Free Republic

Unattended pianos in public places are magnetic. Whether it’s an artistically painted piano sitting on a city sidewalk, a standard upright at a school or a grand in a ritzy hotel, the instrument calls to people. In many cases, the people drawn to the keys sadly have little skill, but occasionally someone who clearly knows what they’re doing will show up and answer the siren song of the waiting piano. On Saturday, July 11, it was a small model waiting patiently for a new owner at “ReMARKable Cleanouts,” an antique store and auction house in Norwood, Massachusetts, that grabbed the...

CAMBRIDGE, England – The papers spent years hidden in a milk churn beneath a Russian dacha and read like an encyclopedia of Cold War espionage. Original documents from one of the biggest intelligence leaks in history — a who's who of Soviet spying — were released Monday after being held in secret for two decades.

HOUSTON – A Houston woman who says she is pregnant with Arian Foster’s baby is taking the Texans running back to court. Brittany Norwood, a 20-year-old University of Houston senior, says Foster has been pressuring her to get an abortion. Norwood claims she didn’t know Foster was married with children when she had sex with him last summer. She said they were first intimate at Hotel ZaZa where Foster was staying during training camp. Norwood said they also spent a week together in California in November while Foster was recovering from back surgery. Norwood sold photos of them together in...

Drivers leaving the newly opened Intercounty Connector at Exit 10 for Layhill Road have a choice listed on the big, green overhead sign: They can head south onto Layhill to go to Glenmont or travel north to go to Norwood. Norwood? “Anybody who’s lived here any length of time would say, ‘Norwood? Where’s Norwood?’ ” said Elizabeth Hartge, a lifelong resident of the area whose great-great-grandfather built the family homestead in 1855. Even local history buffs are stumped. “I wouldn’t know to call it Norwood,” said Cathy Case, interim director at the nearby Sandy Spring Museum and a resident of the...

The Fulton County Board of Elections has certified election results that make former state Sen. Kasim Reed Atlanta's mayor-elect. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the board certified Tuesday's election result at about 12:25 p.m. Saturday, officially declaring Reed the winner. With 84,383 votes cast, Reed beat city councilwoman Mary Norwood by 715 votes, or 0.84 percent. State law says a candidate who loses by less than 1 percent of the vote can request a recount.

ATLANTA – Former state Sen. Kasim Reed appears to have edged out Councilwoman Mary Norwood in a hotly-contested race for Atlanta mayor. But, Norwood did not concede and could still call for a recount as Reed appears to have won by 758 votes. According to the Fulton County elections Web site, Reed garnered 41,901 votes to Norwood’s 41,143 votes. Reed and Norwood faced off in Tuesday’s runoff election after neither candidate received 50 percent of the vote during the Nov. 3 election.

While America is supposedly now "post-racial", the city of Atlanta has a way to go to catch up. It would appear a "memo" has surfaced, advising the black community to unite behind one black mayoral candidate. Again, imagine the "stupidly" judgment indictments had this been the other way around.

Republican U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood of Georgia has died after a long battle with cancer, his office announced today. He was 65.

The Talk Shows Sunday, May 21st, 2006 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Rice; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; and Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; and Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. THIS WEEK (ABC): Gonzales; former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.; "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh. LATE EDITION (CNN) : Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert; Australian Prime Minister John Howard; Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Zalmay Khalilzad,...

Sen. Charlie Norwood (R-GA) commented on illegal immigration: The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. NORWOOD. Mr. Speaker, there was a very subtle illegal guestworker plan stuck in the budget the administration just submitted to Congress.That budget calls for the United States to allow over one million new illegal immigrants to infiltrate our borders during 2007. As a matter of fact, last year's budget is allowing one million illegal aliens to enter this year as well. That is how many immigrants enter our country...

LONDON (AFP) - Melita Norwood, who passed on secrets to the Soviet Union believed to have helped them speed up development of the atomic bomb, died earlier this month at the age of 93, her daughter said. Anita Ferguson said her mother died on June 2 but declined to comment further. Described as the most important British female agent recruited by the KGB intelligence service, Norwood spied under the codename "Hola" and passed British nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union in the years after World War II. Norwood's activities were finally exposed when KGB archivist Vasili Mitrokhin defected to Britain...

During the Feb.2 State of the Union Address, President Bush acknowledged Pflugerville resident's William and Janet Norwood whose son, Marine Sergeant Byron Norwood, was killed in action last year in Fallujah, Iraq. The lost of Sgt. Norwood deeply touched members of the Pflugerville community and more than 1,000 friends and family of Sgt. Norwood attended services honoring him at the Pflugerville High School Fine Arts Center. Late last year a group of citizens began gathering support and searching for a way to memorialize Sgt. Norwood's sacrifice for his country. "Although our town is obviously appreciative and respectful of the sacrifices...

This is a poem being circulated amongst a group of Marine Moms. It was written by Janet Norwood. She is the woman who, along with her husband, attended the State of the Union Address to represent all families of our fallen heros. She and the Iraqi woman hugged during that very touching moment near the end of the speech. Admin, if this is a duplicate, please delete. I searched for it several ways and didn't find anything. For Byron I've heard the words oft times before - that "Freedom isn't Free". But that was long before I knew how they...

PRESIDENT Bush spoke at great length about Social Security reform on Wednesday — but all anybody wants to talk about is The Hug. The president sent a clear message to the potentates of the Middle East that they need to start thinking about liberty — but all that seems to have paled next to The Hug. And why not? The embrace we all witnessed during the State of the Union between the grieving mother of an American soldier killed in action and an Iraqi woman who exercised the franchise for the first time on Sunday was one of the most...

MIDI - CANDLE IN THE WIND We have been so blessed...blessed beyond what we may deserve When people criticize our soldiers...that hits a raw nerve Some people are ungrateful...they believe that freedom is free But without those who've sacrificed we'd live in slavery Byron Norwood's come to symbolize all those men who gave their lives All the men who never came home to their kids and wives For their fam'lies their loss created hearts that are filled with pain And everday we must pray for them...they didn't die in vain We don't welcome war but sometimes there is not...

CNN) -- The fight for border security and immigration-law reform will continue when the new Congress convenes in January. Following the exclusion of key immigration provisions in the intelligence reform bill, Congress has promised to take an immediate look at a plan to institute national driver's license standards. That may renew interest in another stalled proposal: a plan to track down more of the estimated 15 million illegal aliens living in the United States.

The Nod. Perhaps THE turning point in the campaign came at the 9 minute and 45 second mark of Debate Number 3. In what I believe was a calculated attempt to intimidate Bush, Gore walks up to Bush, sticks his hand in his pocket, gets even closer... Bush is in the middle of giving a good response on HMOs, sees Gore, nods, and then ignores him and proceeds with his statement. The audience laughs. IT DIDN'T WORK! Gore knew it. Look at his reaction as he realizes that Naomi Wolf's latest "Alpha Male" ploy didn't work, as he was looking...

More protests filed in Marion elections The race for the state Senate District 30 seat became even more embroiled in controversy Monday. The state Supreme Court was asked to order a runoff election between incumbent Sen. Maggie Glover and challenger Kent Williams. The request from Williams came on the heels of a decision by the S.C. Democratic Party's Executive Committee to throw out the results of the June 8 election and order a new one. The date of a new election would be set by Gov. Mark Sanford, but Sanford said he won't touch the issue until the Supreme Court...

FLORENCE -- State Senate District 30 candidates Kent Williams and Tim Norwood and incumbent Maggie Glover will rerun their campaigns for the seat after state Democratic Party officials early Friday morning ordered a new election be conducted. The order comes amid claims of voting irregularities, two recounts and protests by both Williams and Norwood. Williams was to have faced Glover in a Democratic primary runoff Tuesday after a recount Monday put him seven votes ahead of Norwood. In the original vote certification, Norwood had finished six votes ahead of Williams. Both Williams and Norwood filed protests in the June 8...

Williams wins Senate 30 recount FLORENCE -- Kent Williams will face Sen. Maggie Glover in a runoff election June 22 for the state Senate District 30 seat. The runoff was decided Monday after a mandatory recount. The state Election Commission ordered the recount because there was a difference of less than 1 percent between Williams and Tim Norwood for the second place position in the June 8 Democratic primary. In the original count, Norwood beat Williams by six votes. In Monday's recount, Glover had 6,218 votes, Norwood had 5,765 and Williams had 5,772. Williams filed a protest of the results...