Free Republic

I've been watching Fox news, I haven't seen Ollie report in for a couple of days. He is emmbeded in a Marine helo battalion. Makes me wonder where they've gone. Sombebody's keeping something very quiet. Sorry about the vanity, but my curiosity has got the better of me.

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - About 1,000 U.S. troops launched a raid on villages in southeastern Afghanistan (news - web sites) Wednesday night, hunting for members of the al-Qaida terrorist network, military officials said. Helicopters ferried troops from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division to the remote, mountainous area as the hunt for Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and his terror network intensified. U.S. military officials in Afghanistan only confirmed the operation was underway. "I do not have anything to say about the Kandahar operation at this time," said Col. Roger King, U.S. army spokesman. The troops left from their base...

<p>SANTA FE, N.M. — North Korea does not intend to build nuclear weapons, a senior Pyongyang diplomat assured New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson over the course of three days of talks held in Santa Fe.</p> <p>Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and energy secretary in the Clinton administration, said he and Ambassador Han Song Ryol discussed the issues involved in the U.S. stalemate with the communist nation "very frankly, but in a positive atmosphere."</p>

Fox news reporting Kissinger stepping down rather than reveal his contracts with foreign goverments.

I was reading last weeks Newsweek and came upon Jonathan Alter's article, "Down in the Dumps; MEMO TO: The Democratic Party. Mixed in with the other advice was the following paragraphs... "Close the discipline gap. Republicans have long been better at developing a party line (for example "Tom Daschle is an obstructionist"), repeating it endlessly and using their allies in the conservative press and talk radio to drive the message home. You Democrats don't even send out emails to keep your folks on the same page. To close the gap you need some Charlie Michaelsons. He was the long-forgotten publicist...

1 hour, 33 minutes ago Add Health NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Concerned about the attention garnered by a small study of an Atkins-like low carbohydrate diet, the American Heart Association (news - web sites) issued a statement Tuesday emphasizing their guidelines, which recommend fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, fish, poultry and low fat dairy products as part of a healthy diet. "Media reports about a small study funded by the Robert C. Atkins Foundation may have created the erroneous impression that the American Heart Association has revised its dietary guidelines," according to the statements. "This is not the...

Predator above Unseen, a dot in the sky Al Qaeda flambe'

Just heard on Rush that according to the British Muslim group that arranged the supposed agreement for "unconditional inspections" there really is a condition. They only agreed to inspections at military installations. No inspections at civilian insallations, including schools, hostpitals, and presumably Saddams 39 Presidential Palaces. Nobody else in the media seems to have picked up on this.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush ( news - web sites) has asked congressional leaders to come to the White House on Wednesday to discuss U.S. efforts to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites), congressional aides said. Top Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate will attend the meeting, scheduled for 9:40 a.m. The meeting was to be held as speculation grew that Bush may be readying military action against Iraq, which he accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction. The White House said Bush has not made a decision on how to...

TORONTO- Scientists spent four months tracking by satellite the journey of a goose named Kerry that migrated 3,000 miles from Northern Ireland to the Canadian Arctic. They finally found it last week - in an Inuit hunter's freezer. "Kerry shot in Canada!" reads an Aug. 22 update on the migratory tracking project's Web site. Kerry was one of six light-bellied Brent geese under study by Britain's Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and the National Geographic Society. When signals from Kerry's satellite transmitter showed he had moved from one Arctic island to another and then stopped, the researchers asked Canadian wildlife officers...

<p>WASHINGTON -- The war on terrorism is suddenly going terribly wrong. Suicide bombers serving Yasser Arafat, the world's senior and most successful terrorist, have caused U.S. policy in the Middle East to buckle and become more accommodating. So more than six months into the war on terror, terror is more vindicated as a tactic than ever before.</p>

WASHINGTON- President Bush approved the use of a special military tribunal Tuesday that could put accused terrorists on trial faster and in greater secrecy than an ordinary criminal court. The United States has not convened such a tribunal since World War II. Bush signed an order establishing the government's right to use such a court but preserving the option of a conventional trial. "This is a new tool to use against terrorism," White House Counsel Albert Gonzales said. Bush's order does not require approval from Congress. Detention and trial of accused terrorists by a military tribunal is necessary "to protect ...

Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee of Thy great goodness...grant us fair weather for battle. Graciously harken to us, as soldiers who call upon Thee, that armed with Thy Power we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the opression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy Justice among men and nations. Amen.

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A Palestinian shot and killed an Israeli army intelligence officer Thursday, marring the first day of a truce worked out by CIA director George Tenet. Israel's military received orders to begin implementing the truce, but stopped pullbacks in places where violence persisted, including the road leading to the southern entry of Jerusalem, site of the shooting. Israeli tanks on carriers rumbled back from forward positions in Gaza. At the Netzarim junction, a flashpoint throughout more than eight months of fighting, Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli soldiers after a tank was withdrawn. Elsewhere, Israeli soldiers dismantled roadblocks, with ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - San Francisco Chronicle Executive Editor Phil Bronstein, husband of actress Sharon Stone, had his foot mauled by a rare, 10-foot Komodo dragon during a V.I.P. tour of the Los Angeles zoo, the newspaper reported on Sunday. Bronstein was listed in stable condition Sunday at a Los Angeles hospital where he underwent surgery to repair severe damage suffered during Saturday's attack by the giant lizard, which crushed his big toe, the newspaper said. Doctors had to reattach severed tendons and rebuild the casing of his big toe, the paper reported. The animal, an Indonesian species, attacked while ...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- President Bush, acknowledging his raucous years as a Yale University student, returned Monday to the alma mater he once scorned and told graduates, ''Life is ours to live, but not to waste.'' At turns self-deprecating and serious, the president talked of his long road from underachieving undergraduate to leader of the free world. ''To the 'C' students,'' he said with a grin, looking over the crowd of more than 2,000 graduates, ''I say you, too, can be president of the United States.'' There were boos and protests from some in the crowd, but his remarks ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Citing recent detentions of Americans in China, the State Department warned U.S. citizens Thursday of the dangers of traveling there if they've criticized Chinese government policies. A Chinese diplomat in Washington challenged the warning. ''The Department of State cautions Americans, especially Americans originally from China, that there may be a risk of being detained ... if they have at any time engaged in activities or published writings critical of Chinese government policies,'' said the warning issued at the department and posted on its Web site. Travel to Taiwan, which China regards as a rebel province, or involvement ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- China and the United States sharply disagreed in their first day of reconnaissance plane talks in Beijing Wednesday in what a senior Bush administration official called a tough, 2½-hour session. As a result of the standoff, U.S. Ambassador Joseph Prueher will call the foreign ministry and inform the Chinese government it must respond to the U.S. demand for return of the Navy aircraft if a second session is to be held, the official told The Associated Press. The two sides laid out their positions and, obviously, they differed, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. This ...

I was just watching Special Report with Brit Hume, and he told the folowing; last weekend there was a dinner for the new Chinese Ambassador hosted by some Asian-Pacific trade group in DC. The head of the organization was proposing a toast to the future of the "US-Chinese trade relationship". He was loudly interupted by Wes Pruden, the Editor of the Washington Times, who said "and to the 24 US servicemen being held illegally in China, who better be released soon or there won't be a US-China trade relationship". Wes' toast was greeted with "hear, hear" from many in the ...

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) -- An American woman was trampled to death by an elephant in a Tanzanian national park after it became enraged by the clicking sounds of her camera, officials said Thursday. Natalie Waldinger, 24, of Huntington, N.Y., died Sunday in Ruaha National Park in central Tanzania, during a break in her tour as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer teacher in this East African nation. Waldinger was traveling with another woman, who scrambled to safety and was badly shaken, but uninjured, said Lota Melamari, chief of the Tanzania National Parks Authority. The New York Post and The ...