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In a safer Baghdad, Iraqis party for 2008 By Peter Graff Mon Dec 31, 4:23 PM ET On New Year's Eve Ridaa al-Azzawi squeezed into his pointy snakeskin boots, his tight black sweater and his snazzy corduroy flared jeans, hustled down to a Baghdad hotel ballroom and partied for peace. 2008 arrived in a less-violent Baghdad, and residents said it was the first real party they had seen in years. At the stroke of midnight, exuberant locals fired into the air with automatic rifles, sending red tracer fire streaking over the city, as fireworks lit up the sky. While the...

Hershey is dropping a Hershey Kiss tonight for New Years Eve. I wonder what other towns are dropping?

Today the President signed into law S. 2271, the "Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007 Click here for further details Today, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour announced the appointment of Representative Roger Wicker to serve as United State Senator for the State of Mississippi, succeeding Senator Trent Lott. Click here for the President's comments The President also issued his New Year message see Quote of the Day for the contents. At the end of the year it is often a time reflect on the previous year or maybe to look forward to something special or life changing that you know...

Don't be a fool: Pumping bullets into the air on New Year's Eve is illegal, could put you in the slammer and could get someone killed. That's the annual reminder being sent out to the public by the city's top brass and by one victim of New Year's Eve stupidity who doesn't want what happened to him to happen to others. District Attorney Lynne Abraham and Police Chief Inspector Anthony DiLacqua are expected to make this announcement at a news conference today in the D.A.'s building with victim Joe Jaskolka, who was 11 when he was struck in the head...

BANGKOK - Explosives planted by suspected Muslim militants went off at three locations in southern Narathiwat Province near the Malaysian border early on Monday wounding 27 people, police said. The blasts, at the border town of Sungai Kolok, went off in near succession by parking lots of two hotels and at a discotheque, they said. Two of the blasts came from improvised explosives stashed in fuel tanks of motorcycles abandoned at the parking lots.

Happy New Year's Eve to all at Free Republic!!! Make your predictions for 2008. Good Luck!!!

Messages and wishes for the new year from people around the world will float down on the New Year's Eve revelers in Times Square when the confetti is dropped. For the first time, anyone can get a message printed on a piece of the multicolored confetti by visiting the Times Square Information Center or by using the Internet to type a message on a "Wishing Wall Online" — http://tinyurl.com/2c5efd. The message-carrying pieces will be mixed among the more than one ton of confetti, organizers said. Messages can be serious or silly, said Tim Tompkins, a spokesman for the Times Square...

No Brussels Fireworks Amid Terror Threat Published: 12/30/07, 10:05 AM EDT BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Traditional New Year's Eve fireworks in central Brussels have been canceled due to a continuing terror threat in the Belgian capital, officials said Sunday. The popular downtown Christmas market will close early, at 6 p.m., on Dec. 31 rather than staying open all night, and the adjacent skating rink will shut at 8 p.m. Authorities warned of an increased risk of attack after police last week detained 14 people suspected of plotting to help an accused al-Qaida militant break out of jail. The inmate, Nizar...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 200,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

It’s New Year’s Eve a few years back: candles are lighted in Emily’s “cozy one-bedroom” apartment, iTunes shifts seamlessly from the Magnetic Fields to Maria Callas to Nina Simone, and although we love to look out her second-story windows at the packs of people clamoring between bars and parties, and although we half-made plans to go to bars and parties ourselves, there’s no way we’re going out. The abortion is scheduled for two days from now, and we’re holing up.

- KGO - Members of a renowned choral group from Yale University were attacked outside a New Year's Eve party in San Francisco, sending several of them to the hospital. Now the police department is coming under fire for its handling of the case. This does not look good for the city. Yale sends its popular singing group, The Baker's Dozen, on a holiday concert tour. And San Francisco sends the young men away bloody, bruised, and several of them seriously injured. Laura Aziz sent her son, Sharyar, off on a concert tour with one of Yale University's singing groups...

MANTECA, Calif. (AP) -- A married couple who got a dog sitter for their puppies but left the man's young children home alone while they vacationed in Las Vegas were arrested Wednesday, police said. Jacob Calero, 39, and Michelle De La Vega, 32, were taken into custody as they arrived home on a flight to Oakland. They had left town Friday to celebrate the new year, authorities said. The couple apparently told 9-year-old Joshua to look after his 5-year-brother, Jason, who is autistic. The children spent one night alone before police found them. The grandmother, Libbey Holden, said she called...

Called my sister shortly before midnight. She said her husband has three guns loaded to shoot off for New Year's Eve. I don't approve of this. I told her to shoot the guns into the ground, not into the air.They followed my advice. When my nephew shot one of the guns into the ground he hit a water pipe. Now water is gushing out of the ground. Just desserts. What can I say?

Ringing out one of the worst years in its colorful history, New Orleans launched into a rollicking New Year's Eve of memorials and merrymaking, from a traditional jazz funeral procession in honor of the hundreds of hurricane victims to an after-dark New Year's party. Despite the destruction still evident four months after Hurricane Katrina, the city decided to welcome the New Year with fireworks, concerts, and in a twist on the Times Square ball drop, the lowering of a giant gumbo pot to mark the start of 2006. "New Orleans is back open, so come on down and start visiting....

Are hanged out In Moscow on houses leaflets about tomorrow's acts of terrorism Terrorists are going to lead tomorrow in Moscow the large armed action, radio station " Echo of Moscow " referring to the operative information which has acted to address of capital authorities informs. In this connection authorities of city have disposed to check up all uninhabited, basement and garrets for explosives. Besides written preventions of probable acts of terrorism have appeared on apartment houses of the Western district of Moscow. These are x-copies of the telephone message in which zamprefekta the Western district asks heads of...

What's Up In Space EBONY MOON: According to modern folklore, when there are two Full Moons in a month, we call the second a Blue Moon. Question: what do you call it when there are two New Moons in a month? It's about to happen. On Dec. 31st, New Year's Eve, the moon will be new for the second time this month. (The first time was Dec. 1st.) Double new moons occur about once every 2.5 years, the same frequency as Blue Moons. There's no widely accepted name for a second New Moon, so we asked SpaceWeather readers to suggest...

Does your town or city have a First Night celebration? Mine does--Beverly, MA. Admittedly this year it's been cut back due to lack of volunteers--will "end" at 9:30--but I'm looking forward to it. Usually I work on New Year's Eve but I get it off this year and next. First Night started in Boston (and the "First Night" name is licensed through that organization) around the time of the Bicentennial as an "alcohol-free New Year's celebration" with arts, concerts, fun for the kids, etc. I live within walking distance of the events here... no worry about drunk drivers (though I'll...

Rush Guitarist Alex Lifeson and Family Want Ritz To Pick Up Tab In Lawsuit Douglas Maher-All Headline News Reporter June 3,2005 3:15 EST Naples,Florida (AHN)-Guitarist for the rock band Rush, Alex Lifeson, his son Justin, and daughter-in-law Michelle filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Ft.Myers, Florida against the Ritz-Carlton, its security director and three sheriff’s deputies stemming from a New Year’s Eve 2003 altercation at the Naples hotel. Alex, Justin and Michelle Zivojinovich allege the defendants violated their civil rights, battered and falsely imprisoned them before their arrests on criminal charges that were either later dropped or...

No longer is it necessary for one to drive into New York City to see the ball drop on New Years Eve, for now, Harrison, Maine, Blue State USA, ... In addition to Maine now being able to boast that over 51% of all public accommodations can brag of complete, sanitary, and, and this is important, heated in door plumbing, and now, Harrison, has taken steps necessary to pave the roads. And the Gleason Radio Group has now brought Maine into the 21 st Century with Streaming audio on their radio stations. Son now those people not able to live...

Pleasant Hills police haven't decided whether to file charges against the father of a 16-year-old boy who held a raucous, unsupervised New Year's Eve party at which his friends fired guns in the street and more than three dozen teenagers and young adults were arrested and hauled away in a bus. All those arrested, whose ages range from 13 to 22, were charged with underage drinking or disorderly conduct after being transported from the party at 217 Congress Drive to the Pleasant Hills police station in a Port Authority bus. Now, the police say they are investigating whether the host's...

CNBC reported about the above website a little while ago. There are 12 webcams at NY Times Square, they will also have a live streaming video of the lowering of the ball, as well as webcams from all around the world. Looks interesting.

BURBANK, Calif. Dec 30, 2004 — "American Bandstand" icon Dick Clark plans to watch his New Year's Eve show from the hospital bed where he is recovering from a stroke. Clark, 75, suffered what was described as a mild stroke and has been hospitalized since Dec. 6. Regis Philbin is filling in for America's oldest teenager on ABC-TV's "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2005" on Friday. "Even though I won't be in New York this year, I will be watching 'New Year's Rockin' Eve' on TV and there's one tradition I intend to maintain," Clark said in a statement...

"I'm not going to rant about how Christmas has become over-commercialized. More annoying to me is when people, particularly marketing people, blather on about the "Holiday Season." I strangely feel compelled to delve into a short logical argument. First, let's figure out what holidays means. Back in mid-October when they were talking about holidays, I suppose that could have meant Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year's Eve. But now after Halloween and Thanksgiving, we're still talking about the holidays. That would include just Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year's Eve. Not too many Hanukkah celebrants will be getting...

<p>NEW YORK -- Nearly 1 million revelers rang in 2004 with the dropping of the traditional New Year's Eve ball in Times Square -- a joyous, confetti-filled bash that took place under some of the tightest security ever seen.</p> <p>With snipers posted on rooftops and helicopters patrolling overhead, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his guest of honor, former Iraq prisoner of war Shoshana Johnson, pressed a small globe, sending the 1,070-pound crystal ball on a 60-second drop that culminated at the stroke of midnight.</p>

Oh my gosh, I just realized I'm doing the same thing I did at 15, before I was allowed to date... I'm sitting at home watching New Year's Rockin Eve with Dick Clark......! Two divorces, and a few bad dates later..... But at least now, I've got my FR friends to keep me company! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dec. 31, 2003 Shalom 2003, Shalom 2004: Tel Aviv celebrates By HILARY LEILA KREIGERAs the countdown to 2004 drew closer, Tel Avivians intent on ringing in the New Year showed no signs of missing the celebration, despite police warnings of a massive terror attack in the area and boosted security throughout the country. "Today more than ever people really need a reason to party. I hope they use this one," said Mike's Place co-owner Gal Ganzman, while preparing to host an all-night party featuring plenty of music, booze and customers. Though the Tel Aviv branch of the popular bar was...

Happy New Year's Eve to all at Free Republic!!! Make your predictions for 2004. Good Luck!!!

Now that the new year is upon us, a year that most certainly will be filled with new, interesting and sometimes infuriating things, let’s all remember to start it out on the right foot by being safe tonight, the night that when I was in the fire service we used to call “amateur’s night", New Year’s Eve. Too many times we venture out into this world with the attitude “it won’t happen to me.” We cut corners, take things for granted and never keep a shadow of a thought in the back of our minds that perhaps someone else isn’t...

Toast the New Year With 7-Eleven® Free Coffee Free Fresh Java Will Rev Up Drowsy Drivers Dallas, TX, December 30, 2003 - After a night of New Year’s revelry, party-goers who stop at participating 7-Eleven® stores can ring in the New Year with a fresh, free, hot, cup of coffee. For the 16th year, the convenience retailer will host its “Free Coffee on New Year’s Eve” program during the overnight hours. [Times vary by area. See attached chart for locations and times.] Stores in various areas of the country will participate in the program, which was designed to help combat...

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - Security will be extra tight at this year's New Year's celebrations around the country, with military helicopters patrolling over the Rose Parade, Times Square and the Las Vegas Strip. "I think the level of security this time around within the United States is absolutely unprecedented," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said on CBS's "The Early Show." As revelers prepare for New Year's Eve, the nation's terrorism alert is at its second-highest level, though officials said there were no specific threats against the holiday gatherings and urged people to go ahead with their plans. In Las Vegas,...

NUEVO LAREDO - City police are bracing for an expected outpouring of gunfire Wednesday night by residents celebrating the New Year. Previous attempts to enforce city or law enforcement-imposed no-gunfire bans on prior New Year's Eve have been ignored by city dwellers, an official said Monday Public Security Director Oscar Montiel said the entire 300 officer force would be on duty Wednesday night in an effort to enforce laws prohibiting discharging firearms into the air. He estimated that with many families owning firearms, there would be thousands of people shooting weapons of all types skyward to welcome the New Year....

First let me start of requesting that this thread not be moved to no man's land aka Chat. Thanks! My Fellow Freepers, As it approaches another New Years Eve, I have been getting e-mails and phone calls every day this past week asking me one question and it really wasn't until my friend John in NYC just said to me "I have a really bad feeling in my gut about tomorrow night,Al Qaeda promises a final blow." Well I made a sexual joke about it and went on with my conversation. He returned to the subject repeatedly however and would...

New Years Resolution.. FIND TRUE LOVE, AGAIN!Was your First Love, your True Love?  Can you go back?Is your first love your lone love?There must be something very special about our first love, as clumsy as they were, they have inspired enough love stories written about it, to fill libraries. Well, there must be something real about it, because there are growing numbers including scientist, that believe that your first blushing love, is your only true love, and everything that has followed are sadly, only weak and empty sequels. "If you love somebody, let them go. If they return, they were...

Beware of New Year's Parties: My Worst Hotel Experience ! May 15 '02 The Bottom Line If you're traveling on a holiday, be sure to check with the hotel in advance to see if any hotel services will be affected by special activities. My worst hotel experience happened about 15 years ago when my husband and I decided we would "See the USA in a Chevrolet." We loaded the children, ages 7 and 8, into the Chevy Astro minivan and off we went to California. We had planned, and I use that term loosely, a 10-day sojourn from Memphis to...

Israel warns of mega attack on New Year's Eve... -- Israel warns of major 'non-conventional' attack Israeli intelligence officials say militant groups are planning a major "non-conventional" attack on New Year's Eve. Possible targets are holy sites, nursery schools, apartment buildings and hospitals. Police have been told to prepare for three possible scenarios: an air or sea-based attack or a ground assault involving several simultaneous suicide bombings, the officials said. Senior intelligence officials know which of the three scenarios is most likely, but are reluctant to share the information with police officers to prevent leaks, the officials said. The warnings...

 If we haven't been blown up by New Year's Eve, I feel we should celebrate.  http://www.rightstuffcomedy.com/aboutus.html NEW YEAR'S EVE SHOWDec. 31, 2003Late show: 10:30 p.m. (Doors open at 10 p.m.) Ha Ha Cafe Comedy Club5010 Lankershim Blvd.North Hollywood, CA Tickets: $25 each with a two-drink minimum (plus tax and tip)Champagne toast included   If you're interested, respond here or by FReepmail by noon (PDT) Monday, please. Pre-show cocktail hour to be announced later.

— MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed 15 people and injured more than 50 in the Mexican port city of Veracruz on Tuesday, local television reported. "We have a report of 15 dead and they've told me there are more than 50 people injured, mostly from smoke inhalation," senior Veracruz municipal official Jose Ramon Gutierrez told Televisa television network. The explosion at 5 p.m. (6 p.m. EST) in a street market full of fireworks stalls sparked a blaze that firefighters were still struggling to extinguish four hours later, the television said. Fireworks accidents in factories,...

<p>Author and all-around social surveyor Dominick Dunne remembers when New Year's Eve meant something special.</p> <p>It was the '50s, and he was living in Los Angeles. He would go to the New Year's Eve party given by producer and screenwriter Charlie Lederer and his actress wife, Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables fame.</p>

Purported clone coming home to U.S. today, official says Company tied to sect states it will allow independent DNA tests 12/30/2002 Associated Press NEW YORK - The company that says it created the world's first cloned human says the baby, nicknamed "Eve," is coming home to the United States on Monday. The baby is flying into the country with her family, Brigitte Boisselier said Sunday, two days after she announced the child's birth. Dr. Boisselier is chief executive of Clonaid, the cloning company affiliated with a religious sect that believes space aliens launched life on Earth. "The baby is...

The group announced Wednesday that it will play Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve. That will be followed by a three-date set in Hampton, Va., starting Jan. 2. More concerts are expected to be announced later. Phish formed in Vermont in the early '80s and labored in relative obscurity for nearly a decade, slowly building a core audience with its near-constant tours, epic shows and long, experimental jams that melded every type of music, from bluegrass to electronica. Their concerts drew fans worldwide, and they often played before tens of thousands of people. But when the members of Phish...