Free Republic

Prosecutors still insist that the person with his hand on the tiller of a drifting sailboat was at fault for being hit by a speeding powerboat in the dead of night. The preliminary hearing on vehicular manslaughter charges against Bismarck Dinius, 39, of Carmichael, was held yesterday and will continue today in Lakeport in Lake County. The charges were filed as a result of the death of Lynn Thornton, 51, who was killed on the O'Day 28 Beats Workin' II on the windless night of April 29, 2006, on Clear Lake. Dinius happened to be sitting at the helmsman's position...

Mayor Ray Nagin's top aides have charged more than $150,000 to a taxpayer-financed city credit card account over six months, from September to February, most of it on travel, hotels and meals in some of the city's finest eateries. Among the more eye-popping tabs were $3,897 at Morton's Steakhouse in January and $2,800 at the Ray's Over the River nightclub, the most recent city records available show. Both charges were at events intended to foster better relations among the Orleans Parish legislative delegation, the City Council and the Nagin administration, said city communications director Ceeon Quiett, who signed for both...

Just days before his death penalty trial, attorneys for Juan Leonardo Quintero said he has offered to plead guilty and be sentenced to life without parole for the 2006 shooting of Houston police officer Rodney Johnson — a deal prosecutors have rejected. Quintero's attorney, Danalynn Recer, noted in an e-mail Friday that the 34-year-old illegal immigrant confessed to killing Johnson and cooperated with authorities. She also said Quintero regrets the toll his actions have taken on Johnson's family, as well as on his own family. "He is profoundly ashamed and deeply sorry for the pain he has inflicted on them,"...

Federal authorities issued a flurry of subpoenas across the city yesterday as they launched a grand jury investigation of disability abuse in the Boston Fire Department, including whether dozens of firefighters faked on-the-job injuries to significantly enhance their pensions, according to several officials briefed on the probe.

Just weeks before a Mormon entrepreneur is expected to plead guilty in a scam that defrauded about 800 people of $180 million, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is warning its members to steer clear of financial scams. In a letter by the church's First Presidency read to its congregations Sunday, the church said it is "concerned that there are those who use relationships of trust to promote risky or even fraudulent investment and business schemes." It is unclear if the letter targeted Utah congregations or its entire worldwide membership. The church declined to answer questions on the...

And, you might ask, who is next on Flynt's list to expose? He does name three to Handy, but not for publication. What we do know: * a Republican presidential candidate * a well-known Republican senator * another "prominent conservative official" (this is described in the article as involving "hooker parties and no-tell-motel liaisons"

Speaking at a Washington symposium on the continuing threat posed by illegal drugs to American society, Calvina Fay of the Drug Free America Foundation declared billionaire George Soros to be an "extremely evil person" who wants to legalize dangerous mind-altering drugs. Fay said that Soros, an atheist who is a major funder of the Democratic Party and liberal-left causes, is "our common enemy" and that he is determined to subvert traditional values and undermine America's families. Soros, convicted of insider trading in France, is a financial speculator and hedge-fund operator who manipulates the currencies of the nations of the world...

The railroad company that sold the state a $75 million rail line for Gov. Bill Richardson's Rail Runner Express commuter train gave $50,000 this year to a national political group Richardson leads. The BNSF Railway Co. also has contributed $7,500 to Richardson's re-election campaign since late last year, records show. Richardson campaign manager Amanda Cooper said political donations play no role in Richardson's state-policy decisions.This is the same defense that former State True sure Robert Vigil (D) is using in his pay to play scandal. For those who are not aware Robert Vigil is facing numerous charges including Racketeering where...

The Mob Helped Clinton get Started In Politics. It is Now Helping Him Escape the Law When young Bill Clinton in 1974 made his first run for political office, a crucial $10,000 loan was arranged for him by his uncle, Raymond Clinton. Uncle Raymond has been tied by Clinton biographer Roger Morris to the Hot Springs Mafia. But it was not until 1984, when Clinton was elected for a second term as Governor of Arkansas, that Mob money really started pouring in. "That was the election when the Mob really came into Arkansas politics, the dog-track and racetrack boys, the...

Police Find Relief Supplies in City Official's Home The Associated Press Published: Sep 21, 2005 BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Police found cases of food, clothing and tools intended for hurricane victims at the home of the chief administrative officer for a New Orleans suburb, authorities said Wednesday. Officers searched Cedric Floyd's home because of complaints that city workers were helping themselves to donations for hurricane victims. Floyd, who runs the day-to-day operations in the suburb of Kenner, was in charge of distributing the goods. Police plan to seek a charge of committing an illegal act as a public official...

Immigration Reform Act of '05: A great start! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: July 25, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com "I oppose amnesty, placing undocumented workers on the automatic path to citizenship. Granting amnesty encourages violation of our laws and perpetuates illegal immigration. America is a welcoming country, but citizenship must not be the automatic reward for violating the laws of America." – President G.W. Bush, Jan. 7, 2004 Illegal immigration across the U.S. southern border is out of control – no surprise there. U.S. intelligence now informs us that terrorist organizations have used the lax U.S.-Mexico border security to smuggle...

Even though Kerry has fulfilled the destiny that Hillie set for him, he was nominated and lost and will soon go away, it is unlikely that the corrupt dems, especially McAuliffe, Lockhardt (the Tariq Azziz of the DNC), Begalla and all the other sewer dwellers, will let it go gracefully or with any style at all.The will meet this morning and, with the help of their media lackies, make up facts and manufacture arguments to try to prove that Viet Cong John is the real winner.I see suits in several Bush states alleging that several blacks were turned away and...

Pastor charged with murder Love triangle cited as motive By NORMAN AREY The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 07/08/04 ROME — An assistant pastor of a Rome church and the woman police say was his lover were charged Thursday with murdering her husband. Richard Scott Harper, 33, an assistant pastor at Hollywood Baptist Church, and Michelle Reynolds, 35, the victim's wife, were arrested in the stabbing death of Thad John Glenn Reynolds, 36, outside a Frito-Lay distribution center early Monday morning, Floyd County police said. Harper was one of Thad Reynolds' best friends, police said. Thad and Michelle Reynolds attended Hollywood...

<p>The woman attacked by Michael Boxley tells an Albany court yesterday she feels "traumatized again" after the DA allowed him to plead from rape to sexual assault. The Post is withholding her ID.Alan Solomon ALBANY - The young woman sexually assaulted by a former aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver stunned a courtroom yesterday by saying "strings were pulled" to allow the "rich rapist" to escape prison time.</p>

<p>Conrad Black is hurling a legal monkey wrench into efforts to strip him of his $900 million newspaper group - but his adversaries are shooting back with poison pills.</p> <p>Black stunned his foes by abruptly rewriting bylaws governing his company yesterday, then running to a Chicago federal court last night to shore up his tactics.</p>

Next 'Vast Conspiracy' Is Headed Bush's Way As things go in our society, President Bush and those who surround him had better get ready to do the Whitewater Walk. That is what time it is, and that is the way it is. One cannot avoid it when certain kinds of questions are raised, rightly or wrongly. The questions at the moment have to do with whopping profit-making Bush did a decade ago when he sold his stock in Harken Energy, the dubious accounting practices Vice President Cheney employed when he was head of Halliburton Co. and the ties both men...

<p>It was the fifth conference of "Raphael's" lawsuit against the INS in as many months.</p> <p>Raphael had done everything right: He entered the country legally and never overstayed a visa, he loved America and dreamed of becoming a citizen.</p> <p>But he was forced to sue the INS to compel them to act on his citizen application, after it lost his family’s file for the second time—along with sets of fingerprints of his entire family which had just been cleared by the FBI.</p>

The William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation Dear Friend, Throughout the eight years of his presidency, you've beeon one of President Clinton's most loyal supporters. And I had the honr of helping to elct the man twice. So we have much to be proud of. -snip- It only gets worse......