Free Republic

CONCORD – One of four men accused of helping convicted tax evaders Edward and Elaine Brown avoid arrest allegedly had a "gun in every room" when agents arrested him in Vermont Wednesday, and another recently enlisted in the U.S. Army and had a pipe bomb and other weapons in his New York home when authorities searched it yesterday, officials said. "We've said from the very beginning ... that people who may be aiding and abetting the Browns are subject to investigation, arrest and prosecution," U.S. Marshal for New Hampshire Stephen R. Monier told reporters after the U.S. District Court hearings.

First the people in the towers died. Then the rescue workers. Now first responders are succumbing to a 9/11 illness. The next victims: tens of thousands of ordinary citizens who worked and lived in Lower Manhattan—all of whom were told that the air was safe. While the people who died in the towers and the first responders have gotten much attention from the nation and the press—witness the lead feature from 60 Minutes last night on first responders—the ordinary citizens have gone relatively unnoticed. So Discover has released a package that focuses directly on this final group of 9/11 victims....

Dear [Past Your Eyes], Last winter, Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) suffered a brain hemorrhage. Today, Senator Tim Johnson returns to the Floor of the United States Senate. In just 9 months, with the help and support of his family, doctors, and prayers from people across the country, Senator Johnson has progressed remarkably. Senator Johnson's recovery has been nothing short of amazing and we are all thankful that he is now able to return to the Senate Chambers and continue his work for the people of South Dakota and all Americans. To celebrate Senator Johnson's return -- and to help him...

NEW ORLEANS - Mayor Ray Nagin could be days away from announcing he will run for governor of Louisiana — a move many in this stricken city regard as preposterous. If Nagin runs, he will do so on his stewardship of New Orleans.

TROY – A local man who said he had been harassed by police is in custody after allegedly driving a bulldozer through the front of the Troy Police Department early yesterday. Stanley Burt, 34, of 24 Colonial Drive was arraigned at Keene District Court yesterday on charges of criminal mischief, reckless conduct with a deadly weapon, and driving and probation violations. Authorities said Burt, who has a history of altercations with the police department, repeatedly hit the building with a stolen D3 Caterpillar bulldozer, causing severe structural damage and cutting the facility's power and phone lines.

Radicalism is no longer taught only in college; many younger students are getting a head start. Schools traditionally emphasized the “three Rs” – reading, ’riting and ’rithmetic. Recently a “fourth R” seems to have entered the American schoolhouse: radicalism. “When you go into a class where you’re supposed to learn about government or geography,” high-school junior Sean Allen says, “you expect to learn what the truth is.” He found out last year that some teachers don’t share his expectation. An Accelerated World Geography class at Overland High School in suburban Denver featured diatribes against the United States, capitalism and President...

HOUSE SPEAKER Nancy Pelosi was in New Hampshire last week to sing the praises of 1st District Rep. Carol Shea-Porter. She gushed about Shea-Porter, and no wonder. In the representative from Rochester, Pelosi has a guaranteed rubber-stamp vote. New Hampshire Republicans are calling Shea-Porter and 2nd District Rep. Paul Hodes the "Pelosi twins," and it's a fitting name. After criticizing their predecessors for voting too much with President Bush, Shea-Porter and Hodes have wound up voting with Pelosi 99 percent of the time. (They vote with each other 98 percent of the time.) Shea-Porter, a self-proclaimed independent voice in Washington,...

African-Americans are victims of nearly half the murders committed in the United States despite making up only 13 percent of the population, a report published Thursday showed. Around 8,000 of nearly 16,500 murder victims in 2005, or 49 percent, were black Americans, according to the report released by the statistics bureau of the Department of Justice. Broken down by gender, 6,800 black men were murdered in 2005, making up more than half the nearly 13,000 male murder victims. Black women made up 35 percent, or 1,200, of the nearly 3,500 female homicide victims. Young black men aged between 17 and...

If federal agents storm Brown's property, he and his supporters will come out shooting. Brown said yesterday that if those agents kill him or his wife, Elaine, his supporters will systematically find and kill Plainfield Police Chief Gordon Gillens, Sullivan County Sheriff Michael Prozzo and others Brown says are sworn to protect him. "Why do you think we know where they live?" he said. Brown predicts the people's war against corruption will begin within the next 18 months. He has spent the last 15 years doing research, trying to identify the culprits of that corruption. "I'm still conducting my investigation,"...

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German farmer angry with police for trying to confiscate his tractor wrecked three patrol cars and evaded capture for seven hours before an elite unit managed to arrest him, a police spokesman said Wednesday. The farmer, 53, was pulled over by police for driving his tractor without a license, despite several previous warnings. The officers called in three patrol cars for help before asking the farmer to get out of his vehicle. He refused, and proceeded to ram the cars with his tractor, making full use of its attached muck spreader and hydraulic fork. Officers were...

New Hampshire police are facing a record shortage in gun rounds, causing months-long delays in ammunition orders and forcing some departments to postpone annual mandatory tests at local shooting ranges. Ammunition demands linked to the war in Iraq, increased security after the Sept. 11 terror attacks and rising worldwide demand for raw materials have taken their toll on the supply of ammunition for police departments, according to officials familiar with the firearms industry.

MANCHESTER – City Republican leaders are steering clear of a party fundraiser that invites donors to test their marksmanship with a loaded machine gun. Several of the city's most prominent Republicans, including many of the party's candidates for mayor and alderman, say they will not attend the Aug. 5 event at the Pelham Fish and Game firing range. A few raised moral objections, saying they would not support a fundraiser that packs a pro-gun message. "I don't think it's an appropriate way to raise money," said Mike Garrity, one of two Republican aldermen in Manchester.

ROCKVILLE, Maryland (AP) -- Charges against a man accused of raping and repeatedly molesting a 7-year-old girl have been dropped because the court took too long to find an interpreter fluent in his native West African language. Montgomery County Circuit Judge Katherine D. Savage dismissed the nearly three-year-old case against Mahamu Kanneh last week, saying the delays had violated the Liberian immigrant's right to a speedy trial.

The following message is from our friend Vice President Al Gore. Dear (Past Your Eyes), A decade from now, when people look back on Live Earth, what they will remember isn't what happened during the show ––instead my hope is they remember what happened after. More than 2 billion of us joined together on 7.7.07 and with one voice demanded an end to the climate crisis. It is now our responsibility to carry this movement forward and force our leaders to take action. That's why I'm asking you to join me in signing the Live Earth Pledge. Nancy Pelosi and...

FRYEBURG, Maine – An ex-convict from Maine -- wanted on felonies in four Southern states since his release from prison two months ago -- was charged yesterday in Monday's deadly triple shooting at a Conway, N.H., military surplus store. Fryeburg police apprehended Michael L. Woodbury, 31, as he walked on the railroad tracks near the old Northland Shoe Building on Route 302 around 10 a.m. yesterday, ending a massive 24-hour manhunt that plunged Conway area residents in fear as police searched on foot and by air for the shooter. Woodbury, of Naples, Maine, faces three counts of first-degree murder for...

A federal judge sentenced tax protesters Ed and Elaine Brown to more than five years in prison yesterday, giving them sentences at the top of the range recommended by probation officers but below sentencing recommendations offered by the prosecutor. The couple did not attend the hearing, and Ed Brown refused to recognize the sentence or the federal court that issued it. "I've been convicted of crimes?" he asked in a phone interview yesterday. The couple have been holed up in their fortified Plainfield home for several months, saying that any attempts to arrest them will trigger a violent confrontation with...

There is a sad majesty to the sounding of "Taps." Each evening, those 24 haunting notes now echo throughout the grounds of the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen, and the mournful tune rings out because of Noel Taylor. The 61-year-old Goffstown resident is orchestrating a program of his own creation called "100 Nights of Remembrance," and to do so, he has summoned the assistance of his fellow buglers and trumpet players from all over the state.

This Memorial Day, we must do more than just remember the fallen. We must dedicate ourselves to sharing their sacrifice. Let us find the moral courage to match their physical courage. Let us re-dedicate ourselves to the principles for which our country stands.

Dear (Past Your Eyes), Anytime somebody says that they "don't recall" as much as Alberto Gonzales did, you can bet that they recall damn well whatever it is they did, they just never thought they'd have to account for it. Republicans' feet are being held to the fire and they are being forced do all sorts of things they never wanted to do -- like answer questions about the Bush Administration's incompetence, debate the war in Iraq and get rid of tax breaks for Big Oil. With Republicans against the wall and out of power, there is no smear campaign...