Free Republic

In his stunning 2003 book Dereliction of Duty, Air Force Lt. Col. Robert “Buzz” Patterson, a presidential aide and carrier of the “nuclear football,” describes President Clinton’s gross irresponsibility toward national security. Patterson tells how, in the fall of 1998, the watch officer in the White House Situation Room notified the president’s national security adviser, Sandy Berger, that they had located bin Laden and had “a two-hour window to strike.” Here is Patterson’s chilling account: On Sept. 13, 1996, “Pilots were in the cockpits, waiting to launch, targets were identified, everything was in place, all [Berger] needed was the go-ahead.”...

Patients with heart disease can worry about one less thing: German researchers find sex doesn't seem to trigger heart attacks, strokes or other unpleasant events. The American Heart Association advises that sex after a heart attack is OK. But patients don't always get that message, says Dr. Dietrich Rothenbacher, who led a small study at Ulm University in Germany. "Based on our data, it seems very unlikely that sexual activity is a relevant trigger of heart attack," Rothenbacher said in a statement.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Bill Bruton spent Super Bowl Sunday delivering pizzas all over Indianapolis for Aunt Polly’s Pizza. But when Bruton hits the road to make a delivery, he’s carrying more than a pizza. He’s also carrying a gun. “I’ve got a lifetime permit and I carry,” he said. The manager at Aunt Polly’s said their drivers have carried for years. “As long as they have gun permits,” said manager Jeff White. Not everyone allows their employees to carry weapons. But restaurants are reviewing their safety policies after two pizza delivery drivers were shot and killed in Indianapolis in two...

(Reuters) - A small Georgia town on Monday passed a law requiring the head of each household to own a gun as a way to keep crime down.

Clint Eastwood will be speaking at the Republican Convention in Tampa on Thursday according to Fox News. The network’s website is reporting that a GOP source confirmed “that Eastwood is indeed the mystery speaker”. Thursday night’s line-up has a “To Be Announced” speaker scheduled ahead of Senator Marco Rubio and GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney himself. Eastwood’s name was floated earlier this week as the speaker along with former VP nominee Sarah Palin, Donald Trump and even a hologram of former President Ronald Reagan. No stranger to politics, Eastwood served as the Mayor of Carmel, California from 1986 to 1988....

WASHINGTON — Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday are expected to publish a report on the disputed gun trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious, concluding that agents in Arizona — not Obama administration officials — were responsible for the tactics used in the inquiry and for providing misleading information relayed to Congress. In an 89-page report, titled “Fatally Flawed: Five Years of Gun-walking in Arizona,” the Democratic staff portrays Fast and Furious as the fourth investigation, dating back to 2006, in which Arizona-based agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives employed...

It was a grand Thanksgiving Day. Family, good friends and good food, in this case Spanish style all the way with Enchiladas, Burritos, Chili Rellenos, Rice Ortega, and Spanish Rice. If the first Thanksgiving Day was not celebrated this way it should have been. After dinner, we reached for the Smith K-22, Ruger Single-Six, and Smith & Wesson 422 for some enjoyable plinking and also to have my daughter and son-in-law brush up on their shooting and handling of handguns as the final step , having already finished the safety and liability course, before applying for their concealed weapons permits....

While the Pentagon downplays China’s rollout this week of what appears to be a jet fighter designed using sophisticated stealth technology, military experts are warning that the aircraft – reportedly capable of besting America’s F-22 in speed and maneuverability – could pose the greatest threat yet to U.S. air superiority. Decorated Navy fighter pilot Matthew “Whiz” Buckley, a Top Gun graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School who flew 44 combat missions over Iraq, says, “It’s probably leaps and bounds above where we are, and that’s terrifying.” “As a former Navy fighter pilot, going up against something that’s stealthy, highly...

I posted the Sarah Palin full NRA speech plus a link to a photo gallery of the convention.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Friday waived environmental regulations and laws restricting immediate construction of border fencing along Southwestern Arizona's Barry M. Goldwater Range. The action was taken to circumvent a series of laws, from the Endangered Species Act to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Doing so — under authority that Congress gave the Homeland Security secretary in 2005 — will clear the way for construction in Southwestern Arizona of 37 miles of physical and virtual fencing, radar and other infrastructure, lighting, all-weather and drag roads, expected to cost in the neighborhood...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico An investigation into three apparent suicides at the U-S prison at Guantanamo Bay may have uncovered a broader plot. According to court papers, a search of other detainees' cells after the three were found hanged turned up instructions on tying knots, along with several relevant notes in Arabic. The detention center's commander said in an affidavit investigators believe "the suicides may have been part of a larger plan or pact for more suicides that day or in the immediate future." Authorities say they confiscated personal papers from nearly all 450 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The government...

Hamza wins go-ahead to appeal over 'unfair' trial By Duncan Gardham (Filed: 29/07/2006) The radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza was given leave to appeal yesterday against his conviction for soliciting to murder on the grounds of the bad publicity he had received before and during the trial. Hamza's lawyers claimed he was unable to get a fair trial because he had become the most notorious person in Britain after the attacks of September 11, 2001 and July 7, 2005. Abu Hamza: ‘adverse publicity’ Edward Fitzgerald, QC, said putting Hamza on trial six years after the last of the speeches was...

<p>In the last three months the obsessed minority of freepers but very vocal who hate President Bush have been bombarding us with every illegal immigration thread under the sun so they have their "BASH BUSH ORGY".</p> <p>Pick up your phone and report to the INS about an illegal immigrant and his employer. I am sure you know at least one illegal immigrant who works in a convenient store, on a gas station, clean the garbage in your office, clean the bathroom at your work place... And I am sure you know one of these employers who hire illegal immigrants. Go ahead Mucho Guys, do your duty and report them to the INS. Let us see how courageous you are and let us see your action following your rhetoric.</p>

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - President Hosni Mubarak expressed hope Saturday that Iraq's elections will be held on schedule but said all Iraqis need to participate to avoid further violence in the war-ravaged state. However, Mubarak, this country's sole ruler since 1981, sidestepped questions on whether he would support constitutional changes to loosen his own grip on power. His comments, made during an unprecedented telephone call to a popular talk show, come at a time of great political change in the Middle East, with Palestinian presidential polls on Sunday, Iraqi elections on Jan. 30 and a referendum on the Egyptian presidency...

Rumsfeld gave go-ahead for Abu Ghraib tactics, says general in charge By Julian Coman in Washington (Filed: 04/07/2004) The former head of the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad has for the first time accused the American Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, of directly authorising Guantanamo Bay-style interrogation tactics. Brig-Gen Janis Karpinski, who commanded the 800th Military Police Brigade, which is at the centre of the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal, said that documents yet to be released by the Pentagon would show that Mr Rumsfeld personally approved the introduction of harsher conditions of detention in Iraq. In an interview with The...