Free Republic

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2009 – Afghan and coalition forces killed 36 enemy fighters and detained eight suspects in operations in Afghanistan today and yesterday, military officials reported. In operations today: -- Afghan forces, with a small contingent of coalition forces, killed a man who engaged them during the clearance portion of an operation in the Marah Warah district of Konar province. The operation’s goal was to disrupt bombing and foreign-fighter networks near Afghanistan’s eastern border. Three suspected militants were detained. The force destroyed weapons and bomb-making materials found at the site and protected six women and six children during the...

SAN FRANCISCO -- An immigrant suspected of being in the United States illegally - freed after being shielded from possible deportation by San Francisco officials despite committing two gang-related assaults as a juvenile - faces charges that he tried to stab a man to death last year in San Mateo County, authorities say. The case of Eric Antonio Uc-Cahun, now 19, a native of Mexico, is the second in which a youthful offender protected from deportation in San Francisco has later been arrested for a violent crime as an adult. The San Mateo County stabbing was especially vicious, authorities said...

Yelling homophobic or racist names is free speech protected by the Oregon Constitution if the insults don't lead to violence. In a unanimous ruling...The Associated Press PORTLAND — Yelling homophobic or racist names is free speech protected by the Oregon Constitution if the insults don't lead to violence.

BIGFOOT, the legendary hairy man-beast said to roam the wildernesses of North America, is so rare it risks extinction and should be protected, according to a slightly confused Canadian MP. "The debate over their existence is moot in the circumstance of their tenuous hold on merely existing," reads a petition presented by Mike Lake to Parliament. "Therefore, the petitioners request the House of Commons to establish . . . legislation to affect immediate protection of Bigfoot."

Aided by a governor who has promised to preserve the coast, California is expanding its network of areas where fishing and other marine harvesting are banned or restricted. The idea is to better safeguard the diversity and abundance of marine life by limiting those activities in key habitats such as lagoons, bays, kelp forests, rocky reefs and the edges of marine canyons. California already has 80 “marine protected areas” covering about 4 percent of state waters, but scientists agree that most of those sites are too small to help depleted species rebound. “No other state in the Union has done...

Sexual Assaults Took Place In August 2005A gunman who sexually assaulted two transsexuals and a transvestite last summer was sentenced on Friday afternoon to 206 years to life in prison. In April, a judge found Joel Kuechmann guilty of multiple charges, including rape by a foreign object, forced oral copulation and possession of a firearm. He will also be sentenced for dissuading a witness from reporting a crime. Prosecutor Dwayne Moring said he was satistifed with the verdict. "I'm pleased with the verdict, because in this case, the defendant preyed upon individuals who he believed would be too frightened to...

WASHINGTON, July 19, 2006 – Extremists in Afghanistan attacked coalition forces from a religious site yesterday, and targeted several civilian areas this week, including a bridge, a school and a wedding party, military officials in Afghanistan reported. Extremists began firing on coalition forces in the village of Nowzad in Helmand province yesterday. The sniper fire came from the direction of a religious shrine. There were no reported injuries to coalition forces or damage to equipment. In a separate incident in Kandahar province, a supply convoy received small-arms fire from a nearby mosque. While there were no casualties in this incident,...

The Statistics on Homosexuality and its Effects Catholic Apologetics International http://www.catholicintl.com/news/news.htm Some statistics about the Homosexual lifestyle: * One study reports 70% of homosexuals admitting to having sex only one time with over 50% of their partners (3) * One study reports that the average homosexual has between 20 and 106 partners per year (6). The average heterosexual has 8 partners in a lifetime * Many homosexual sexual encounters occur while drunk, high on drugs, or in an orgy setting (7) * Many homosexuals don't pay heed to warnings of their lifestyles: "Knowledge of health guidelines was quite high, but...

Redesign yields heavily protected Freedom Tower Last modified Thursday, June 30, 2005 12:27 PM PDT This artist rendering shows a night view from Hudson River of the updated design for the 'Freedom Tower' for the World Trade Center Site in New York, unveiled on June 29, 2005. The centerpiece building was redesigned due to security concerns presented by the New York Police Department. (Reuters - Handout) NEW YORK (AP) — Hurriedly redesigned to make it less vulnerable to a truck bomb, ground zero's Freedom Tower will lose its distinctive, twisting look but will be the safest skyscraper in the world,...

The Governor's state-of-the-state address caused quite a stir. Most Republicans were happy, most Democrats were angry, and the media -- whose impossible job for four years was to make Gray Davis look interesting -- loved it. From their perspective, Arnold has issued a declaration of war and, if nothing else, war is interesting. For California taxpayers, the substance of Schwarzenegger's speech was "A-plus" material. Sure, the reiteration of his "no tax" pledge was the centerpiece, but this time we saw something new. The entire theme of his address was that now is the time to stop ignoring the structural problems...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said Friday it will allow developers to complete construction and other projects even after belated discoveries that the work could endanger protected species. The new rules from the Interior Department's Fish and Wildlife Service restore a Clinton-era initiative known as "no surprises." It will let federal agencies give blanket assurances to home builders, timber and mining companies and other developers that they won't have unforeseen requirements to protect rare species once a project has begun. A federal judge had blocked the rules last June, telling the government it needed to hear more ideas from the...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Federal wildlife officials agreed to grant protection to the California tiger salamander and its habitat, handing a major victory to conservationists but angering farmers and real estate developers. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Monday it will list the salamander as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act - a designation that makes it unlawful to harm the salamander and restricts development in its habitat, which is primarily found in the Central Valley, Central Coast and San Francisco Bay area. "It's a huge conservation milestone because we're protecting one of California's most imperiled...

<p>CARPINTERIA -- Admitting he'd known little about the issue before running for governor, Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger touted his plans for the environment Sunday by pledging to cut air pollution in half and reduce energy use by 20 percent in five to eight years.</p>