Free Republic

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Bay County's first tangible landfall from the Deepwater Horizon crisis is not tar balls or oil plumes. Instead, it’s a storage tank officials think was onboard the Deepwater Horizon rig when it exploded and sank off the coast of Louisiana in April. A tank weighing 5,000 pounds with a 550-gallon capacity washed ashore Saturday morning near 14th Street and Front Beach Road in Laguna Beach, U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Steve Caskey said. A sticker bearing the BP name and the word “Horizon” led authorities to believe the tank was blown from the rig, Petty Officer Aaron...

A Vancouver lawyer says she plans to lay criminal charges against former president George W. Bush when he visits Calgary on March 17. “I’m going to attempt to initiate a private prosecution against him for torture,” Gail Davidson, cofounder of Lawyers Against the War, told the Straight in a phone interview. In a February 23 letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and four federal cabinet ministers, the group requested that Bush be denied entry into Canada in accordance with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Along with individuals, the act bars senior members of a government that has committed offences...

U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, said he is prepared to filibuster the proposed economic stimulus bill, but fears enough Republicans will side with Senate Democrats to override any attempt to block the bill’s passage. Shelby’s remarks came during a county meeting Monday morning at the Wiregrass Rehabilitation Center in Dothan. The Senate is expected to debate a proposed $900 billion stimulus bill this week. A similar measure passed the House last week. Shelby said the plan will not provide the quick boost the economy needs. “Are we prepared to filibuster? Hope so,” Shelby said. “But I’m afraid we may have...

Governor Bob Riley has declared a state of emergency in Alabama, saying he has gotten information from the federal Department of Energy that energy shortages are likely because of Hurricane Ike. A state law that prohibits "unconscionable pricing" of items for sale or rent goes into effect when the governor has declared a state of emergency. Riley's declaration this afternoon says that "disruption of essential utility services, systems and severe energy shortages will likely occur." Earlier today, the governor's office issued a statement saying Riley had limited authority to declare an emergency. State law does not allow the governor to...

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - In a week of records surrounding the Republican National Convention, Fox News Channel earned another one with its weekend documentary on vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. "Sarah Palin: American Woman" averaged 2.7 million viewers in its debut at 8 p.m. ET Saturday night, Nielsen Media Research said Tuesday afternoon. That included 673,000 viewers in the adults 25-54 cable news demo. Nielsen said it was the highest-rated primetime documentary ever in the 12-year history of the channel, surpassing high-rated ones recently about Barack Obama and Palin's running mate, John McCain. "Barack Obama: Character & Conduct" averaged...

(PHILADELPHIA) Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter boiled over with contempt, directed at Republicans, as he introduced Sen. Joe Biden in at the Ironworkers Union Local 401 Hall today in Pennsylvania. "I was astounded, astounded at what I saw at the Repulsive National Convention on Wednesday night, at the RNC between Giuliani and Governor Palin,” said the mayor. “Insults have now replaced ideas. Invective has now replaced innovation. Personal attacks have now replaced policy addresses. I have never seen such a negative climate in this country as we saw Wednesday night. And then the other guy had the audacity last night to...

Sen. John McCain's use of the Heart song "Barracuda" after his acceptance speech Thursday night is causing heartburn with the Seattle-based rock group. Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson posted a message today on their Web site condemning the use of their 1977 hit at the Republican convention. The song was played when McCain, the party's presidential nominee, was joined onstage after the speech by his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The sisters said their representatives, Universal Music Publishing and SONY BMG, have sent a cease-and-desist notice to the McCain-Palin campaign to not use the song as the congratulatory theme...

ATLANTA -- Richard Jewell, the man once accused of being the Olympic Park bomber and then cleared of the attack, is dead. Check back with wsbtv.com for more on this developing story.

An extraordinary encounter between two of nature’s most fearsome man-eaters has been photographed by an amateur fisherman. Indrek Urvet said that he watched in astonishment as a four-metre (13ft) saltwater crocodile made swift work of a much-smaller bull shark by the remote Daly River in the Northern Territory. “I just saw this big croc come charging out of the water with a shark flapping in its jaws. I turned my boat to take some photos. Suddenly the croc saw me. He turned around and came shooting towards me.” Mr Urvet, who said that fishermen on the river frequently lost their...

A MILITARY adviser to President George W Bush has warned that British forces will have to fight their way out of Iraq in an “ugly and embarrassing” retreat. Stephen Biddle, who also advises the US commander in Iraq, said Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias in the south would try to create the impression they were forcing a retreat. “They want to make it clear they have forced the British out. That means they’ll use car bombs, ambushes, RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] . . . and there will be a number of British casualties.” The comments coincide with British military estimates that withdrawal could...

Hizbollah is buying up large tracts of land owned by Christians and other non-Shias in southern Lebanon as the militant group rebuilds its defences in preparation for a new war with Israel, The Sunday Telegraph has been told. The land grab is thought to be driven by the Iranian-backed guerrillas' efforts to rearm themselves and fortify the strategically important ravines north of the Litani River, just north of the front line in last year's 34-day conflict with its Jewish neighbour. Here, Hizbollah has been free to press forward without harassment from the 13,000 United Nations peacekeepers and 20,000 Lebanese army...

THE Pentagon has claimed that five terror suspects whom Britain wants back from Guantanamo Bay have close ties to some of Al-Qaeda’s most high-ranking leaders. Only days after Gordon Brown took the surprise decision to call for their release, a senior American official this weekend disclosed previously classified evidence to show that the men are “extremely dangerous individuals”. Sandra Hodgkinson, who is in charge of US detention policy, warned that the suspects may seek to rejoin the war on terror and could pose a risk to the UK if not kept under close scrutiny. In a fresh series of allegations...

A group of Muslims have opposed plans for a pet food factory to be built as possible pork emissions will violate their religious rights. Butchers Pet Care could shelve plans for a factory in Coton Park, near Rugby, because angry Asian families have complained to their residents' association about pork smells drifting into their garden. Muslim residents in the area also claim the pork will effectively "rain down" on their homes and gardens after the factory's 100ft chimney has pumped the meat extracts into the atmosphere. The Coton Park Residential Association said they have received complaints from Muslims - who...

Holding forth on the July 22nd installment of Fox News Sunday, right-wing journalist Bill Kristol denounced the current fashionability among Democrats of the liberal Web site DailyKos.com and noted by contrast, "Not a single Democratic presidential candidate is going to the Democratic Leadership Council meeting in a couple of weeks. That's the organization that Bill Clinton was head of in the early '90s. That was supposed to be the 'new, more moderate' Democratic Party. The Democratic Party has gone left, and it's going to hurt them presidentially in 2008." No contenders? Uh oh. Is this a problem for the DLC's...

The clamour is growing in America and Britain for troops to be brought home. Violence grips large parts of the country. But elsewhere the green shoots of recovery are showing through the rubble The cycle of murder and vengeance grinds quickly in Iraq. Last week, in the western city of Tal Afar, it was all over in 10 minutes. No one saw how Jamil Salem Jamil, aged 19, arrived. If he was driven to his target, then the car stayed out of sight. A slim Sunni youth, with a thick crop of black hair above his elongated features, he walked...

The internet is playing a key role in the on-going psychological war waged on America by the Iraqi insurgence. A series of mock-up Hollywood film posters - with a chilling message for US troops in Iraq - has started to appear on the web. Link

An email arrives. It is from Rosie, an old friend, who is visiting London from Bristol this weekend. "Bad news I'm afraid," reads the email subject. My stomach lurches. My mind races. Rosie is dying. Rosie's cat is dying. Rosie's cat is dead. Rosie is dead. I grit my teeth. I prepare to vomit. I open the email. "I don't think I am going to be able to meet you this weekend as I have now got tickets for this Live Earth concert, and then I know you are flying off on holiday the next day . . ." Phew....

Two suspected al-Qaeda terrorists who drove a Jeep into Glasgow airport apparently wrote a suicide note explaining their motives for the attack. Police did not say where the apparent suicide note was found but the language in it indicated that the men intended to blow up the vehicle while they were inside, according to reports last night. Both of the men survived the attack although Khalid Ahmed, the driver, suffered 90 per cent burns and is in a critical condition. The passenger, Bilal Abdulla, was not badly injured. New family links between the eight people arrested in connection with the...

Teams of forensic scientists are poring over two "gold mines" - the Mercedes cars filled with petrol, gas and nails which failed to explode in central London. Last night, scores of specialists were taking the vehicles apart at secret locations, confident they will find crucial clues to the identity of the terrorists. Police expect to find DNA from the bombers and to secure evidence about where the bomb material came from. The car bombs are of the kind used on a daily basis in Iraq but, unlike attacks there, the militants operating in London were not suicide bombers prepared to...

German politicians have slammed role playing games being taught to school children on how to pick up a gay partner. The Regional Institute for School and Media LISUM in Berlin has introduced the controversial exercises for school kids from 14 upwards as part of a way of reducing prejudice against homosexuals. But the role-playing has outraged politicians. Education spokesman for the liberal FDP party Mieke Senftleben has demanded the teaching materials be replaced and said: "Education about homosexuality, discrimination and intolerance is necessary. "But I think having such topics on how to pick up gay men in role playing games...