Free Republic

Republican presidential nominee John McCain debuted a radio ad Friday designed to declare his unequivocal support for stem cell research. McCain voted in the Senate to expand federal funding for the controversial research but Democrats and advocates of the science have expressed concern that McCain’s support has wavered. Not so, according to the radio spot and a McCain spokesman. The ad does not specifically refer to embryonic research, which is opposed by most politicians and activists who, like McCain, do not support abortion rights. The omission is not a signal that McCain is backing away from his record in favor...

He's been fasting for nearly three weeks, gaining little notice even from the target of his protest. But Jerry Peace Activist Rubin is willing to refrain from eating for at least another three weeks and then another three weeks after that and then. ... Well, you get the idea. His goal: Persuade Ralph Nader to drop his quadrennial bid for the presidency - or at least explain to Rubin why he's running again in 2008. Rubin, who has launched more than 30 fasts over the past 25 years, is worried that Nader will play a spoiler role, as he believes...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21, 2007 – Between physical and fiscal challenges, severely injured servicemembers and spouses who don’t hold college degrees may find earning one a bit daunting. The University of Idaho is working to change that. With a slogan of “You’ve served us; now let us serve you – with a college degree,” the school launched Operation Education in June 2006. “Operation Education is a scholarship program that was designed to provide financial and social support for disabled veterans who have been wounded since … 9/11,” Karen White, the scholarship’s chairman, said. “The program is individually tailored to each...

MOSCOW - Russia on Tuesday test-launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple independent warheads, and a top government official said it could penetrate any defense system, a news agency reported. The new missile would modernize Russia's stockpile at a time of rising tensions with the West. The ICBM was fired from a mobile launcher at the Plesetsk launch site in northwestern Russia, and its test warhead landed on target about 3,400 miles away on the Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, a statement from the Russian Strategic Missile Forces said. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Russia would continue...

A grass-roots organization and a media consulting firm launched a campaign Monday seeking a presidential pardon for two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican national during a 2005 incident. The 30- to 60- second television spots, produced by Demos Chrissos, owner of Rapid Response Media, will first air on Washington, D.C., cable channels this week, Chrissos said. Radio commercials targeting congressional representatives in their own districts will begin airing by the end of the week, he said. The "man on the street" TV spots were posted Monday on grassfire.org, a conservative Web site that has collected more...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) announced his bid for president Saturday, a black man evoking Abraham Lincoln's ability to unite a nation and a Democrat portraying himself as a fresh face capable of leading a new generation. "Let us transform this nation," he told thousands shivering in the cold at the campaign's kickoff. Obama, 45, is the youngest candidate in the Democrats' 2008 primary field dominated by front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and filled with more experienced lawmakers. In an address from the state capital where he began his elective career 10 years ago, the first-term...

MEXICO CITY - President Felipe Calderon launched a program Monday to create jobs for young Mexicans and curb the flow of millions of migrants to the United States. The program will give cash incentives to companies for hiring first-time job holders. Calderon, who took office in December, campaigned on promises to boost employment opportunities in Mexico, vowing to be the "Jobs President." A conservative who narrowly won the July election, Calderon is under pressure from a strong leftist opposition to alleviate poverty affecting half the country's citizens. While he has criticized U.S. immigration policies, such as a proposed border fence,...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2006 -- Soldiers and families can now communicate by video e-mail through the Army Knowledge Online intranet portal. On the first day, more than 3,500 video e-mails were transmitted. "Thank you, that's all I can say," Pvt. Brenden Teetsell of the 44th Signal Battalion e-mailed on Dec. 6. "Thank you for allowing me to see my family. Your technology helps boost not only my morale, but thousands of soldiers a day." AKO video messaging allows all deployed active-duty, National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers to create video messages on a computer with a Web cam. The...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The Israeli military launched a three-pronged offensive in the northern Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing a top Hamas commander in its latest operation against Palestinian rocket squads. An elderly Palestinian woman died in a gunbattle between troops and militants. Militants persisted with the rocket fire, launching five homemade projectiles, including three that landed in southern Israel. One critically wounded a man in the town of Sderot, a frequent target, striking the ground a half-mile from a convoy carrying the United Nations' top human rights official, who was touring the town. The military confirmed operations in...

BANGKOK, Thailand - The Thai military launched a coup against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday night, circling his offices with tanks, seizing control of TV stations and declaring a provisional authority pledging loyalty to the king. An announcement on Thai television declared that a "Council of Administrative Reform" with King Bhumibol Adulyadej as head of state had seized power in Bangkok and nearby provinces without any resistance. At least 14 tanks surrounded Government House, Thaksin's office. Thaksin was in New York at the U.N. General Assembly and declared a state of emergency.

KANDAGAL, Afghanistan - U.S. troops on Wednesday launched a fearsome barrage of artillery and rockets into a mountainous militant stronghold in eastern Afghanistan where they suffered their deadliest combat loss more than a year ago. Despite high casualties suffered by Taliban-led militants since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 and tough military action to root them out, insurgents still pose as deadly a threat as ever to the scores of troops from the New York-based 10th Mountain Division deployed near the Pakistan border. No militant casualty figures were immediately available from the heavy bombardment that sent plumes of...

ARLINGTON (Army News Service, Aug. 14, 2006) – The Army has launched two new podcasts to its lineup: “Army Today” and “Soldiers’ Forum.” “Army Today” is a daily, two-minute audio-visual feature produced by Soldiers Radio and Television. “Soldiers’ Forum” is a weekly product through which Sgt. Major of the Army Kenneth Preston addresses issues concerning enlisted Soldiers. “This is a great way to keep Soldiers in the U.S., and those deployed to some 120 countries, informed on issues affecting them,” Preston said. “So far, we’ve produced spots on motorcycle safety, the BOSS program and the Wounded Warrior Program.” Soldiers unfamiliar...

Pakistan launches huge nuclear arms drive · Satellite images reveal major building site· US and China embroiled in buildup of rival arsenals Randeep Ramesh, Julian Borger in Washington Tuesday July 25, 2006 The Guardian (UK) A satellite image showing Pakistan's Khushab plutonium production reactor. Photograph: EPA Pakistan appears to have embarked on a dramatic expansion of its nuclear arsenal with the construction of a new heavy water reactor capable of producing enough plutonium for up to 50 warheads a year, according to a report released yesterday by a US thinktank. The report by the Institute for Science and International Security...

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel launched rapid-fire air strikes against Palestinian militants across the Gaza Strip on Sunday after rebuffing a proposed ceasefire by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. Israel is threatening to expand its offensive unless militants release Corporal Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier abducted in a cross-border raid on June 25, and halt rocket fire on Israeli cities. At least three militants were injured in an early morning air strike near the Karni commercial crossing, Palestinian medics and police said. Israel also bombed a key bridge in northern Gaza, despite an appeal from the United Nations to stop...

Noon Status Update The astronauts walked out of the Operations and Checkout Building to cheers and applause from the crowd wishing them well for mission STS-121. They appreciatively waved back and boarded the silver NASA Astrovan that took them on the 20-minute trip to the launch pad. Steven Lindsey commands a crew of five American astronauts, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Michael Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson and Piers Sellers, and one astronaut from the European Space Agency, Thomas Reiter. This is the 18th U.S. flight to the International Space Station and the 32nd flight for Space Shuttle Discovery....

KEREM SHALOM, Israel (AFP) - Israel launched a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip after a wave of targeted air strikes following a tense standoff over the capture of a teenage soldier. Much of the northern Gaza Strip was plunged into darkness after Israeli war planes hit a power station and two bridges in a series of nighttime raids, witnesses and security sources on both sides said. "Our forces have begun to enter the southern Gaza Strip," an Israeli army spokesman told AFP at the Kerem Shalom crossing, where tanks and troops were seen crossing into the Palestinian territory. It...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, May 1, 2006 – Iraq once supplied roughly 30 percent of the world's dates, an estimated 600,000 tons. But with fewer than 15 million date palm trees left in Iraq, production has dropped to only about 250,000 tons of the fruit annually. To control the progressive loss of the crop and regenerate the industry, the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture and coalition forces have teamed up to combat the problem by conducting aerial spraying in April and May. Officials from the Najaf, Karbala and Babil provincial agriculture departments met with coalition forces representatives April 27 at...

4/27/2006 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- Airmen from several Air Force bases spent two months preparing, disassembling, rebuilding and testing an Iraqi Air Force Comp Air 7SLX, which had its first test flight here April 25. The aircraft is considered experimental, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It is designed to be an unarmed aircraft used to patrol oil pipelines and other infrastructure targeted by insurgents. "This six-seater aircraft, which is a kit-built plane, was developed by a company in Merritt Island, Fla., called AeroComp which sold the aircraft to the United Arab Emirates," said Lt. Col....

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2006 – The Pentagon Channel has launched "Pentagon Channel In Flight," a military news and information service that will be aired on military charter flights worldwide. "Pentagon Channel In Flight is another way in which we can introduce servicemembers to the Pentagon Channel and provide them with the timely military news and information that they need to do their jobs." said Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense for internal communications. Pentagon Channel In Flight will air on participating military charter flights, including Air Transport International, ATA, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Miami Air, North American Air, Omni...

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2006 – Coalition forces, in cooperation with the Afghan National Army, began "Operation Mountain Lion" yesterday to establish security, deter the re-emergence of terrorism, and enhance the sovereignty of Afghanistan, military officials reported today. Afghan and coalition forces killed six insurgents today while conducting offensive operations in the Marawara district of Afghanistan's Kunar province. Military officials in Afghanistan said Operation Mountain Lion is part of the coalition's ongoing series of offensives that aim to disrupt insurgent activities, deny them sanctuary and prevent their ability to restock. "This operation is helping the government of Afghanistan set the security...