Free Republic

After showing an image of the sign "To Gaza with Love" from one of the boats of a flotilla planning to challenge the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, Saturday’s CBS Evening News showed a report highlighting the allegedly nonviolent intentions of American activists on board one of the ships - named "The Audacity of Hope" - without noting that, during last year’s anti-Israel flotilla trip, some activists attacked Israeli troops as they attempted to board. CBS correspondent Barry Peterson merely recounted that Israeli troops killed some of the activists without explaining why: Last year, boats ran the blockade. Israeli...

SYDNEY: Changing colours of palette entails endless showers for an Australian artist - because she prefers to paint with her breasts. But Di Peel, a mother of two, is producing what the market wants. Unlike recent winners of prestigious Turner Prize for modern art, Peel's works can do what paintings traditionally are supposed to do and brighten up a bare wall. Her first canvas sold for $10, her second for $26 and currently she's busy with an order for 10 at a princely $89 each. Peel, from Tasmania, freely admits that her chosen method doesn't allow much detail. "They are...

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Kevin Shelley bent rules, missed deadlines and failed to do proper paperwork as he spent millions of dollars in federal election money, state Auditor Elaine Howle told a legislative committee conducting its first hearing Monday to investigate the embattled state elections official. Howle meticulously told the Joint Legislative Audit Committee that Shelley's management failures, which also included the questionable use of federal money, added up to "disregard for proper controls and poor oversight" of money given California to modernize its voting systems. But a representative of Shelley's office testified under oath that much of the...

<p>The cost of workers' compensation insurance, health care and employee recruitment -- along with burdensome laws and regulations -- are making life miserable for many Silicon Valley firms, according to a survey to be unveiled during Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's San Jose visit Thursday.</p>