Free Republic

Ground controllers for one of NASA's most successful planetary probes will bid a fond farewell Sunday to Galileo, a spacecraft that spent the better part of eight years studying Jupiter and its moons. The Galileo probe will create its own funeral pyre as it burns up in the Jovian atmosphere, a fiery end to its 14 years of space travel. "It's a little sad to be present at the demise of a great spacecraft," said Claudia Alexander, Galileo's project manager, who will await confirmation that the craft indeed hits Jupiter Sunday in a darkened control room with others at NASA's...

The 101st Airborne has a reply for all the press, pundits and FReepers who continually allege Iraq is a quagmire:

I just came across a great website that I wanted to point out to Freepers. It is called Project Gutenburg, and it offers books free to download. Since they can only do this with books whose copywrites have expired, most books date from prior to 1923. However, there seems to be many great finds ready to be read. Here is a link to a zipped text file of all the titles, and here is one for the authors. The website also has an alphabetical listing along with a search function. I like anything that is free, so if you are...

Ravenna - A woman who was arrested after she was seen breast-feeding while driving on the Ohio Turnpike in May is preparing for trial here Wednesday. Catherine Nicole Donkers - who speaks publicly only after getting permission to do so from the man she calls her husband - said in a phone interview last week she should not have been arrested. "How can you prosecute someone for violating a law that doesn't exist?" Donkers said. "There is no law that has been violated." Donkers supports her argument with a mix of legal interpretations and a deep skepticism of government. She...

SOUTH BEND -- An ESPN documentary revealed some of the challenges Notre Dame football coach Tyrone Willingham encountered growing up in North Carolina. The piece also hinted at how Willingham had to wait his turn for athletic success in high school before heading north as a walk-on quarterback and baseball player at Michigan State. But through all of his challenges, Willingham told a captivated audience of 925 during Thursday's Hall of Fame Gridiron Legends luncheon at Century Center that he has never had a bad day. As long as he possessed the power to change his circumstance, Willingham does not...

Book DescriptionA man named Mohammed sits in a café in Vienna, about to propose a deal to a Colombian. Mohammed has a strong network of agents and sympathizers throughout Europe and the Middle East, and the Colombian has an equally strong drug network throughout America. What if they were to form an alliance, to combine all their assets and connections? The potential for profits would be enormous-and the potential for destruction unimaginable. In the Brave New World of terrorism-where anybody with a spare AK-47, a knowledge of kitchen chemistry, or simply the will to die can become a player-the...

SANDWICH, England -- Mark Roe blew kisses to the crowd and walked off the 18th hole triumphantly Saturday afternoon at Royal St. George’s. The Englishman had just shot 4-under 67 and had moved to 1-over par, and into contention in the 132nd Open Championship. Fifteen minutes later, he got some of the worst news of his professional life. Mark Roe was informed, after doing a television interview, that he and playing competitor Jesper Parnevik (81) had been disqualified after signing incorrect scorecards. In this event, players are given their own scorecard before the round and are expected to exchange...

Preparation, motivation, execution. Those were the three qualities that set apart the U.S. Postal-Berry Floor team at Wednesday's team time trial. By beating the ONCE-Eroski team of Joseba Beloki by 30 seconds, and the Bianchi squad of Jan Ullrich by 43 seconds, Postal put Victor Hugo Peña in the yellow jersey and Lance Armstrong in the driving seat of this centennial Tour only two stages away from the Alps. The preparation for the stage was something begun by the team's Belgian directeurs sportifs Johan Bruyneel and Dirk Demol, who first came to look at the Joinville-St. Dizier course two...

LA FERTE-SOUS-JOUARRE, France -- American cyclist Tyler Hamilton made a last-minute decision Monday to stay in the Tour de France despite a broken collarbone sustained in a crash with dozens of other riders. Hamilton, seen as one of a handful of cyclists capable of unseating four-time winner Lance Armstrong as Tour champion, had worked hard to prepare and didn't want to drop out, according to Bjarne Riis, his manager at team CSC. "He wants to give this a try. He's a warrior,'' Riis said. "We'll support him as long as we can. But I'm not sure how long he'll be...

A taped phone call in which a Luzerne County chiropractor assured a woman that a dying epileptic would be all right without anti-seizure medication led to a guilty plea to fraud yesterday in U.S. Middle District Court. Joanne M. Gallagher, 43, of Hazleton, pleaded guilty to a single count of mail fraud which carries a maximum term of five years in prison. She also must give up her license and stop practicing under the plea deal accepted by U.S. District Judge Christopher C. Connor. She could have faced up to life in prison had she been convicted of fraud in...

Who is Hillary Rodham Clinton? We all know her husband. He's a hard guy to be non-intimate with. Early in his presidency, he was asked on TV what kind of underwear he wore and chatted away merrily about how he mostly preferred boxers but occasionally wore briefs. Pandora's boxer shorts, once opened, are not easily buttoned up again. He remains the only president to have his, ah, distinguishing characteristics officially examined by a U.S. Naval surgeon when they became a matter of legal dispute. And not long after that his, er, DNA wound up getting analyzed by the FBI crime...

Misinterpreting the Pew International Survey:  Yesterday's USA Today article on the Pew Survey of opinions in 20 nations began with this lead paragraph: As President Bush plunges into Middle East diplomacy, a survey of 20 nations and the Palestinian Authority shows widespread distrust of his leadership, skepticism in the region about his plan for peace and less regard for the United States around the world. This is, at the very best, misleadingly incomplete.  Suppose a weatherman was reporting temperatures and had the following four daily highs (in Fahrenheit), 83, 75, 48, and 70.  Would you think it a fair summary...

Taking exception to recent remarks by Annika Sorenstam, PGA Tour golfer John Riegger said Thursday he has backing for a $1 million one-on-one challenge against the world's top female golfer. "WE'LL HAVE THE CASH on the tee if she wants to play," Riegger said after the first round of the Capital Open. Two weeks ago, Sorenstam became the first woman in 58 years to play a PGA Tour event. She shot rounds of 71 and 74 and missed the cut at the Colonial, finishing tied for 96th and ahead of 11 other players. "She made a statement in her press...

<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Annika Sorenstam's historic round at the Colonial gave the USA Network record ratings.</p> <p>Her opening round produced a 1.7 national rating for five hours of coverage, the best ever for the cable network's Thursday coverage of a PGA Tour event.</p>

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Welcome to Annika's Alley. Tradition-rich Colonial, where a bronze of five-time winner Ben Hogan greets everyone who passes through the front gates, turned into a massive cheering session Wednesday for Annika Sorenstam on the eve of her PGA Tour debut. Despite a steady, sloppy rain that cut short a pro-am round, Sorenstam had to walk through a wall of spectators just to get to the first tee. From there, the view was unlike anything she has ever seen. The 565-yard hole was a colorful outline of umbrellas from tee to green, and thousands of fans --...

PGA Tour rookies Dean Wilson and Aaron Barber are about to enter the spotlight without getting into contention. They're playing with Annika Sorenstam the first two rounds at Colonial. Sorenstam, the first woman to compete on the PGA Tour in 58 years, was drawn out of the third category of players reserved for those who haven't won or finished in the top 125 on the money list. Names were selected randomly by a computer. Her group will start on the 10th tee at 8:58 a.m. Thursday, and from the first tee at 1:43 p.m. Friday. Starting early in the first...

As if the Times doesn't have enough trouble right about now, their resident grouchy spinster, Maureen Dowd, has pulled a "jayson". For all of you who don't know what that is, it is the newspeak for willfully making up facts to fit a news story. Apparently the elderly Ms. Dowd is not happy with all the attention the higher-ups at the Times have been lavishing on their former employee, and current disgrace, Jayson Blair. So, in a last-ditch attempt to get her name back in the limelight, Mo has done some of her own quote-doctoring. Here is a few lines...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Controlled chaos, NASCAR style. The commotion in the NASCAR control tower begins 30 minutes before the race. Phones are ringing, radios tested, replay monitors checked and rechecked. When all the equipment is working, the command is given for the national anthem to begin. Shortly thereafter, it's time to race. "Tower to flag stand," Winston Cup director John Darby radios down below him. "Let's rock and roll, boys." From a small booth high above the race track, NASCAR's leaders settle in to call the race. There are six voices often yelling over one another, an occasional moment...

On Saturday, April 12, join the tens of thousands of people of conscience who will surround the White House. The whole world is watching to see if the people of the United States can intensify the power of the anti-war movement at the moment that the Bush Administration is intending to slaughter tens of thousands of Iraqi people and occupy their country. We urge every anti-war organizer and concerned person to bring your friends, neighbors and family members to this all-important mobilization on April 12. The world is in a state of Shock and Revulsion as the murderous Bush Administration...

A high tech cheating scandal has rocked the campus of the University of Maryland. Last month, a dozen students were caught using wireless devices to access test answers posted on a school website during an exam. The students who cheated were all busted, and the means in which professors nabbed the culprits has ignited controversy on campus. Tonight on "Tech Live" we'll show you how these tech-savvy kids, and even smarter professors, pulled off their feats. "A group of students, probably acting individually, came up with the idea that they could access test exams and the answers via the Web,...