Free Republic

A man going through the drive-through window at the McDonald's restaurant at Keene Plaza was beaten and robbed early Tuesday morning by two other men who thought he was taking too long to get through the line, said Largo police. Edward Archer was sitting in his 1996 Sebring convertible while waiting to pick up his food about 2 a.m. from the 24-hour McDonald's on 2300 East Bay Drive. According to police, the wait was too long for brothers Bogdan T. Rasoi, 24, and Catalin Ionut Rasoi, 20, who reached into Archer's car and began to punch him. The brothers pulled...

CAPE CORAL, Fla. -- A Cape Coral construction worker died at the work site of a developer's model home when his power saw bounced off a hard object and jerked back, slicing his neck, police said. Dale Alan Erb, 45, was pronounced dead at the site, where he was cutting boards, said Cape Coral police spokesman Angelo Bitsis. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration was expected to investigate the accident on Wednesday, said Brian Hennessy, OSHA's acting area director. Erb was working for David Barron Construction, a Naples company subcontracting for KB Homes, of Fort Myers. A manager for...

IRAQ WINS, BUSH WINS, AND THE CRITICS ARE FORCED TO CHEER IT ON: Democracy and freedom struck a decisive blow to those who oppose the spread of freedom around the world. Howard Dean, Michael Moore, Tim Robbins, John Kerry, Sheryl Crow, and the rest of the brain dead crowd that argued against allowing Iraq to become free..."EAT SAND!!!!" Now that the institution that Kerry worships at - The United Nations - has given unanimous support on the final Iraq resolution - recognizing the new fledgling republic as a member in the family of nations these anti-freedom freaks have lost. Bush...

MIAMI -- A plane passenger slapped a federal air marshal after refusing to sit down and ignoring instructions to end her cellular phone call, which she said would have been "rude," prosecutors said Tuesday. Lilia Belkova has been jailed since being charged with assaulting a federal officer and interfering with a flight crew last Wednesday as a US Airways flight prepared to take off from Miami to Philadelphia. A bail hearing was set for Thursday. It was unclear late Tuesday if Belkova, 38, had yet been assigned an attorney. According to prosecutors, Belkova refused flight attendants' instructions to turn off...

Dear Friends in New York, Wouldn't it be great to defeat Senator Schumer this year. I know it's a longshot but how many of you picked Birdstone to beat Smarty Jones at the Belmont and deprive him of the Triple Crown? Below is an important email from my friend Tom Mulligan about the Senate candidacy of Dr. Marilyn O'Grady http://voteogrady.com/ . Even if she doesn't win their are important reasons why a vote for Dr. O'Grady will advance the cause of life. I hope you will give Dr. Grady your support. Sincerely, Fr. Peter West The Senate race in New...

Feeling sad and having just heard the news that President Ronald Reagan had just passed this past Saturday June 5, 2004 at 5:00 PM I switched my car radio from my local news radio to my local NPR, PRI affiliate to get my fill of the left by listening to A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. I can normally make it through the live shows but this last show I had to turn off. The show began with ridicule and cheers from the audience when the Host (Mr. Garrison Keillor) announced that the former President had past away within...

Tampa Tribune Mistakenly Runs Editorial Saying Lightning Lost Stanley Cup Final The Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - The Tampa Tribune apologized to readers and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday after mistakenly running an editorial saying the hockey team had lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. "We took a puck in the gut this morning," Editorial Page Editor Rosemary Goudreau wrote in a statement on the newspaper's affiliated Web site, TBO.com. Publisher Gil Thelen said it was unclear how the mistake was made Monday night as the newspaper rushed to press following the Lightning's 2-1 victory over...

June 8, 2004--Just like it was four years ago, the Presidential race in Florida is tied. A Rasmussen Reports survey finds Senator John F. Kerry and President George W. Bush each earning 46% of the vote in the Sunshine State.

Sore loserman Al Gore is caught up in such a frenzy of hatred that he's even attacking members of his own party, but his fellow Democrats are pounding him right back. Florida's two U.S. senators, both Dems, are furious at Gore for calling Senate wannabe Alex Penelas "treacherous and dishonest" during the 2000 election. Gore is still seething that Penelas, mayor of Miami-Dade County, didn't abet him in his failed coup attempt. "This slash-and-burn politics has gotten us to the point that it is causing gridlock in America," said Sen. Bill Nelson. "I am pretty disappointed that Al Gore would...

TALLAHASSEE · The head of Florida's elections division resigned Monday amid reports he was feeling political heat over a push to purge thousands of suspected felons from the state's voter rolls. Ed Kast, who has worked for the state elections division for more than a decade, said only that he was resigning to "pursue other opportunities." But Kast has told a handful of associates that he was uncomfortable with growing pressure to trim felons from voter rolls in time for the fall election, friends say. "I've known him for 20 years, and I believe he has acted because under the...

MIAMI (AP) — Florida's two Democratic senators defended U.S. Senate candidate Alex Penelas on Monday, a day after Al Gore's published comments calling Penelas "the single most treacherous and dishonest person I dealt with" during the 2000 election. Sen. Bill Nelson questioned Gore's decision to inject himself into the race, saying it hurts the party's ability to keep retiring Sen. Bob Graham's seat and threatens a key state for presidential candidate John Kerry. Graham called Penelas, the mayor of Miami-Dade County, "a good Democrat." Both Graham and Nelson have said they will not endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary...

GOP leader backs Martinez Sen. George Allen's endorsement gives Mel Martinez's Senate bid an important boost. By BILL ADAIR, Times Staff Writer Published June 8, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON - Mel Martinez's U.S. Senate campaign picked up a key endorsement Monday from Sen. George Allen, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Although Allen said it was a personal endorsement and that his committee was staying neutral, the announcement provides an important boost to the Martinez campaign and fresh evidence that he is the choice of the Washington GOP leadership. As chairman of the Republican committee, Allen has tremendous clout...

Languishing in a prison cell in Central Florida is an inmate who could end up derailing Betty Castor's U.S. Senate race. Sami al-Arian is being held on charges that he financed Islamic Jihad terrorists while a professor at a school Castor headed, the University of South Florida. You'll be hearing a lot about al-Arian, say Democratic insiders. Television ads are being fashioned that slam Castor for not firing al-Arian. Castor refused to dismiss the professor for years after calls he be tossed out and after international publicity about his role in Islamic Jihad.

Don Quixote tilting at windmills is one thing. But trying to convince Americans that the Republican Party is the historic and present day party for blacks and that the Democratic Party is full of racists who opposed civil rights legislation, well that is Frances Rice territory. The difference is that Rice, one of the co-founders of the SaraMana Black Republican Club, is far from alone, has a few facts in her armory and, in her analysis, there already is a shift in attitudes. We certainly have seen an increase in conservative, Republican blacks in prominent positions, particularly in the Bush...

I have not yet decided who I will support for U.S. Senate race... my FIRST choice was Dan Webster, who has pulled out of the race.... any suggestions from fellow Floridians...David C. Osborne - Autobiography

Once a Democratic stronghold, Northeast Florida is now, without question, Republican country. When local politicians and experts discuss that drastic shift over the past 20 years, they point to one familiar face -- that of former President Ronald Reagan, who died Saturday at 93. "He's the one that started that movement, here and in the whole state," said Bill Taylor, who chaired the state Republican Party from 1974 to '80. "He had the faith, and it was contagious." Reagan, politicians and observers say, made it acceptable for local officials to be Republicans. The former president's message of keeping money in...

Supporters of Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas roared to his defense Sunday after former Vice President Al Gore called him ''the single most treacherous and dishonest person I dealt with'' during the contested 2000 presidential campaign. The most powerful comeback came from Florida's top Democrat, U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, whose seat Penelas is seeking. ''People in Florida who know Alex Penelas know he is a quality person and has been a Democrat under difficult circumstances,'' Graham said in a telephone interview with The Herald that was facilitated by the Penelas campaign. ``It is not easy in Miami-Dade County to be a...

By Brian Crowley, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Friday, June 4, 2004 U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is joining a lawsuit filed by CNN demanding that Florida election officials make public a state list of names of possible felons who are to be deleted from voters rolls. Nelson will announce the filing of a "friend of the court" brief supporting the CNN suit today during a news conference in front of the Palm Beach County elections office. "The list should be open to the public, because of the potential for mistakes," said Nelson in a prepared statement. The state compiles lists...

(CNSNews.com) - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force says it is time to repeal America's "archaic and unjust" sex laws. The Task Force announced it is taking part in a project to analyze sex laws throughout the United States and identify which ones need to go. The point is to "educate Americans about the prevalence and abuse of antiquated and unjust sex laws in the nation, and to give grassroots activists policy and organizing tools to work to change these laws," the Task Force said in a press release. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said it is...