de Janeiro Airport with 44 pounds of cocaine. Cecilia Maximilia was arrested Monday as she was waiting to board an Air France flight to Paris, the New York Daily News reported Friday. Her companion, Jennifer Salgnac, allegedly had three bags of drugs as well, the newspaper said. The cocaine was discovered under false bottoms in the ladies` luggage by airport X-ray equipment.

Racing circuit was angered by crew visiting Martinsville track for story NBC tried to dispel rumors that it was investigating NASCAR for a segment on anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, saying the focus of the story will be a widespread look across the country. "Dateline is not planning a story about NASCAR," the network said in a release Thursday. "We are following up on a recent poll and other articles indicating an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. ... The NASCAR race at Martinsville was a stop we have made in our research on this story, which...

Equipped with gummy bears, lubricant and gay porn, a defrocked Pennsylvania priest was ready for sex with a boy but instead got busted by an undercover cop, police said. Thomas Bender, 72, of Macungie, Pa., was arraigned yesterday in First District Court in Hempstead on five counts of first-degree disseminating indecent material to a minor and one count of attempting to commit a criminal sexual act. Since September 2004, cops said, he engaged in online conversations with a detective who was posing as a teenager. "During that year, he was grooming the boy - or who he thought was a...

I was just about to leave home to work when I heard a big bang… Uh, oh…I won't be able to reach the clinic today, I told Mohammed. The explosion was probably less than a mile away so I knew the roads around us would be soon blocked. And minutes later I found they were. I decided to go back to bed but then I heard that a new session of Saddam's trial was scheduled for today. Recalling the past few sessions, I thought that was a good idea to watch while lying on the couch as it would soon...

A New York City teenager fell out the window of a moving bus while using the restroom Tuesday and landed on the New York State Thruway. State police said Jose Gonzales, 17, lost his balance when the chartered bus swerved to change lanes. It was unclear how fast the bus was going. Gonzales was taken to Albany Medical Center for treatment. Police said he'll recover. Gonzales fell onto the shoulder of the thruway near Exit 23 southbound. He had been at the Capitol on Tuesday to lobby with a group on the issue of AIDS.

Somewhere in Washington, Senator Norm Coleman has the satisfaction of the last laugh. After the Left proclaimed George Galloway the winner in his appearance before Coleman's investigative committee on the UN Oil-for-Food scandal -- mostly because Galloway was rude and arrogant, two popular qualities among the MoveOn crowd -- Coleman patiently got Galloway to lie on record and under oath, ensuring that a case could be built against him for fraud and conspiracy. The Guardian (UK) reports today that the other shoe will drop in the next few days on the other side of the pond: George Galloway faces the...

A sensitive document detailing a British Royal Navy warship's tour of duty in the Middle East over the next two years has been found in a pub, the Daily Mirror reported. A student spotted the two-page document -- titled "HMS St Albans Longcast", and marked "restricted" -- lying on a table as he played pool with friends in The Albany pub in Portsmouth, on England's south coast, the newspaper said. It included times and dates of patrol operations in Iraq, Beirut, Bahrain, Qatar, Dubai, the Gulf and Suez, which were codenamed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring...

Authorities arrested 11 alleged Hermandad de Pistoleros Latinos gang members and the alleged gang leader this week, marking the beginning of the end of a nearly three-year-long investigation. The arrests were made Thursday and Friday as part of several raids executed by Laredo police, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and area law enforcement as part of the investigation dubbed "Operation Pistol Whipped" which began in May 2003. Authorities raided several homes in Laredo and Houston in the pre-dawn hours. Nine people were arrested Thursday in Laredo and two more were arrested in Houston. A twelfth suspect, another Laredoan,...

Sometimes, it's not what you say, but what you don't say that counts. Just ask Kelvin C. Foster, who nearly convinced a federal judge Thursday that he was a dedicated family man forced into the cocaine trade to support his wife and seven children. He is a father of seven. He does have a wife. He did sell crack to boost his income. But as Senior U.S. District Court Judge James H. Jarvis learned, Foster left out a few key details when trying to convince Jarvis to award him a sentencing break. The hearing started out amiably enough. Assistant U.S....

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A string of antique stores were busted Thursday for allegedly hiring dozens of illegal immigrants, selling fake pieces and engaging in the black market ivory trade, federal authorities said. During searches of 11 locations, agents arrested 29 foreign nationals from Israel, Mexico, China and South America on immigration violations, said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The investigation involved more than 150 agents from ICE, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which was looking into whether the businesses illegally imported and sold ivory and ivory products....

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- An extradition hearing for a California woman who allegedly poisoned her Marine husband was postponed Wednesday in West Palm Beach. Authorities said Cynthia Sommer killed her husband to get money for breast enhancements and a more luxurious lifestyle. Before arsenic was found in her husband's body, she was left a $250,000 lump-sum payment from Todd Sommer's life insurance policy and a $6,000 death gratuity. She also was to get nearly $1,900 a month from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office told the judge that an extradition warrant has not been...

Bob Woodward 'fesses up to a grand juryabout Valerie Plame... (click here to see it reeeeeeeally large)

Ten Women Busted In Undercover Sting On Escort Services POSTED: 5:35 pm EST November 4, 2005 UPDATED: 7:12 am EST November 10, 2005 WEIRD PHOTOS: News Of The Strange Slideshow SIGN UP: Daily News Of The Strange Email FERN PARK, Fla. -- Nearly one dozen women were busted in an undercover sting on local escort services. Investigators say this year's hurricanes brought many of the women to the Central Florida area. Seminole County undercover agents busted ten female escorts on prostitution charges late Thursday night. They said a few of the women had come to Central Florida to work after...

In a deliciously ironic twist of fate, shortly before airing a segment aimed at embarrassing the Bush administration by suggesting that it had staged a video conversation between the president and soldiers in Iraq, the Today show was caught staging . . . a video stunt. In the Bush/Iraq segment, Today screened footage indicating that prior to engaging in a video conversation with President Bush, soldiers on the ground in Iraq were given tips by a Department of Defense official. But the only advice that the official was shown as giving was a suggestion to one solider to "take a...

The nursing home that Aaron Broussard has been on TV crying about his friend's mother who drowned, was ask to leave by bus and the owner of the nursing home refused to leave. The county came by to pick them up in a bus and the owner refused the offer.

<p>FReepers, sometimes the other side just makes it so easy for us. My original report regarding the Sierra Club Summit is linked above.</p> <p>After giving a stirring speech on saving the planet, Arianna Huffington walked right past me outside. A friend was able to take this photo of her Chevrolet Suburban waiting for her across the street. She parked across the street rather than being dropped off next to the hyrbrid vehicles that were showcased in front of the Sierra Club Summit. She didn't dare get dropped off in front of her environmentalist pals at the Moscone Center building where she was speaking.</p>

Democrats' anti-Bush petition also seeks political contributions By DEVLIN BARRETT Associated Press Writer September 8, 2005, 4:13 PM EDT WASHINGTON -- A new Democratic effort to whip up indignation about the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina also tried to raise money for Democratic candidates. Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, issued an appeal Thursday urging people to sign an online petition to fire the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency over his handling of the Katrina response. After an inquiry from the Associated Press, the DSCC quickly pulled...

Mayor Nagin and Gov. Kathleen Blanco failed to develope better evacuation strategy for NO after Hurricane Ivan in exactly one year ago.Ivan exposes flaws in N.O.'s disaster plans 05:09 PM CDT on Sunday, September 19, 2004 By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press Those who had the money to flee Hurricane Ivan ran into hours-long traffic jams. Those too poor to leave the city had to find their own shelter - a policy that was eventually reversed, but only a few hours before the deadly storm struck land. New Orleans dodged the knockout punch many feared from the hurricane, but the storm...