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JERUSALEM — Israel, tiny and bereft of oil, has decided to embrace the electric car. On Monday, the Israeli government will announce its support for a broad effort to promote the use of electric cars, embracing a joint venture between an American-Israeli entrepreneur and Renault and its partner, Nissan Motor Company.

KIRKUK, Iraq, Aug. 17, 2007 – Twin sisters and fellow Army Spcs. Sarah and Angela Andrews helped promote their brother, Ryan McCarty, to sergeant here earlier this month. Ryan McCarty (right), of 2nd Squadron, 6th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, gets pinned with sergeant rank by his twin sisters, Spcs. Sarah (center) and Angela Andrews (left), both soldiers with 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, at Forward Operating Base Warrior, in Kirkuk, Iraq, Aug. 10. McCarty’s sisters traveled from Forward Operating Base Warhorse, in Baqubah, for the event and brief family reunion. Photo by Sgt. Mike Alberts, USA  (Click...

WASHINGTON -- The Democratic leaders of California's state legislature told congressional lawmakers Thursday that the nation should follow California's lead in acting to curb global warming emissions. "This wasn't easy to do in California, it was tough," Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, testified before a Senate committee hearing, saying Congress shouldn't wait for other countries to act. "If we wait for them to act and don't play a central role at the global level, as a nation there's a lot to lose," said Nunez. Nunez and state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata appeared before a hearing of the...

When it comes to Iraq, our media have been preoccupied with the issue of whether there was adequate intelligence to justify the invasion and if policy-makers made up evidence before the war. But on the matter of global intervention to stop global warming, there seems to be no need for scientific evidence to justify what is shaping up as a global carbon tax of 35 cents a gallon of gas on the American people. It's difficult to figure out which is the bigger fraud-the U.N. or our media. Incredibly, the much-publicized United Nations climate change report, which blames global warming...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2007 – Coalition representatives met Jan. 12 with members of the newly formed Khost Reform Association at a forward base in Khost province, Afghanistan, to discuss the group’s focus on national unity and reconstruction. The association was formed in November 2006, founded by retired military commanders, university professors and former provincial governor. Its goal is to increase cooperation, education and reconstruction throughout Khost province. Association officials said the organization will accept people from any religious or ethnic background, as long as they support democracy, desire to help reconstruct Afghanistan and do not participate in terrorist, antigovernment...

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, drawing on his beliefs about fitness and personal responsibility, will make breaking the poor health habits of Californians a component of his much-anticipated health care agenda. From too much junk food and too little exercise to missed doctor visits, Schwarzenegger wants to get serious about shaping up California. Although debate continues internally about how the administration would encourage participation, officials said Friday that Schwarzenegger wants his health care agenda to address not just cost and coverage issues but also disease prevention. "The governor has always been a firm believer that at the core of solving...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2006 -- Ask any member of the Young Marines and they’ll tell you their organization instructs young people how be responsible, drug-free, citizens. Marine Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, strategic plans and policy director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, left, visits with Young Marines at their information booth in the Pentagon concourse Oct. 23. Photo by Gerry J. Gilmore  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Established in 1958, the Young Marines is a nonprofit youth organization that teaches young people from ages 8 to 18 how to gain self-confidence and be responsible, group spokesman Roberto...

The California Republican Party has raised $12.3 million this year, most of it in unlimited donations, according to campaign finance reports reviewed Tuesday. That is nearly twice what the Democratic Party has raised this year, although Democrats still have more in their bank account heading into the November general election. As of June 30, the Republican Party had $3 million cash on hand, while the Democrats had $9 million. That includes money the party raised in previous years. The Democrat's total will rise after a fundraiser scheduled Tuesday night in Beverly Hills with President Bill Clinton. The event is expected...

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2006 – Nine seemingly coordinated attacks yesterday in Kirkuk, Iraq, demonstrate that enemy forces haven't given up their efforts to derail the new Iraqi government, a top military official said here today. The attacks "indicate that there are still cells of hardened, lethal and merciless individuals who do not hesitate to kill innocent civilians in an effort to undermine the legitimate government of Iraq," Army Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, the Joint Staff's deputy director for regional operations, told Pentagon reporters. The attacks killed three Iraqi policemen and at least 11 Iraqi civilians, and wounded seven police and...

WASHINGTON, May 26, 2006 – The 91 countries in U.S European Command's area of responsibility represent a vast breadth of culture and geography, yet the command's mission is the same throughout: supporting the Long War and creating conditions hospitable to democracy and stability. Though no combat zones are within European Command's boundaries, the command is doing its part in supporting the global war on terrorism, new EUCOM deputy commander Army Gen. William E. "Kip" Ward said in an interview yesterday. "Assigned forces of the United States European Command are involved globally in prosecuting this long war. Our forces are serving...

ATLANTA - Timothy "Bud" Badyna has broken world records. He ran a marathon in under four hours. He finished a 10K race in 45 minutes. Wait a minute, you say, that's not so fast. Right. But Badyna set those records running backward. Badyna, dubbed "Backwards Bud" by fellow runners, holds the Guinness World Record for fastest backward run in a 200-meter race (32.78 seconds), set in 2001. In the early 1990s, he held the record for backward marathon (3 hours, 53 minutes) and 10K (45 minutes, 37 seconds). Those records have since been broken. So the 39-year-old hospital nurse from...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a bipartisan delegation of legislative leaders flew around the state yesterday to promote the $37.3 billion public works bond package approved last week for the November ballot. “When I ran for governor, people always said it would be impossible to bring Democrats and Republicans together,” the Republican governor told an airport news conference in San Diego. “But we've proven again that we can come together.” Schwarzenegger highlighted school construction money that would go to San Diego if the education component of the package is approved in the November election. “For San Diego, this means that for...

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2006 – The best way for the American people to promote freedom and liberty around the world is to stand behind the U.S. armed forces, President Bush told a group yesterday at the City Club of Cleveland. Bush said it's his responsibility as president to ensure the public understands why the United States is waging the war on terror and why it's important to stay the course. "And so I will continue making the case. ... But the best way you can help is to support our troops," he told a questioner in the audience at the...

On October 24, 2004, Arabic websites Middle East Transparent[1] and Elaph[2] posted a petition from Arab liberals to United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan and the Security Council. Written primarily by the Tunisian intellectual Lafif Lakhdar, the petition calls for an international treaty banning the use of religion to incite violence. The Saudi newspaper Arab News reported that, within a week of the petition's posting, over 2,500 Muslim intellectuals from twenty-three countries had signed the petition.[3]Shakir al-Nabulsi, a Jordanian academic and one of the signatories, noted that "There are individuals in the Muslim world who pose as clerics and issue death...

http://netwmd.com/articles/article890.html After a first term marked by schizophrenic Iran policy initiatives, the Bush White House will soon develop a coordinated policy to promote peaceful regime change in Iran. The Bush administration is heartened by the apparent success of the Iraqi election and believes that Iranians are ready to exert their democratic rights. Bush policy is motivated by the grave and growing threat from the Islamic Republic's nuclear weapons program, and the realization that neither Iran nor the European Union are sincere in preventing Iran's acquisition of nuclear weaponry. The Islamic Republic's potential threat to American security emanates from Tehran's determination...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Fruit, vegetable and nut farmers in California and nationwide will get $54 million under legislation approved by Congress to promote their products through research, technological improvements, advertising and other methods. The Specialty Crop Competitiveness Act of 2004 won Senate passage in the final hours of the 108th Congress Tuesday night. It had earlier passed the House and now goes to President Bush for his signature. "As globalization of our markets for specialty crops continues, it is exceedingly challenging for U.S. growers to compete in this heavily subsidized arena with foreign producers," said Matt McInerney, executive vice president...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Gal Luft is executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security in Washington, D.C. He is a specialist on strategic issues and energy policy with a PhD in strategic studies from Johns Hopkins University. A former lieutenant colonel in the Israel Defense Forces, his writings have appeared in Commentary, Foreign Affairs, the Los Angeles Times, Middle East Review of International Affairs, the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Mr. Luft addressed the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia on October 27, 2004. Introduction In both World War Two and the Cold War, the side best deploying scientific...

9/11 panel Dems promote own agendas Sunday, June 27, 2004 WASHINGTON -- Created and funded by the Congress and empowered by the president, the 9/11 commission, despite being called "bipartisan," has created a life for itself that will encroach on the fall elections. Formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, and "officially" neutral, many of the 10 commissioners are concerned with their own agendas and the goals of the Democratic Party rather than with discovering facts. Here's Jamie! And, then we have Jamie Gorelick, appointed by Bill Clinton to act as Janet Reno's brain...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - If anyone deserves a quiet retirement it's Dolores Huerta, but the co-founder of the United Farm Workers, who raised 11 children even as she led marches and strikes that repeatedly put her in hospitals and jails, isn't slowing down. She re-learned how to walk in time to march on Sacramento last year after a near-fatal aneurism left her incapacitated. And now she's giving away a $100,000 award she recently received for her lifetime of service, to launch a new foundation in her name.

WASHINGTON – Concerned Women for America (CWA) criticized Planned Parenthood’s abuse of Christmas by its hawking an offensive version of a Christmas card that reads “Choice on Earth,” instead of “Peace on Earth.” “Planned Parenthood, a giant organization that receives hundreds of millions of tax dollars, has chosen to profit from a day sacred to Christians by offending them. The group twists a well-known Scripture in which God offers peace on earth – not abortion – through the birth of His Son Jesus Christ. Planned Parenthood officials are too hardened by their mission of profiting from abortion to see that...