Free Republic

Washington, DC -- Presidential candidate Barack Obama came under fire in May for setting up an outreach group to Catholics led by abortion advocates. Following significant national criticism, it appears the group no longer exists or, at minimum, has been de-emphasized by Obama's campaign.

GONZALES, CALIF. -- Melanie Horwath phoned the California Tomato Board with what she assumed was a simple request. She needed promotional materials that her family's tomato packing company could display at a Salinas Valley agricultural event called Taste of the Valley. Do you have posters or recipes? she asked. We don't have that. What kind of promotion do you guys do? We don't do that kind of promotion. That's odd, Horwath thought. Her company paid thousands of dollars a month in mandatory dues to finance the board's research and marketing efforts: its legal purpose. She started digging into the board's...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A political solution must be found to the problem of Iraq's sectarian violence that will lead to militias to "dissolve themselves," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday ahead of talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Al-Maliki is under intensified pressure to find an end to the Shiite-Sunni killings that have torn Iraq apart for months despite the government's calls for militias — many of which have ties to parties in the government — to put down their arms. On route to Baghdad on Thursday, Rice underlined that Iraq's leaders "don't have time for endless debate...

The United States declared Saddams Baath party dead late Sunday, with the war's commander telling Iraqis that the instrument of theior deposed dictator's power was dissolved and promising to purge its influence from the country it dominated for 35 years.General Tommy Franks message delivered in Arabic by an announcer on the coalitions information radio, broadcast a clear message over the AM radio waves across postwar Iraq:Any activity by Baath Party holdouts who opposed United States occupation would not be tolerated.'The Arab Baath Socialist Party is dissolved,' Franks said, but high difficulites remain in eliminating it.American Administrators are struggling to balance...