Free Republic

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A Pennsylvania woman says she realized there was a bird in her can of spinach when she noticed a yellow beak in a lump of greens. "I immediately felt like I was going to vomit," Cherie Lyons, of Chambersburg, told the York Daily Record. "I was sick for the next whole day." Lyons said she found the bird June 14 after pouring the spinach into a bowl. Lyons told the Daily Record she felt mistreated after calling Del Monte. She was offered a $10 check and a request for the bird to be sent back.

According to the Fresno Bee, crews were dismantling the old Del Monte plant on G Street when they came across the tunnel, believed to have been built around 1906 by the Pacific Coast Seeded Raisin Co. According to century-old fire insurance maps, the tunnel was most likely used to shuttle raisins back and forth between the two outposts of the factory, across the street from each other. The tunnel's discovery has also reportedly set off a battle between the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) and Chinatown Revitalization Inc., who want to see the tunnel documented as historically significant. Chinatown Revitalization...

Democrats tasteless at inauguration Letter to the Editor Posted: 01/31/2009 12:00:00 AM PST How utterly tasteless for Democrats to boo President Bush at the inauguration. The entire world leaned backwards to make this day one of triumphs for them. Have Republicans ever done this?The least Democrats could have done was to remain silent, as those who wished to cheer President Bush for seven years with no terrorist attacks upon us did so. They showed no respect for the Bush family either.Obama has promised transparency. Let's start with Nancy Pelosi, one of Bush's most caustic critics.Her district includes San Francisco. Star Kist...

Families of killed Serbs announced lawsuit against Carla Del Ponte Podgorica, Belgrade – The Association of the families of Serbs abducted and killed in Kosvo shall sue the former chief prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal Carla Del Ponte for hiding of crimes committed against Kosovo Serbs by Kosovo Albanians that abducted and killed them, the president of that association Simo Spasic said. ‘In 2004 Del Ponte told us in The Hague that she had information that all abducted Kosovo Serbs were killed later on. She, however, has not told us that before they were killed, their body organs were taken...

Sunday, June 24, 2007 It will make your blood boil. Read the search-warrant affidavit that federal law-enforcement officials presented to U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks before the Fresh Del Monte raid. Your blood will boil. Not for one reason, and clearly not for the reason of the raid itself or the likely deportation of the illegal workers. But for many reasons. Fresh Del Monte is shaping up to be a case study of our broken system. Our border- and workplace enforcement has done manifold damage -- to the rule of law, to U.S. citizens and, yes, to illegal workers themselves. The...

Thursday, June 14, 2007 "I am angered by this morning's arrest by federal officers of approximately 150 Portland residents who were working at a local produce company." Oh, poor Tom Potter. Portland's mayor is angry. Federal law enforcement officials were out doing their jobs -- actually rounding up people who were working here illegally and using Social Security numbers belonging to others, actually arresting people who allegedly helped Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. hire the illegal workers, and otherwise enforcing U.S. immigration laws -- and Mayor Potter is angry. Too bad. You might think Potter has enough to do these...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Federal agents on Tuesday raided the offices of a Portland food processing plant suspected of employing hundreds of illegal workers who used Social Security numbers that belonged to other people or were made up. More than 165 workers were detained to be processed for possible deportation, officials said, and three people were indicted on immigration, illegal documents and identity theft charges. Portland Mayor Tom Potter criticized the raids. The three arrests were understandable, he said, but "to go after local workers who are here to support their families while filling the demands of local businesses for...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Federal agents raided offices at a food processing plant Tuesday after an undercover investigation found that hundreds of illegal workers were using Social Security numbers that belonged to somebody else or were made up. The raid at American Staffing Resources Inc. offices at the Fresh Del Monte Produce fruit and vegetable processing plant at 9243 N. Rivergate Boulevard near the Portland shipyards was based on an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Social Security Administration that began last January, officials told The Associated Press. Authorities also raided the staffing company's office at 8926...

Del Monte Pet Products Voluntarily Withdraws Specific Product Codes of Pet Treats and Wet Dog Food Products in the United States » Recalled Products in Canada Click Here April 6, 2007—As a precautionary measure, Del Monte Pet Products is voluntarily recalling select product codes of its pet treat products sold under the Jerky Treats®, Gravy Train® Beef Sticks and Pounce Meaty Morsels® brands as well as select dog snack and wet dog food products sold under private label brands. A complete list of affected brands and products is below. The Company took this voluntary recall action immediately after learning from...

Del Monte Pet Products Voluntarily Withdraws Specific Product Codes of Pet Treats and Wet Dog Food Products SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, 2007—As a precautionary measure, Del Monte Pet Products is voluntarily recalling select product codes of its pet treat products sold under the Jerky Treats®, Gravy Train® Beef Sticks and Pounce Meaty Morsels® brands as well as select dog snack and wet dog food products sold under private label brands. A complete list of affected brands and products is below. The Company took this voluntary recall action immediately after learning this morning from the FDA that wheat gluten supplied...

Pelosi warns Bush shouldn't 'abuse power' on troop escalation (01-15) 12:37 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, returning to her hometown of San Francisco, strongly warned today that President Bush "should not abuse his power" with regard to troop escalation in the Iraq war and said it is the duty of Congress to "exercise oversight over his power.'' "If the president doesn't have a plan, Democrats will hold him accountable," Pelosi said in her first public appearance outside Washington since her election as speaker Jan. 4. Regarding Bush's decision to push ahead with an escalation of about 21,500...

House Republicans yesterday declared "something fishy" about the major tuna company in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district being exempted from the minimum-wage increase that Democrats approved this week. "I am shocked," said Rep. Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican and his party's chief deputy whip, noting that Mrs. Pelosi campaigned heavily on promises of honest government. "Now we find out that she is exempting hometown companies from minimum wage. This is exactly the hypocrisy and double talk that we have come to expect from the Democrats."

Carla Del Ponte’s UN Commandos Ready to Roll into Serbia One of the most dramatic events in the modern Balkans may go down very soon. But will it be a success- and if so, for whom? Hague Tribunal prosecutor Carla Del Ponte has been angered by Serbia’s failure to capture and extradite war crimes suspects Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic. This, compounded by the mysterious death of trophy captive Slobodan Milosevic in March, has put Del Ponte perilously close to being deprived of the glory she has sought for so long. For despite many convictions, the failure to get the...

More than a score of appeals to Pebble Beach Co.'s proposed massive makeover of Del Monte Forest have been filed with the California Coastal Commission. The plan calls for new projects at 13 locations in the forest, including an 18-hole golf course, a golf driving range, 160 new visitor suites, a new equestrian center in the Sawmill Gulch area next to Holman Highway, 33 residential lots in five subdivisions and 60 employee housing units. The company will set aside 492 acres of permanent forest and open space, relocate existing trails and construct new ones, and make improvements in roads and...

Monterey County has officially notified the California Coastal Commission of its approval of the Pebble Beach Co.'s plans for redevelopment of Del Monte Forest, an action that starts the clock ticking on any public appeal of the proposal to the Coastal Commission. The mailing, outlining the county Board of Supervisors' decision on March 15, was sent out Friday, according to Tom McCue, senior planner in the county Planning and Building Department. The supervisors unanimously approved the Pebble Beach Co.'s Del Monte Forest Preservation and Development Plan, which calls for new projects at 13 locations in the forest, including an 18-hole...

It's Clint Eastwood's half-billion-dollar baby -- a sweeping development plan for Monterey Peninsula's fabled Del Monte Forest. So far the ``baby'' is garnering both jeers and plaudits. In one corner: environmental activists and the California Coastal Commission staff. In the other: the Pebble Beach Co. and Monterey County's elected officials. And both sides are digging in for the long haul. The Pebble Beach Co., owned by Eastwood, golfer Arnold Palmer, ex-baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth and other investors, wants to build a championship 18-hole golf course and driving range in the area's signature Monterey pine forest. The 150-acre development would also...