Free Republic

CENTER, TX (KSLA) - An East Texas student was told he could not attend prom because of an incident involving a drama department prop. Center High School juniors and seniors will go to prom Saturday night, but Center High School Student Avery Tindol will not be among them because of an incident involving a toy gun. Tindol says he and other students were cleaning out the drama room's prop closet when he was handed a toy gun before the bell rang dismissing class. "I realized I had it in my pocket and as soon as a did I took it...

<p>I'm a freelance journalist, currently doing magazine work for Southern Poverty Law Center's "Hatewatch" news blog and "Intelligence Report" magazine. My current assignment is to write a half-dozen. 400-word profiles, including one on you, for the IR magazine.</p> <p>Obviously I can find a lot about you on the Internet, but would like to extend this opportunity for you to say something about yourself -- what you represent and what you don't represent, some biographical background, place of birth, military experience, college, work experiences, political-religious philosophy, etc..</p>

In the United States, for some odd reason, we’ve adopted French nomenclature for where one stands in the wider range of political opinion. That would be left, right and center. Short history lesson – that terminology came from 1789 around the beginnings of the French Revolution in the National Assembly of France. Those who supported the king sat on the right and those opposed sat on the left. As time marched on and the French Royalty were guillotined practically to extinction, the newer legislatures and assemblies more or less took up the same seating arrangement – more traditional people on...

Two months ago, Washington was abuzz with speculation that Barack Obama was going to follow Bill Clinton's re-election strategy and move to the center, forsaking his liberal agenda that cost him control of the House in 2010. Now, it is evident that he has decided to come down hard left and wage his re-election fight from his liberal bunker, firing shots at Republican cuts in Medicare, pushing tax increases on the rich and attributing the gas price increase to speculators. Very possibly the decision to tack to the left was not entirely voluntary. With the Republicans constantly confronting him with...

TUCSON — A lawyer for environmental activists wants a federal judge to order two U.S. agencies — The Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army — to renegotiate a biological opinion concerning the San Pedro River and its environs contending the two entities have failed to follow the Endangered Species Act. The plaintiff’s attorney, McCrystie Adams, said the continuing growth in the Sierra Vista area is caused by the existence of Fort Huachuca and as more people come to the area, they “are draining the aquifer year after year.” However, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney contends all the requirements...

Midwest Communist Party USA members set up a phone bank this week to call up 1500 people who have recently joined the party online.

The next focus of demonstrators protesting collective bargaining reforms should be Columbus, Ohio where thousands, if not tens-of-thousands, of protestors are expected to gather Tuesday and shout their views about a controversial bill that puts labor unions in the crosshairs of a determined governor intent on salvaging his state's financial situation. The protests should look and sound much like the ones from Madison, Wisconsin that have gripped the nation in the recent days and marries an uncomfortable economic reality with political opportunity. "It's to put our children first. It's to do the things without regard to political considerations and try...

<p>Dover, DE -- The abortion industry has been forced to suspend to abortion businesses that employed embattled abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell, who has been the subject of national controversy over his abortion business in Philadelphia.</p> <p>Gosnell’s facility was the subject of a grand jury report for its horrifying conditions and Gosnell and several staffers have been arrested for killing a woman in a botched abortion and seven counts of murder related to the infanticide deaths of babies Gosnell would purposefully birth and kill with medical scissors.</p>

Attorney General to Probe Second Gosnell Abortion Center Dover, DE -- Much of the attention in the national attention-getting case of Kermit Gosnell has been focused on the Pennsylvania abortion center he ran where he killed and injured women in failed abortions and kills newborn infants by snipping their spinal cords. Now the focus is turning towards an abortion center in Delaware that employed him. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/01/28/attorney-general-to-probe-second-gosnell-abortion-center/

Reporting from Washington — President Obama has recast his White House team for the second half of his term, giving top jobs to a pair of Clinton-era veterans in a signal to business leaders and independent voters that he is resolved to steer a more centrist course after two years of intense partisan clashes. Obama announced Thursday that he was installing William Daley as chief of staff, entrusting the White House operation and perhaps the future of his presidency to a former Commerce secretary who has warned that pressing a liberal agenda risks scaring away an all-important bloc of moderate...

Should Obama pull a Clinton? This has been a burning question inside the Beltway ever since the polls showed the Great Shellacking bearing down on the White House. As most know by now, pulling a Clinton isn’t anything kinky; it simply means moving to the center, or “triangulating” between the unpopular Left and the unpopular Right. That’s what President Clinton did after the Democrats’ historic drubbing at the polls in 1994, and it’s what a lot of would-be sages argue President Obama must do now after the rout of 2010. But the argument is deeply flawed for a few simple...

If Republicans succeed in taking over the House and come even close to gaining a majority in the Senate, expect calls for the president to "move to the center." These will come not only from Republicans but also from conservative Democrats, other prominent Dems who have been defeated, Fox Republican News, mainstream pundits, and White House political advisors. After the 1994 midterm, when Dems lost the House and Senate, Bill Clinton was told to "move to the center." He obliged by hiring pollster Dick Morris, declaring the "era of big government is over," abandoning much of his original agenda, and...

This coming election should produce not only a Republican House, but a Republican Senate as well. Even in New York, as Jonathan Tobin points out, the gap between Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo and Republican challenger Carl Paladino is narrowing. And in the Senatorial race, Republican challenger Joseph DioGuardi is trailing Democrat Kirstin Gillibrand by only 10 points! Both Democrats are likely to win, but if a state such as New York is showing the potential of a Republican appeal, then it would appear that all bets should be off. Unfortunately, a Republican victory in the Senate may not occur...

Moroccan security forces have captured an 11-member terrorist cell headed by a Gaza-based Palestinian Authority Arab aligned with the aims of the international al-Qaeda terrorist group. Yahya al-Hindi, a former member of the Islamic Jihad terror organization who is responsible for having built a global jihad network in Gaza that functions as a regional “exporter of terrorism” is also known as Abu Kathada al-Shami. His 11-man jihad team included Moroccans from Casablanca, Azilal (in the Atlas Mountains) and Oujda (in the eastern part of the country).

Unsurpisingly, the Associated Press has advised its staff NOT to call the Ground Zero mosque … the Ground Zero mosque (via): Colleagues, Here is some guidance on covering the NYC mosque story, with assists from Chad Roedemeier in the NYC bureau and Terry Hunt in Washington: 1. We should continue to avoid the phrase “ground zero mosque” or “mosque at ground zero” on all platforms. (We’ve very rarely used this wording, except in slugs, though we sometimes see other news sources using the term.) The site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque is not at ground zero, but two...

TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 800 PM EDT SUN JUN 13 2010 FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO... A LARGE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM LOCATED ABOUT 975 MILES WEST-SOUTHWEST OF THE CAPE VERDE ISLANDS IS PRODUCING WIDESPREAD CLOUDINESS ALONG WITH SOME SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. THIS DISTURBANCE CONTINUES TO BE WELL-ORGANIZED AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN CONDUCIVE FOR ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM AS IT MOVES WEST-NORTHWESTWARD OR NORTHWESTWARD AT 10 TO 15 MPH. THERE IS A HIGH CHANCE...60 PERCENT...OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

As United and Continental executives hammer out plans to meld their airlines into the world's largest carrier, construction speeds ahead on one of the merged company's loftiest emblems: United's cutting-edge operations center in the Willis Tower. Where Bank of America traders once tracked the world's financial markets, United's dispatchers will guide thousands of its airplanes around the globe from the tower's 28th floor. It's the highest of nine floors United will occupy in the tallest skyscraper in the U.S.

One of the reasons it's so tough to get things done in Washington these days is that the political center—the place where compromises are forged, and where practical results matter more than ideological divides—is such a lonely place. Well, guess what? It figures to be even more lonely after this year's congressional election. If you think Washington works badly now, it's just possible the 2010 vote may well add to the capital's polarization, and hence to its dysfunction. This dynamic will be onfull display Tuesday as voters head to the polls in primaries in a few key states. In Arkansas,...

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is very influential in the current administration, almost single handedly responsible for defining “domestic terrorists” for the Department of Homeland Security and ratcheting up the racial rhetoric like never before in U.S. history, in the name of so-called “social justice.” In the latest diatribe to come out of the Montgomery Alabama based mini-ACLU, titled - Rage on the Right - The Year in Hate and Extremism—the group lays out their justification for striking fear in the hearts of every Tea Party, 912 and town hall activist, angry over the federal governments mishandling of their...

President Obama doesn’t know it yet, but Scott Brown did him a huge favor. If, as expected, he becomes the next senator from Massachusetts; and if, as expected, his election dooms the Pelosi-Reid health-care-reform bill, Obama will have an opportunity to lay the entire fiasco at the feet of that troublesome Democratic duo. If he’s smart, he’ll take it. Supporters of the Pelosi-Reid legislation argue that Democrats must forge ahead and do whatever it takes to pass a bill. As The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait put it, “Abandoning health care reform after they’ve already paid whatever political cost that comes...

A Seattle court declared Naveed Haq guilty Tuesday for the 2006 shooting spree at a Seattle Jewish center. He as sentenced to life in prison on the eight counts of murder and harassment he was convicted on. Haq killed one person and injured five, one critically, in the shooting spree at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle in July 2006.

"People are discouraged," said Susan Lamont, a Santa Rosa resident who drives a Subaru wagon plastered with bumper stickers. Donations that fund the nonprofit center were down 10 percent last year and another 20 percent this year, a trend that has crimped budgets for many nonprofit groups. But political activism has also waned, with many on the left now merely signing e-mail petitions, which Lamont considers a "worthless effort."

This just came out to the HHS press list: DATE: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 FOR RELEASE: Immediately Contact: AoA Press Office (202) 357-3507 HHS to Create a National Resource Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Elders HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced plans to establish the nation's first national resource center to assist communities across the country in their efforts to provide services and supports for older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals.

Sen John McCain has taken an active role in recruiting center-right candidates to run for office in 2010. From the Politico Fresh from a humbling loss in last year’s presidential election, Sen. John McCain is working behind-the-scenes to reshape the Republican Party in his own center-right image.

I came across a news item in the USA Today website, dated August 18, that got my attention. It concerns "Dark Energy", the mysterious force that seems to be speeding up the expansion of the universe, that no one can find or explain. Two scientists say is doesn't exist now because of a "mathematical solution they have produced, that suggests it is a natural result of the Big Bang. Part of the article is reproduced here. "What's the answer? It doesn't exist, suggest mathematicians Blake Temple and Joel Smoller, in a study released Monday by the Proceedings of the National...

The Araby Youth Center formally opened during a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Aug. 30. The center is a result of the efforts of the Gulf Region Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq, and its partnership with the local Iraqi government. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo. BAGHDAD — The conflict in Iraq has had a dramatic effect on many Iraqi children, but the children of Shaab now have a fun, safe place to play with the recent opening of the Araby Youth Center here.The center is a result of the efforts of the Gulf Region Division, U.S. Army Corps of...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Aug. 12, 2009 – U.S. Soldiers, airmen and civilians here are taking part in a special opportunity to learn Arabic. Army 2nd Lt. Noel Cronin converts an Arabic word to its feminine form during the first Introduction to Arabic class offered by the Basra Education Center, Basra, Iraq, Aug. 5, 2009. U.S. Army photo by 1st Sgt. Larry Mears  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. On the first day of the first Introduction to Arabic class offered here through the Basra Education Center, their teacher, an Army interpreter known as Ms. Lucy, wasted no time with...

In their first unified voice on the subject, Texas Medical Center leaders Monday sent a message to Congress as it tries to reform America's troubled health care system: slow down. Appearing at a news conference sponsored by U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, many of the medical center's biggest names said the issue is too important to rush through legislation that could have unforeseen harmful consequences. “This is a monumental piece of legislation that is going to impact people for many years, both the 300 million people who have insurance and the 47 million who don't,” said Dan Wolterman, CEO...

The Ruzh Hallat Primary Health Care Center will provide medical services for 30,000 residents of the Humer Kwer quarter of Sulaymaniyah province. USACE photo by Mike Scheck. SULAYMANIYAH — For the 30,000 residents of the Humer Kwer quarter of this province, access to healthcare just got a lot easier with the completion of the Ruzh Hallat Primary Healthcare Center. The $540,000 construction project was managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in Iraq. The U.S. Economic Support Fund provided funding for the project, and the USACE’s Sulaymaniyah Resident Office was the on-site construction manager.Dr. Ousman Younes, the Kurdistan...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, June 19, 2009 – Weeks of planning and hard work came to fruition as the Basra Education Center officially opened here June 15. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Robert L. Meeks, left, discusses education center programs with soldiers at Contingency Operating Base Basra, Iraq, June 15, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Derek M. Smith  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Robert L. Meeks, 41st Fires Brigade, said it took weeks of sunup to sundown work to bring his vision to life. Working with the outgoing British forces’...

WASHINGTON – On both economic and national-security fronts, President Barack Obama is giving ground and crossing swords with political allies. Caught in the worst economic downturn in generations, Obama has had to temper his stance on trade and lower his expectations for trimming charitable tax breaks for the wealthy and for taxing greenhouse-gas polluters. He's not the first president to be pulled toward the political center after being elected. But the recession and two wars abroad put him in a particularly tough spot — with smaller margins for error. With the deficit mushrooming, lawmakers in both parties are worrying more...

5/13/2009 - TUCSON, Ariz. (AFNS) -- In the Southern Arizona desert, three C-130 Hercules aircraft recently rumbled over the saguaros and airdropped training bundles to a waiting combat controller. The historic drop was conducted digitally with a tactical data link known as the Situational Awareness Data Link, or SADL. It was the first time an aircrew in a C-130, in cooperation with a joint terminal attack controller on the ground, used digital technology to work as a team. The mission was part of an operational utility evaluation run by officials in the Air National Guard/Air Force Reserve Test Center, or...

A national debate has raged among those on the Right, the former Right, and the never Right over how to approach the future. Even though the Republican Party just nominated a moderate who was thrashed by the most liberal-left Democrat nominee in history, who should have been eminently beatable for that reason, there are some who insist that future success lies in dumping conservatism and following the moderates ever more extremely. The Winning Strategy: Dump the Christians, Raise Taxes Colin Powell recently took the lead in making this case. He says the party has become too conservative, and Republicans should...

This computer rendering shows the planned $2.6 million state-of-the-art Zakho Emergency Hospital and Trauma Center. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing the project, with completion scheduled for August 2009. Rendering courtesy of USACE. ZAKHO — Car accidents and trauma injuries account for a large percentage of the medical care administered in this Kurdish border town.  Although the town has adequate medical facilities, the treatment of trauma patients has placed a heavy burden on hospital medical staff.To ease the strain, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division is overseeing the construction of a $2.6 million state-of-the-art medical...

A gunman walked into an immigration services center in downtown Binghamton on Friday, killing an unknown number of people, wounding at least six and taking as many as 41 hostage, officials said.

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2009 – The U.S. strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan must “put the Afghan people at the center,” as the United States and coalition provide them the support they need to build their country, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said during a Pentagon Channel podcast interview he applauds the comprehensive strategy review under way and expects it to wrap up “in the next week or two at most.” “We have to recognize where we are in Afghanistan,” Mullen said. “We are in a position where the security for...

DIWANIYAH — Local townspeople joined Iraqi and American officials here to mark the opening of the new Jumhoury Primary Healthcare Clinic, March 8. During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Dr. Abdulameer al-Obaidy, Diwaniyah’s director general of health, thanked the local Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division (GRD), and the Iraqi contractor for their efforts in building such a quality facility. Ahmed A. Razak, a senior Iraqi deputy resident engineer with GRD, pointed out that the state-of-the-art clinic includes four doctors’ offices with adjoining exam rooms, two dental exam rooms, an x-ray room, a laboratory, a...

Assailants threw an explosive at a Jewish community center on Thursday, but nobody was hurt in the blast - the second assault against Venezuela's Jewish community this year. Jewish community center attacked in Venezuela Abraham Garzon, president of the Jewish Community Center, told the local Globovision television news channel that a small explosive resembling a pipe-bomb was lobbed at the building in Caracas before dawn on Thursday. The explosion damaged the doors to the center. "It seems there are people in the country dedicated to sowing terrorism," Garzon said. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which immediately reignited fears...

Some 250 teenage boys will pile onto the carpet of the Islamic Center of Passaic County on Sunday to catch the Super Bowl on a big screen. But when the much-buzzed-about commercials come on, they won't be watching. A youth leader manning the projector slaps a piece of paper over the lens, blocking out images the center considers inappropriate, such as beers and bikinis. "The purpose is to keep them away from bad influences," said Emad Hamdeh, the youth committee director. "The beer commercials show people happy while drinking; that's not reality." During the self-imposed blackouts, the boy fans don't...

SAFWAN — A newly renovated agricultural center in Safwan, a town in southern Iraq’s Basrah province, was dedicated Dec. 7. Members of the Safwan Agricultural Society Board, the Agricultural Society president and Coalition representatives were on hand for the celebration. The newly renovated facility, seeds, tractors, generators, greenhouse kits and plastic sheathing were part of the $1.5 million investment the Coalition made to get the community’s economy back on its feet. “This project has jumpstarted the agro-business for farmers,” said Sgt. Adam Kirschner, project management officer for the agricultural center. “With 50 percent of the local population in the business,...

While Barack Obama introduced the first members of his economic team, a wailing noise could be heard somewhere in the background. That was the sound of complaining liberals, who worry that the president-elect is already surrendering the progressive moment to centrists -- the kind of post-election disappointment with which they are all too familiar. Looking over the names of the new Obama appointees to important positions in the Treasury and the White House, critics on the left have dismissed them as "Clintonite retreads" or worse. According to this gloomy analysis, the incoming administration is poised to repeat the mistakes of...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26, 2008 – Wounded warriors who call into the Marine Wounded Warrior Call Center near Quantico, Va., find truth in the motto, “once a Marine, always a Marine.” That’s because their calls are answered by people like Alfredo Soto, who fondly remembers the camaraderie he experienced during his service in the Marine Corps. “We were always being told to look out for and take care of your buddy,” Soto, 36, said. He is one of several veterans and military family members who work the phones at the call center in Dumfries, Va. “I know I’m out of...

BAGHDAD — For years, the western Baghdad District of Abu Ghraib has been synonymous with violence and unrest. Tales of prisoner abuse, convoy ambushes and Soldiers missing in action were associated with the small Baghdad suburb. With the security situation becoming more stable in Baghdad and the surrounding areas, and the Iraqi security forces assuming more security responsibility each week, efforts to improve and revitalize areas such as Abu Ghraib are now starting to move forward. Local tribal and religious leaders, along with Government of Iraq, Iraqi security forces and Multi-National Division – Baghdad leaders, gathered to celebrate one such...

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas, Nov. 13, 2008 – The Warrior and Family Support Center located steps away from Brooke Army Medical Center here is one packed place. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Glynn Mallory talks about the new $4 million, 12,000-square-foot Warrior and Family Assistance Center that opens Dec. 1, 2008, on the Brooke Army Medical Center complex at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. It is stuffed from floor to ceiling with homey decorations, leather furniture, stacks of snacks, baskets of books, computer work stations, a video library...

The National Constitutional Center in Philadelphia is dedicated to "increasing public understanding of, and appreciation for, the Constitution, its history, and its contemporary relevance." So naturally, it has named Bill Clinton its next chairman. In "Dereliction of Duty: The Constitutional Record of President Clinton," the Cato Institute examined Mr. Clinton's record: Though he "has expressed support for an 'expansive' view of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, he has actually weakened a number of fundamental guarantees, including those of free speech and the right to trial by jury and that against double jeopardy. He has also supported retroactive taxes,...

Americans migrate back to the cities By Tom Leonard in New York Last Updated: 2:23AM BST 19/06/2008 Americans are choosing to abandon the suburban sprawl in favour of a more comfortable, cheaper and greener life in the city centre. Americans flocked to the suburbs after the WWII. Soaring energy prices and the sub-prime crisis are driving them back to the cities The mass migration of America's middle classes from urban areas to the suburbs amounted to a demographic revolution in the years after the Second World War. But the so-called "driveable suburb" is becoming increasingly unfeasible as soaring fuel costs...

Knollenberg Introduces Legislation to Prohibit Federal Funding of the Carter CenterBill in response President Carter’s meetings with terrorist leaders Washington, Apr 16 - Congressman Joe Knollenberg (MI-09) today introduced legislation that would prevent the federal government from giving taxpayer money to the Carter Center, headed by former President Jimmy Carter. “America must speak with one voice against our terrorist enemies,” Knollenberg said. “It sends a fundamentally troubling message when an American dignitary is engaged in dialogue with terrorists. My legislation will make sure that taxpayer dollars are not being used to support discussions or negotiations with terrorist groups.” Former President...

Sgt. Amanda E. Timmer, head of the Women’s Initiative for the Wasit Provincial Reconstruction Team, speaks with an Iraqi woman with the help of an interpreter at the new women’s sewing center at Muafiqiyah, Iraq April. 10. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Carlos J. Lazo. AL-KUT — A women’s sewing center officially opened in Muafiqiyah village April 10, providing both employment and training for female residents.The center will serve as a means for local women to earn income to support their families, said Sgt. Amanda E. Timmer, head of the Women’s Initiatives program for the Wasit Provincial Reconstruction Team.The...

State Rep. Jim McReynolds has sent a letter to the Texas Department of Transportation saying he thinks TxDOT should drop the idea of tying the Trans-Texas Corridor in with plans for routing Interstate 69 through East Texas. McReynolds says tremendous negative outcry from his constituents and other East Texas residents has made it clear to him no one wants infrastructure that massive and disruptive to the quality of life to be built, taking big swaths out of the Pineywoods countryside. "Within the past several weeks, I have personally attended every TxDOT hearing held in my district regarding this proposed corridor,"...

A big protest is planned for Monday afternoon, ahead of the latest public hearing on the proposed statewide tollway. Lots of landowners are upset about the state’s plan to build a tollway from Mexico to northeast Texas. There have already been several town hall meetings about the Trans-Texas Corridor. Most of the people who have spoken out about the plan say it will put them out of business. But state officials argue the tollway is necessary to keep up with the growing population in Texas. Monday’s meeting is being held in Huntsville. It starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Walker...