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4/28/2006 - BELOVODSKY, Kyrgyzstan (AFPN) -- Children at an orphanage here have become accustomed to a weekly ritual. Teachers wake them from naps or gather them from activities into a common area, the door opens, and people with boxes, bags and armfuls of treats walk in. The kids run for hugs and in a moment they’re scattered like it’s Christmas morning -- toys in one hand and cookies in the other -- making up games, or playing quietly by themselves with new treasures. Senior Airman Trammel Johnson, who organizes trips to the orphanage, has a hard time letting a week...

Betsy Newmark, one of my favorite bloggers who I've been honored to have guest-blog here, is down. I asked her what happened. She e-mails about her nightmare: Evil Blogger has lost the page - server problems. They are the most unhelpful organization. You can't reach any human being and all I get are form letters saying that all the problems have been resolved. I'm just hoping that they fix their problem and I get back on. I don't have time to hassle with setting up a new page. She adds: All I get are their automated messages that are of...

I was sitting here tonight listening to Mozart's Requiem and I got to thinking: what do I consider to be the best work of music ever? For my part, Mozart's work really does the trick for me when I need to be re-energized. Therefore, I believe that his Requiem is the greatest work of all time. There just isn't another work that is as powerful and passionate. When the chorus sings the final "Amen" at the end of "Lacrimosa" I get the feeling that he knew it was the last thing he would ever write. It gives me chills at...

The disciplinary arm of the N.C. State Bar dropped charges of felonious misconduct against two former Union County prosecutors Friday because of a 1999 clerical error at the state Supreme Court. The State Bar had charged Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer with lying, cheating and withholding evidence in a 1996 death penalty case. The ruling Friday marks the second time that Honeycutt and Brewer won on procedural grounds before the bar's Disciplinary Hearing Commission, which sits as judge and jury in disciplinary cases. . . . Prosecutors around the state are concerned that the case is damaging their reputation and...

Western companies that bucked the U.S. embargo and set up shop in Cuba are shutting down and leaving as Fidel Castro's government rolls back market reforms - just as NewsMax.com predicted it would three years ago. Writing in NewsMax.com in February 2002, pundit Humberto Fontova said: "Liberals insist in Congress, on CNN, in the New York Times that doing business with Fidel is a can't-lose proposition for any American and that moral and material blessings will shower all involved." Then Fontova - author of the new book "Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant" - warned: "The momentum for the long-awaited opening with...

I'm a liberal but growing increasingly disenchanted with the left. I'm also a movie fan. I'm looking for a list of the movies most beloved by conservatives, movies that support conservative ideals, films that make a good argument for conservatism. I figured this was the place to go. If you were making such a list, what would be on it? Rambo? Red Dawn? What?

Poll: New Yorkers not sure Clinton should run for prez By MARC HUMBERT AP Political Writer April 12, 2005, 2:43 PM EDT ALBANY, N.Y. -- While Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2006 re-election chances look good unless Rudolph Giuliani challenges her New York voters aren't sure she should run for president in 2008, a statewide poll reported Tuesday. On the other hand, a slim majority of New York voters think Giuliani should run for president in 2008, according to the poll from the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. **SNIP** Fifty-one percent of registered voters polled by Marist said they definitely...

Mexican Leftist Sees 'Dignified' Jail Time 15 minutes ago By Catherine Bremer MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's presidential favorite, facing time behind bars in a legal wrangle that has split Mexico, said on Tuesday jail would be a "dignified" place for him to campaign for 2006 elections. As political allies began a hunger strike, leftist Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said a vote by Congress to force him to face trial in a minor land dispute was a blow to Mexico's fledgling democracy. "All this farce was for that, because the president's office doesn't want me to participate....

As we get close the inaguration,we should have some fun. I would like to know who is your favorite President(s) and the reason why. Mine: George Washington. Reason: Father of this country. Put down a rebellion without firing a shot (the whiskey rebellion), wisely kept us out of the French Revolution despite the call to intervene, wasn't very power hungry he only serveed two terms. Also encoured westward expansion.

Ok.. FReepers are unique people, and I'm sure everybody has one of those "favorite one-liner" trueisms regarding politics, conservatism, or life in general. How about listing a few for posterity...Here's a start: It is much more important to be concerned about what was said about what got done, than to worry about what got done about what was said.

Okay, it's Friday evening and I have the muse going on favorite movies.

It is over. The race has been waged. The competitors have fought through the polls. The incumbent Bush has been declared victor, and Kerry has conceded victory to the President (which I think is a classy act, especially considering this is Kerry we're speaking of). Now that the tough months of the campaign are behind us, we can use this time to reflect. We can recall some of our favorite moments in the campaign (like the speeches at the RNC). We can recall moments that made us squirm (the last Democrat ads before Election Day). We can recall moments that...

Bush abandons his 'favourite son' Chalabi (Filed: 19/05/2004) Administration cuts off cash for gathering of intelligence, reports Alec Russell in Washington The Bush administration has signalled an end to its relationship with Ahmad Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress and the Pentagon's former favourite for leadership of the country. After months of feuding within President George W Bush's administration over Mr Chalabi's role, the Pentagon is stopping monthly payments of $335,000 (£200,000) to the INC for intelligence-gathering in Iraq. Chalabi: mistrusted The decision was taken a week ago at a meeting of Mr Bush's senior officials, including the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A theory that pieces of foam from the space shuttle Columbia's external fuel tank struck its wing shortly after launch was being investigated, but was "not a favorite" in the debate over what caused it to disintegrate on re-entry, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said on Sunday. "Well, it's one of many theories, and it's not a favorite of anybody's at this juncture that I'm aware of," O'Keefe said on CNN's "Late Edition." "Everybody is looking at every single possible permutation of what could have caused this," he said. "That certainly is an active element of the overall...

Lists, and especially musical lists, are always a joy, as they guarantee much discussion, debate and controversy over who made what position on said list. My reasons for posting this thread are two-fold: (1.) To demonstrate the worthlessness of wasting valuable taxdollars on public radio. As we all know, the largest portion of the listenership to public radio are very well-to-do (dare I say RICH ) liberals, who can support their own damned musical choices, without your and my public support...which leads me to the kicker: This countdown was compiled by combining the votes cast by only 1,800 listeners (if...