Free Republic

Panel to Revise Alabama Constitution OrganizesReporter: AP Posted: 5:30 AM Sep 1, 2011 MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Former Gov. Albert Brewer is serving as chairman of a new commission suggesting revisions to some articles of Alabama's Constitution. Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh got the Legislature to create the Constitutional Revision Commission, which held its first meeting Wednesday in Montgomery. In addition to choosing Brewer as chairman, commission members picked Republican state Rep. Paul DeMarco of Homewood to be vice chairman. The commission will meet again Sept. 21 in Montgomery to consider changes to the article in the Constitution dealing...

WASHINGTON - The White House said Monday it was revising its proposal for dealing with terrorism suspects as indications grew that President Bush's plan was meeting increased resistance among Republicans in both chambers of Congress. White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino said the administration was sending the new language in hopes of reaching an agreement. A revolt by GOP senators, who have written their own proposal giving terror detainees more rights than the administration wants, has embarrassed the White House at a time when Republicans want to use their security policies as a main platform in November's congressional elections....

Three From Clinton Administration Urge Disney to Cancel or Revise Sept. 11 MiniseriesBy JESSE McKINLEY Published: September 7, 2006 Three members of the Clinton administration have written the chairman of the Walt Disney Company, ABC’s parent, to complain that the network’s coming two-part miniseries “The Path to 9/11” is fraught with factual errors and fabrications. The letters ask that the five-hour movie, scheduled for broadcast Sunday and Monday, be either edited for accuracy or canceled, and ABC gave a small indication yesterday that some changes might be made. One of the officials, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said in...

Even as Latinos in recent weeks have pushed for immigration reform on the streets and over the airwaves, another goal has emerged among a broader immigrant community: Translating street activism into political participation. Latino and Asian civic groups last week reignited voter-registration drives by calling upon the thousands who participated in protests to take their enthusiasm to the ballot box in November. But experts said that if history serves as any guide, short-term gains are likely to be few, while long-term gains will be significant. ‘‘If the next step and what we are seeing in the streets moves toward citizenship,...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE ASADABAD, Afghanistan, April 12, 2006 – Combined Forces Command Afghanistan officials now say seven children died and 34 more were injured - some critically -- when rockets fired by al Qaeda and Taliban extremists operating in the area slammed into the Salabagh Primary School yesterday. Coalition medical staff members race to evacuate five Afghan children to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, for emergency treatment after a rocket hit their school April 11. At least one rocket exploded in the courtyard of the Salabagh Primary School in Asadabad, killing seven children and wounding 34 others. Photo by Pfc....

Katrina sends quake-leery California scrambling to revise emergency plans Wed Sep 28,11:38 AM ET LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The humanitarian debacle spawned by Hurricane Katrina one month ago has badly shaken Californians and sent their leaders scrambling to update plans to cope with a long-feared catastrophic earthquake. Seismic experts warn there is a 62 percent chance of the "big one," measuring at least 6.7 on the Richter Scale, hitting San Francisco and a 70 percent chance of Los Angeles being brought to its knees by a quake with a magnitude of at least 7.2 in the next 30 years. Such...

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) - Maryland's largest school district is scrapping sex education materials that have come under fire for implying that homosexuality is a biological trait and for demonstrating how to put on a condom. The Montgomery County school board voted Monday to rethink its curriculum, weeks after a federal lawsuit was filed by two groups who said it did not do enough to stress abstinence or give opposing views on homosexuality. Gone from the curriculum will be materials that imply homosexuality is a biological trait, excluding viewpoints of those who believe same-sex attraction can be overcome. Also dropped was...

Gov. Schwarzenegger is right: California will never be able to budget rationally as long as Prop. 98 remains the way it is. His proposed changes to the 1988 initiative, which requires generous annual funding for public schools, may not be workable. But he's on solid ground in making the suggestion - and sparking a debate over ways to adjust the measure. The governor has criticized "auto-pilot" spending that keeps increasing even when state revenues slump, and Prop. 98 is the 800-horsepower engine of cruise-control budgeting. Make no mistake, public education should be a top priority for California. The state for...

Shell Beads From South African Cave Show Modern Human Behavior 75,000 Years Ago ARLINGTON, Va.- Perforated shells found at South Africa's Blombos Cave appear to have been strung as beads about 75,000 years ago-making them 30,000 years older than any previously identified personal ornaments. Archaeologists excavating the site on the on the coast of the Indian Ocean discovered 41 shells, all with holes and wear marks in similar positions, in a layer of sediment deposited during the Middle Stone Age (MSA). "The Blombos Cave beads present absolute evidence for perhaps the earliest storage of information outside the human brain,"...

Gorelick Rejected Attempt to Revise 'Wall' Memo By Scott Wheeler CNSNews.com Staff Writer April 29, 2004 (CNSNews.com) - One of America's most prominent federal prosecutors sought changes to the 1995 "wall" memo authored by then-Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick, but most of the concerns expressed by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White over the barriers erected between criminal and counter-intelligence investigations were rejected. Gorelick's "wall" memo was the subject of an April 26 CNSNews.com report, which quoted four sources as saying the memo erected barriers to intelligence-sharing between the FBI and intelligence agencies -- and impeded the investigation of alleged Chinese...