Free Republic

President Obama and Republican Congressional leaders emerged from a high-profile, post-election meeting on Tuesday with gracious words and pledges of cooperation but no concrete agreements on the fiscal and national security issues that divide them. The two sides agreed to conduct negotiations over the next few days in search of a compromise on whether to extend the Bush-era tax cuts that expire in a month. “There must be some sensible common ground,” Mr. Obama said. Yet the two sides yielded nothing in their disagreement over whether the cuts should be extended across the board as Republicans insist or exclude income...

Immigration enforcement officials have started to cancel the deportations of thousands of immigrants they have detained, a policy they said would pare huge case backlogs in the immigration courts. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said the new approach was part of a broad shift in priorities at the agency, to focus its efforts on catching and deporting immigrants who have been convicted of crimes or pose a national security threat. The policy — announced in an Aug. 20 memorandum from John Morton, the head of the agency — drew praise from immigrant advocates, who called it a common-sense strategy, and...

TRENTON — For years, the state’s elected officials and others with political connections had a direct pipeline to the hottest concerts and sporting events in New Jersey. Springsteen. U2. BonJovi. It didn’t matter. Commissioners, legislators, judges — even the governor’s office — were able to score scarce or prime seats at public venues without ever going through a ticket scalper. They simply called the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority or the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and asked for house seats. Today, Gov. Chris Christie shut the exclusive ticket window.

President Obama tries to quell dispute over his cuts to manned space exploration with promise of 'leap into the future' President Obama promised a “leap into the future” for Nasa yesterday in a speech designed to quell a growing dispute over his cuts to manned space exploration, and to persuade critics that America will eventually put astronauts on Mars. Despite cancelling Constellation, the $108 billion (more than £69 bn) programme that aimed to get astronauts to the Moon by 2020 and the Red Planet by 2030, he outlined a series of “stepping stone” destinations where Nasa will first seek a...

Naked Emperor News put out the definitive clip on this topic last month, with then Senator Obama and other leading Democrats railing against the so-called “nuclear option” back in 2005. But with Democrats barreling forward with their strategy to pass healthcare reform using reconciliation, I thought another reminder that the President has not always been in favor of naked power grabs couldn’t hurt.

President Barack Obama is ending the year tired - and who could blame him? AP correspondent Julie Pace reports on the multitude of issues that have left the president looking forward to his vacation. (Dec. 29)

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Thursday that after a "wildly successful" run, the "Cash for Clunkers" program will end on Monday. “This program has been a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump starting a major sector of the economy and putting people back to work,” LaHood said. “At the same time, we’ve been able to take old, polluting cars off the road and help consumers purchase fuel efficient vehicles.” The CARS program has recorded more than 457,000 dealer transactions worth $1.9 billion in rebates, LaHood said. The program has provided rebates of up to $4,500 when people turned in...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2006 -- Jeff Klare put his bicycle where his heart is Oct. 1, and set out on a 300-mile trip to raise awareness of the need for more corporations to hire workers with disabilities. Eric Madaus, 8, leads Jeff Klare, chief executive officer of Hire Disability Solutions, to the finish of a 300-mile bike ride at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C., Oct. 6. Klare began his ride at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York to bring attention to the need for more corporations to hire workers with disabilities. Madaus suffers...

WINTHROP, Wash., Sep. 3, 2006 -- Task Force Blaze is returning home to Fort Lewis, Wash., today, following a three-week deployment to fight wildfires in the state’s north-central region. Spc. Aldo Gonzalez lights a fire as part of a burnout operation. Gonzalez is one of 550 soldiers making up Task Force Blaze, which deployed to firelines Aug. 17 to assist civilian firefighters with containing the huge Tripod Complex fire near Winthrop, Wash. Gonzalez is an Avenger crew member assigned to 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Fort Lewis, Wash. Photo by Patti Bielling  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

WASHINGTON - Jurors in the David Safavian trial completed their first day of deliberations Wednesday without deciding whether the former Bush administration executive covered up assistance he gave Republican influence-peddler Jack Abramoff. The jury of 10 women and two men is weighing charges that while Safavian was the General Services Administration's chief of staff, he obstructed justice and made false statements. He is accused of concealing from GSA ethics officials and Senate investigators how he helped the disgraced lobbyist try to buy or lease two government properties. In the first trial to arise from the Abramoff scandal, the jury deliberated...

BAGHDAD — U.S. and Iraqi forces zeroed in on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi over two weeks, tracking his spiritual adviser to the terrorist leader's doorstep and unleashing the airstrike that included a bomb equipped in Tucson that killed them, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday. The first bomb used in the airstrike was a laser-guided Paveway GBU-12, Lt. Gen. Gary North, the top U.S. air commander in the region, told Reuters. Raytheon makes the bomb's guidance systems in Tucson

WASHINGTON, May 9, 2006 – Thirty-three days after pedaling out of Los Angeles, a group of cyclists arrived at the Pentagon today as part of the Airline Ride Across America to honor the 33 airline crewmembers who died during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. A group of cyclists arrives at the Pentagon May 9 as part of the Airline Ride Across America to honor the 33 airline crewmembers who died during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The riders left Los Angeles on April 2. Along the way they raised about $100,000 for 9/11 memorials in...

LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 23, 2006 – The biggest-ever "Thunder Over Louisville" festival closed out with a bang here last night, as two "Thunderators" with military ties turned the keys to start the world's largest annual fireworks show. The world's largest annual fireworks display wraps up "Thunder Over Louisville" April 22. The day featured the Navy's Blue Angels and dozens of military and vintage aircraft performing demonstrations and flyovers before more than 800,000 people on the banks of the Ohio River. Photo by John D. Banusiewicz   Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Allison Barber, along with World War II veteran Bruce Voges,...

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2006 – Operation Swarmer, a combined operation involving Iraqi soldiers and police commandos and coalition forces wrapped up yesterday without any casualties and all of the tactical objectives met, Multinational Force Iraq officials announced today. The mission began with the helicopter transport of about 1,500 Iraqi and coalition soldiers and Iraqi police commandos into a 10-by-10-square-mile area northeast of Samarra on March 16. The initial insertion aircraft and subsequent air security provided by the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade moved the force, made up of units from Iraq's 1st Commando Brigade, 1st Brigade, 4th Army Division, and...

BATON ROUGE, La. (Army News Service, March 17, 2006) – Another chapter in what has become one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history came to a close as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency closed its Blue Roof program for victims of the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. A team of more than 700 engineers and other volunteers from throughout 41 Army Corps of Engineers districts worldwide wrapped up a seven-month mission to provide temporary repairs to both residential and public building roofs damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,...

Every time I bring up the Holocaust, the same thing happens. Some of the people want Hitler's genocide to be the archetype of a people's suffering, denying others their right to bring similar atrocities to light. Some want to deny it (like current Iranian President Ahmadinejad). Some want to straddle the line or apologize: "There would have been no Hitler if not for the reparation payments put upon Germany after World War I." What are we to do, create a chart ranking peoples' suffering: "mine was worse than yours?" These were all horrors. Calling one a genocide while not allowing...

EXETER, Calif., Jan. 26 (UPI) -- The last of eight hostages being held by a man in an Exeter, Calif., bank was freed unharmed early Thursday after a near 11-hour standoff. The incident began around 5 p.m. Wednesday when a man with a handgun entered the bank as it was closing and demanded money. When he realized the alarm had been triggered, he took eight customers and staff hostage, CBS reported.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2006 – Two Army divisions are preparing for a transfer of responsibility in Baghdad tomorrow, and the search for an unmanned aerial vehicle near Mosul has been suspended, military officials said. The 3rd Infantry Division will turn over authority for Multinational Division Baghdad to the 4th Infantry Division. Army Maj. Gen. William Webster Jr., 3rd ID commander, will case the "Marne" Division's colors during the transfer ceremony, and Maj. Gen. J.D. Thurman, 4th ID commander, will uncase the "Ironhorse" Division's colors. In other news, the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team has suspended its search for a Raven...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2005 – Operation Shank wrapped up today, officials in Iraq announced. The operation, conducted in central and southern Ramadi, was the fifth in a series by the Iraqi army and coalition forces engaged in combined clearing operations to disrupt terrorism and set conditions for a successful Dec. 15 election in the provincial capital of Anbar. Shank primarily involved targeted raids conducted by Iraqi soldiers and U.S. forces against terrorist safe houses in the area. The raids resulted in the detention of four suspected members of al Qaeda in Iraq, who were held for questioning. About 200 Iraqi...

FEMA asks Louisiana for $3.7 billion By BRETT TROXLER btroxler@wbrz.com 2theadvocate.com staff From a report by News 2's Tony Jones tjones@wbrz.com The federal government is asking Louisiana to come up with more than $3.7 billion. According to FEMA, the amount is a down payment for what the state owes for its share of hurricane relief. Denise Bottcher, a spokeswoman for Gov. Kathleen Blanco, said the state just can't come up with that kind of money. Bottcher said when members of the governor's staff first heard the request, they "just about fell over." Louisiana is already facing a $1 billion budget...