Free Republic

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Nov. 11) - Critics have dubbed it "Bald Ego," "Murky's Turkey" and "Incontinental Airlines," but Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski finally has the sleek executive jet he says he and other state officials need. The $2.6 million Westwind aircraft, equipped with a leather sofa, burgundy carpeting and a flush toilet, arrived this week in Anchorage and will replace a no-frills turboprop used by previous Alaska governors for official business. Critics say Murkowski's jet is unusable in much of rural Alaska, where runways are too short and made of gravel or nonexistent. Murkowski press secretary Becky Hultberg defended the purchase,...

AR RAMADI, Iraq (Oct. 20, 2005) -- For many, getting a four-year degree from a college or university is the path to accomplishing their career goals. However, for a number of people, the cost of attending those schools is prohibitive. Private First Class David Shellito Jr., found a way to pay for his school, as well as gain valuable leadership skills when he joined the Marine Corps. The Edgewood, Iowa native chose the Marine Corps when he decided to attend college, but still needed time to decide on what career path he would take. “I joined to get help paying...

CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, Japan (Oct. 11, 2005) -- Last July, when the doctors diagnosed his wife with gastric cancer, all the other problems in Sgt. Devin Mitchell’s life no longer seemed to matter. His main concern immediately turned to the health of his wife, Hisano. In September, when the cancer got so bad that doctors had to remove Hisano’s stomach, life became even more complicated. She would now need daily shots and extensive check-ups with her doctors on Okinawa to try and keep her well. But just when life seemed to be getting back under control, orders for a permanent...

SACRAMENTO -- "Great Hair!" That's the headline on a political Web page over a photo of Bakersfield Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy's distinctive coiffure. But McCarthy would just as soon do without the compliment on the Web site of the ultra-conservative Young Americans for Freedom. "Sadly," the YAF message continues, "that's about the only nice thing Republicans are saying about Kevin McCarthy these days." With the YAF's typically humorous touch, it's the latest example of grumbling about McCarthy's leadership of the Assembly Republican Caucus. Fairly or not, McCarthy is being held largely responsible by some Republicans for the overwhelming defeat of the...

I was really, really hoping that Bush would start a big fight and pick Janice Rogers Brown for the supreme court nomination. He didn't. He picked a woman that he trusts and believes will represent a judicial constraint, conservative position. I am disappointed. But........ I am not going to trash the woman. I am not going to whine and cry that the Republican Party is doomed. I am not going to play into the hands of the Democrats who would love to see Republicans tear their own person down. {like the anti-war folks who trash our troops because they are...

AL ASAD, Iraq (Sept. 28, 2005) -- Army soldiers have been getting defensive around Marines in the Al Anbar province of Iraq, but only for a good cause. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the 109th Infantry (Mechanized) took over force protection operations in and around Al Asad, Iraq, in August. The Scranton, Pa., Army National Guard unit assumed responsibilities for interior and convoy security from the Provisional Security Battalion Marines of 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion. “It has been an interesting deployment so far,” said Army Staff Sgt. Brian Hagy, a squad leader and Lexington, Ky., native. “This...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A man who bilked companies out of tens of millions of dollars in equipment by pretending he was recruiting business for a secret NATO project was sentenced to 80 months in prison. Errol Anthony Marsden, listed in court papers as Jourdan Mars, had pleaded guilty in March to a count of wire fraud in a plea agreement with prosecutors. He said at his sentencing Friday that his actions were unacceptable. "At the time, I was not a rational person," the British national said. "For the first time in my life, I see the consequences," One of...

8/18/2005 - ALI BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- An Airman here recently gained the distinction of being addressed as both a staff sergeant and a lieutenant. Staff Sgt. Gregg Magi, a 407th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron firefighter, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the Fire Department City of New York via telephone during an Aug. 16 ceremony in New York. “It feels good to be promoted,” said Sergeant Magi, who is deployed from the New York Air National Guard’s 105th Airlift Wing. “I’ve always wanted to be involved in public service.” During the ceremony, he and two of his...

The London bombings were fueled by oil Friday, July 8, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM Froma Harrop / Syndicated columnist It is oil's fault. The London bombings are almost surely al-Qaida's work, which means oil paid for them. Oil keeps the Mideast backward. It funds the madrassas that fill heads with anti-West poison. And it pays the terrorists who plant bombs on European trains and fly airplanes into American buildings. It is time we did something about oil. The United States accounts for 25 percent of the world's oil consumption. We could crush oil's power to hurt us...

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney got good news Friday during his annual heart checkup, with a pacemaker detecting no irregular heartbeat, his office said. Cheney has had four heart attacks, and a pacemaker was placed in his chest in June 2001. The checkup determined that the pacemaker, called an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, was working fine and never had to be activated. The device is designed to activate automatically if needed to regulate the patient's heartbeat. Cheney underwent the routine exam at George Washington University Medical Center. It included a physical exam, an electrocardiogram, an echocardiogram and a stress test....

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plans to put money into "hydrogen highways" caused a hiccup in the otherwise smooth passage of the new $117.5 billion state budget Thursday. Lawmakers raised questions about one spending item– $6.5 million for leasing 12 hydrogen-powered vehicles for the state fleet, three hydrogen fueling stations and hydrogen technology research – at a time when other programs are being cut. "Even as an environmentalist, it's really hard to put $6.5 million into anything when you haven't got any money," said Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, who ultimately voted for the legislation. --snip-- After that, the state...

WASHINGTON - Big Bird and National Public Radio won a reprieve Thursday as the House restored $100 million that had been proposed as a budget cut for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting The 284-140 vote demonstrated the enduring political strength of public broadcasting, whose supporters rallied behind popular programs such as “Sesame Street,” “Postcards From Buster” and “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.” The Public Broadcasting Service undertook a high-profile campaign to rescind the proposed cut. Lawmakers were flooded with letters and phone calls.

NEW YORK (June 20) - A father and son are both going to prison for one of the largest frauds in corporate history. Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. His son, Timothy, has been given a 20-year sentence. The New York judge says John Rigas' age and health kept him from imposing a stiffer sentence. Rigas is 80 years old. The cable company collapsed into bankruptcy in 2002 after it disclosed a staggering two (b) billion dollars in debt that had been kept off the books. Prosecutors say the Rigas family also stole...

Hillary gets a pass, DeLay is assailed Posted: May 14, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern WorldNetDaily.com It's really a good thing that Sen. Hillary Clinton is a Democrat. If she were a Republican, she would have been the topic of dire front-page headlines in the New York Times and at the forefront of "CBS Evening News" broadcasts over the past several days with her name being connected with a shadowy political fund-raising imbroglio. What's that? You say you weren't aware that Mrs. Clinton was at the center of a significant controversy? No surprise there. Like I said, she's a Democrat. So...

If nothing else, Ted Nugent isn't going to have to relinquish his "Motor City Madman" nickname any time in the near future. In a speech given to the National Rifle Association's national convention in Houston, Nugent brandished a pair of assault rifles while urging NRA members to recruit other gun-packing nuts into the gang. He went so far as to urge NRA members not to associate with non-members, and to become "hardcore, radical extrimists." Siezed by a Second Amendment furor, Nugent then whipped up the crowd condoning shoot-to-kill vigalante justice. The spectacle, urged members to pull their heat and kill...

...the World Health Organization's tobacco control treaty comes into force on Sunday. It is regarded as smoking's answer to the Kyoto agreement - only with teeth. Ratified by 57 countries, including the UK, the document sets out a programme to reduce the number of people smoking across the world. Under its terms governments have promised to introduce smoking bans, tobacco advertising restrictions and health warnings on cigarette packets, draw up anti-smuggling strategies and agree to increase tax on tobacco sales. More than 100 other countries have also signed the treaty, but will not be bound by its restrictions until they...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared with Bob Hertzberg on Friday to endorse the Los Angeles mayoral candidate's plan for education reform, giving Hertzberg a televised boost as he struggles to keep pace with two better-funded rivals in the campaign's final stretch. In a hastily arranged event at Schwarzenegger's Santa Monica office, the governor — who already had expressed generalized support for Hertzberg's proposal to break up the Los Angeles Unified School District — held a private, 20-minute meeting with the former state Assembly speaker. At a news conference afterward, the governor did not endorse Hertzberg, a longtime friend; instead, he reiterated...

Professor Gets Year in Prison for Fake 'Hate Crime' Remember that left-wing egghead at Claremont McKenna College who vandalized her own car and then cried "hate crime"? Today she got sentenced to a year in the slammer. Kerri Dunn, who is, naturally, a professor of psychology, falsely claimed that her Honda was spray-painted with racist and anti-Semitic slurs. She had faced up to three years in a California prison for filing a false police report and two felony counts of attempted insurance fraud. Get this: Miss Dunn staged the criminal hoax and launched a headline-grabbing spree of "hate crime" hysteria...

Ex-beauty queen convicted of fraud A former beauty queen who collected Social Security benefits by claiming she was disabled was sentenced yesterday to nearly four years in prison and was ordered to pay $193,000 in restitution. Denise Henderson – Mrs Minnesota International in 1999 and Mrs Iowa International in 2001 – also must complete three years of supervision once she’s released. Defense lawyers said they will appeal. The judge instructed Henderson, 44, and her attorneys not to comment afterward. She was ordered to begin serving her three-year, 10-month prison sentence after the holidays. In August, a federal jury found Henderson...

The Schwarzenegger administration signaled its support Tuesday for a plan to drop Clinton-era protections that barred road-building and other development on nearly a third of the country's national forest land, including more than 4 million acres in California. The rollback, proposed by the Bush administration last summer, would repeal the most ambitious conservation move of Clinton's presidency — a rule that blocked commercial timber cutting and road construction on 58.5 million acres of national forest holdings. In its place, the Bush proposal would create a system that relies heavily on individual states to decide whether the forest lands should be...