Free Republic

BASRA, Iraq – A congressional delegation visited the Multi-National Division – South East headquarters in Basra, Iraq, July 21 while on a fact-finding mission during a trip through the area.  Senators Jack Reed, D-R.I., Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., arrived at Basra Air Station on an Air Force C-130. They were escorted by Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commander, Multi-National Corps – Iraq, and Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph R. Allen, command sergeant major, MNC-I.   The senators met with MND-SE leaders and Iraqi Army leaders, Lt. Gen. Mohammad, commander, Basra operations, and Maj. Gen. Aziz, commander, 14th Iraqi Army...

PROVIDENCE — Federal immigration agents and state police raided six Rhode Island courthouses yesterday, arresting dozens of people employed by two contractors hired by the state. The detainees are all believed to be maintenance workers. The raid led to a noisy demonstration by at least 100 people outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office at 200 Dyer St. last night. Police officers arrived as the crowd grew; at one point the police pushed a line of demonstrators across the parking lot. Some in the crowd were relatives of the arrestees. Others included clergy and at least one state representative, Grace...

Reed’s war chest continues to expand PROVIDENCE — While the national media swirls with speculation concerning Sen. Jack Reed’s chances of being Barack Obama’s running mate, Reed continues to pile up the campaign contributions for his reelection run against Republican Bob Tingle.Federal campaign reports for the 90-day period ending June 30 show that Reed harvested another $450,000 in campaign cash to bring his total war chest to $3.8 million.Reed, running for his third term in the Senate, faces a rematch with Republican Bob Tingle of Westerly. Reed crushed Tingle in 2002. Reed is considered by Washington, D.C.-based campaign experts...

Tingle talks tough about politics, conservatism Challeges Jack Reed for U.S. Senate seat   By Ellyn Moran Santiago/The Sun Staff U.S. Senate candidate Republican Robert Tingle   WESTERLY — “I definitely have a chance. It’s race, so I have a chance (to win). Someone has to win. It could be me.” But Robert Tingle, a casino pit boss, isn’t naïve. “Trust me; I know the odds are against me. But it’s not a game. It’s democracy.” The 50-year-old Westerly husband and father of two daughters declared his candidacy against incumbent and long-time Rhode Island Democrat in the U. S....

Warwick police say Texas Roadhouse followed the law when Marcos Riz applied for a job. Target 12 has learned that Riz not only supplied fake documentation, he stole someone identity. Accused rapist Marcos Riz was hired by Warwick restaurant, Texas Roadhouse on Feb. 21st. The chain spokesperson says Riz, who was in the country illegally, was hired as a line cook. The company says Riz provided the required two forms of identification and filled out a federal I-9 form. Warwick police tell Target 12, Riz used a resident alien card or a green card. But, we've learned the card is...

(NaturalNews) A Rhode Island school district has announced a pilot program to monitor student movements by means of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips implanted in their schoolbags.

R.I. Sen. Whitehouse sees silver lining in demise of global-warming bill01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, June 15, 2008 BY JOHN E. MULLIGAN Journal Washington Bureau whitehouse WASHINGTON — The Senate’s global-warming bill, many months in the making, is dead for this congress, but one of the senators involved in preparing it says the work wasn’t wasted. The next president, whether Barack Obama or John McCain, is likely to sign into law a bill, based on the one that faltered last week in the Senate, that is meant to curb the pace of climate change, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said in an...

Rather Steep Learning Curve by: Bethany Stotts, June 12, 2008 Some might have thought that the 2004 election scandal would have ruined the career of Dan Rather. Instead, he was given his own show at HDNet. Now, four years later, Rather’s show, Dan Rather Reports, offers viewers a glimpse into what the former CBS news anchor considers good reporting: not citing sources, overlooking conflicts of interest, and sensationalizing material to promote marxist class-warfare perspectives. All this is touted as news, even when Rather relies solely on anecdotes and ignores publicly-available statistics. “And college admissions also strike at some of the...

DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- A new gambling study shows some Massachusetts residents who have not supported casinos in the past may be changing their minds. "Fifty-seven percent of Massachusetts residents still favor two or more resort casinos in the state of Massachusetts. That number is actually four percent higher than when we last did this poll in September," said Dr. Clyde Barrow, a public policy analyst at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The study was funded by a real estate development firm with land interests in the proposed Palmer and New Bedford casino sites. The research showed that as the state's deficit...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Renewed Attack on Privacy of Gun Buyers   Friday, May 02, 2008   This week, anti-gun U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) registration legislation that would invade the privacy rights of law-abiding gun owners.Cosponsored by like-minded Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Charles Schumer (D-NY), S. 2935 would, among other things, require the FBI to retain records of cleared firearm transactions for at least 180 days.  Current law requires...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Microstamping Bill Sent to House Finance Committee in Rhode Island!   Monday, April 28, 2008   Please Contact the Committee Members Today!  House Bill 7834, the "microstamping" proposal sponsored by State Representatives Joseph Almeida (D-12), Edith Ajello (D-3), Anastasia Williams (D-9), Grace Diaz (D-11), and Joanne Giannini (D-7) has been referred to the House Finance Committee after being pulled from the agenda of the House Judiciary Committee last week.  Sensing a possible lack of support in the Judiciary Committee, typically the panel with expertise on firearms-related legislation, the bill's sponsors had it...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- An energy company has agreed to pay residents of a polluted waterfront neighborhood and to clean up the massive contamination that turned the soil under their homes blue, lawyers for the neighbors said Wednesday, though the company said a deal had not been reached. Attorneys Robert McConnell and Mark Roberts, who represent nearly 100 property owners, told The Associated Press they reached a tentative settlement with Southern Union Co., but said the terms were sealed so they would not discuss details. Jonathan Gasthalter, a spokesman for Houston-based Southern Union, said the case had not been resolved. The...

PROVIDENCE — The General Assembly this week heard testimony on 17 immigration bills. Just one of them is expected to move forward. The proposal calls for all employers to electronically verify the citizenship status of new employment Supporters say it tones down the rhetoric and offers a reasonable compromise to the fierce debate that has engulfed Rhode Island politics for two weeks. Critics say it takes Governor Carcieri’s recent executive order a step further, setting a dangerous precedent for immigration policy in this state. The plan would mandate all Rhode Island employers with three or more workers to confirm through...

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. - Illegal immigrants living in New Bedford and Fall River said they're scared to cross into Rhode Island, following Gov. Don Carcieri's enforcement of immigration laws. Under the governor's executive order, Rhode Island State Police have been directed to process immigrants, which could fast track an illegal immigrant's deportation. "Instead of taking a look at the problem, which is a political problem around immigration, having these kinds of executive orders by scapegoating the immigrants just drives more people underground and creates a climate of more fear," said Corinn Williams, who works with immigrants in New Bedford. Advocates...

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NSSF has identified increased anti-gun movement at the state level nationwide, most notably seen in legislation to require bullet serialization in Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Washington. Track all of these bills.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Linking the presence of undocumented workers to Rhode Island’s financial woes, Gov. Don Carcieri signed an executive order that includes a series of steps to combat illegal immigration. The order signed Thursday requires state agencies and companies that do business with the state to verify the legal status of employees. It also directs the Rhode Island State Police and prison and parole officials to more aggressively find and deport illegal immigrants. The Republican governor said he understands that illegal immigrants face hardships — but he does not want them in Rhode Island. "If you’re here illegally, you...

PROVIDENCE — With the nation’s eyes trained on former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s alleged involvement with a prostitute, Rhode Island lawmakers are considering a bill that would close the loophole in this state’s laws that makes prostitution legal if it occurs indoors. The proposed legislation has become something of a perennial bill in recent years, but has never been passed by the General Assembly. This year’s version came before the House Judiciary Committee again last night, where its sponsor, Joanne M. Giannini, D-Providence, argued that extending the state’s misdemeanor prostitution statute to cover indoor activity would make it easier...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here is Bud in Burlington, Indiana. Bud, thanks for waiting, and welcome. CALLER: ... Indiana. Anyway Rush -- RUSH: Wait, what did I say? CALLER: I don't... I couldn't understand, but it was actually communist Bloomington Indiana. So... (silence) Are you still there? RUSH: Yeah, I'm here. CALLER: Anyway, I'd like to really quickly thank you for two things. First off, unlike the so-called moderates who called in yesterday complaining about your recommendation for Republicans voting in Democrat primaries -- RUSH: Yes? CALLER: -- I want to thank you, because I don't know if you're aware of...

With Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's decision to stay in the Democratic race to the bitter end, she has signaled a delegate fight all the way to the party's convention in Denver this August. Both candidates appear in something of a stalemate. Political strategists have concluded that Clinton cannot overcome Sen. Barack Obama's pledged delegate lead by winning additional primaries. And despite his lead in electoral and delegate wins, Obama cannot seal his nomination without the support of the party's superdelegates. Clinton's decision, after winning in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island this week that she would not capitulate has opened up...

ABC News' Teddy Davis and Talal Al-Khatib Report: In one of the most bizarre moments of the 2008 campaign, Obama campaign lawyer Bob Bauer called into a Tuesday night Clinton campaign conference call with reporters. The four and a half minute exchange led to a series of antagonistic questions painting the former first lady's charges of caucus vote tampering as baseless. "I'd be interested to know," said Bauer, "how is this any different from the series of complaints that you've registered against every caucus that you lose?" Listen to the exchange between Bauer and Clinton campaign communications director Howard Wolfson...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Rodman Clinton has won the Democratic primary in Rhode Island.

SAN ANTONIO It took many months and the mockery of "Saturday Night Live" to make it happen, but the lumbering beast that is the press corps finally roused itself from its slumber Monday and greeted Barack Obama with a menacing growl. The day before primaries in Ohio and Texas that could effectively seal the Democratic presidential nomination for him, a smiling Obama strode out to a news conference at a veterans facility here. But the grin was quickly replaced by the surprised look of a man bitten by his own dog. Reporters from the Associated Press and Reuters went after...

TRIBUNE-REVIEW Pa. no longer on the horizon By: Salena Zito It's showtime, folks ... part II. Welcome to a smaller yet more critically important Super Tuesday. Today has become the focus for the Democrats in a political season that has seen the primary contest maps redrawn in a way no pundit could have ever predicted. In an interview last week, Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean told the Tribune-Review that he never would have predicted that the primary season would have gone on this long. In fact, Dean said he thought it would have been decided before the first Super...

Rove a big draw with youth By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Monday, March 3, 2008 Karl Rove suspects some members of the sold-out crowd coming to see him tonight at the University of Pittsburgh might only be interested in seeing if he has horns and a tail. "I always get the occasional lunatic ranting and raving, but most people want to hear what I have to say and want to ask questions," the former deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to President George W. Bush said Sunday. "That is when we get engaged in a dialogue about things they want...

I think Rush is right on this one, the Democrats and media chose our candidate for us so we ended up with McCain. Now we have a chance to have influence on theirs. If Clinton loses all 4 primaries Conservatives would be ha. I like Obama more but that is because he is a likeable person but he seems to have radical friends with the Weather Underground Bill Ayers, Pastor "Farrakhan is great" Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, MOVE ON, etc. If Hillary wins the delegate count by a slight margin today her superdelegates stay with her and Pennsylvania which is...

There seems to be an inherent inconsistency in how radio host Rush Limbaugh is analyzing Hillary Clinton's chances for election.On his radio show, he is urging his listeners to vote for her in tomorrow's primaries. Limbaugh claims to be doing this because he thinks that the longer Clinton stays in the race, the more she'll damage Obama and the party, thereby increasing the chances of a Republican victory in November.This, however, is contradicted by his statements about how resilient a candidate Mrs. Clinton would be. For example, today he stated that "these Clintons are like cockroaches. They'll be the last...

Ohio at heart of Clinton strategy By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, March 2, 2008 DAYTON, Ohio -- Retired trucker James Russell says Hillary Clinton is going to win this state's Democratic primary Tuesday because she has God and Ohio on her side. "We are her guardian angels," Russell, 67, said last week after Bill Clinton's speech at Stebbins High School in Riverside, a Dayton suburb. "I hate to spout off, but I think God will straighten this all out for her and she will win here and in November." Divine intervention might be what the Clinton

Supporters of Senator Barack Obama have suggested Senator Hillary Clinton bow out of the presidential nominating race if she doesn’t win in two big-state primary contests on Tuesday. Influential Democrats have said they need to put together a unifying campaign for the presidential election in November. Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont hold primary contests on Tuesday, and Clinton, having lost 11 straight contests, needs to win either Texas or Ohio. Clinton, will have to dramatically exceed the results predicted by polls, which now show Texas sentiment as virtually even. Ohio voters tend to narrowly favour Clinton. In the smaller...

The GATHERING OF EAGLES, a patriotic organization whose goal is to publicly support our men and women in uniform, whether active duty or veteran, announces our whole hearted participation with the New Haven GUARDIAN ANGELS in an upcoming rally at the Vietnam and Korean War memorial The Vietnam and Korean War Memorial Walls in New Haven, CT have been desecrated on three separate occasions. It is believed to have been done by Illegal Alien gangs including - but not necessarily limited to - the MS-13 criminal gang organization due to the messages that were scrawled upon the face of these...

The Honorable John McCain John McCain 2008 P.O. Box 16118 Arlington, VA, 22215 Dear Senator McCain: It's been my pleasure sharing the stage with you this past year, as we have worked to promote our ideas to lead this county. I have the deepest respect for you as a person, politician, and an American hero – and I appreciate the way you have run such an issue-based, positive campaign. Now that the race for the Republican nomination is down to just the two of us, I believe this is the time for a real discussion about our vision for the...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – On Saturday, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton showed her angry side, admonishing Senator Barack Obama for a campaign mailing that she called misleading. On Sunday, before a rally of several thousand, she added a heavy dose of sarcasm. “Now I could stand up here and say, let’s get everybody together, let’s get unified the sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing,” she said, to a smattering of giggles. “And everyone will know we should do the right thing, and the world will be perfect.”

Don't count Clinton out By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, February 24, 2008 The first rule of politics is, "Never count out the Clintons." Their political conglomerate, Clinton Inc., is like Glenn Close in that bathtub scene in the movie "Fatal Attraction": They always come back to life a second or third time.

I’m a Democrat married to a Republican. What can I say? Love can sidetrack a person. Still, it did not feel good when I told myself: I love a Republican. It felt, in fact, like I had betrayed someone. Or many people. When a friend and I were hosts to a John Kerry fund-raiser, she breezily talked about having Lorne and her husband pick up the wine and gather signatures. I swallowed hard. “Lorne isn’t coming.” “Is he out of town that night?” she asked, her face so innocent and open. I shook my head, avoiding her gaze. “He’s not...

Former Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee is endorsing Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. The Rhode Islander told The Associated Press he is endorsing Obama in a conference call Thursday. Chafee left the Republican Party last year and became an independent. He was one of the Senate's most liberal Republicans before he lost his seat in 2006 to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse.

Clinton plays for keeps TRIBUNE-REVIEW BY Salena Zito Yes, poll numbers are slipping away from Hillary Clinton and shifting toward Barack Obama. And if former presidential campaign manager for Bill Clinton David Wilhelm is an indicator of things to come, super-delegate support is being peeled away as well. Yet with all of that going against the junior senator from New York, it would be unwise to count her out just yet, or ever. Because as dodgy as things may get for Clinton, she is not one to give up -- even when facing a 10-game losing streak from contests that...

Rhode Island is considering making English the official language and penalizing business owners who hire illegal workers and landlords who rent to them. The state, where many residents are the children or grandchildren of immigrants, has a troubled economy and a potential $550 million budget shortfall, The Boston Globe reports. Legislators and the governor see services for immigrants, including health care for their children, as a needless expense. Advocates of a crackdown, like state Sen. Christopher Maselli, sponsor of a bill that would make hiring or renting to illegal immigrants a crime, say they are only opposed to those who...

PROVIDENCE - Rhode Island, facing a budget crisis that will lead to massive cutbacks, is engulfed in the most intense battle over illegal immigration in New England, with Republicans and Democrats alike calling for a crackdown on unauthorized workers. In the past few weeks, state lawmakers and the governor have proposed a battery of measures targeting unauthorized workers, from expelling undocumented children from the state's healthcare system to making English the official language to jailing business owners and landlords who harbor illegal workers. Even the father of the state's first baby born in the New Year was caught up in...

At RWU (Roger Williams University), Lou Dobbs repeats tough stance on immigrants 01:00 AM EST on Friday, February 1, 2008 By Alex Kuffner Journal Staff Writer The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez BRISTOL — No, Lou Dobbs did not announce his candidacy for the presidency during a speech at Roger Williams University last night. Despite an audience member holding up a “Lou Dobbs for President” sign, despite the CNN anchorman’s own call for an independent candidate and despite a reference from the university’s leader to an Internet campaign urging Dobbs to throw his name in the ring, he...

No Evaluation Left Behind by: Louisa Tavis, January 24, 2008 The Education Sector’s January 8 panel discussion regarding public education’s inadequate measurement of teacher performance featured an array of leading national experts on the subject, including Chris Cerf of the New York City Department of Education, Robert Rothman of Brown University, and Education Sector's Thomas Toch. The panel was moderated by Elena Silva, a senior policy analyst at Education Sector. The panelists uniformly stressed the beneficial effects that proper teacher evaluation can exert on the conditions of United States public schools. Its focus on the educational enterprise’s core—that is, the...

East News Deported Illegal Immigrant Returns To R.I. for $30K Injury Settlement January 16, 2008 An illegal immigrant from Mexico has won $30,000 in a settlement with his former Rhode Island employer after accidentally injuring himself with a chain saw. Edgar Velasquez, who worked for a tree service company in Warwick, was chopping tree branches on March 31, 2006, when he accidentally slashed his face, slicing his nose, eyelid and forehead. He underwent surgery but still has trouble closing his left eye. Velasquez sued William Gorman Jr., his former boss and owner of Billy G's Tree Care, seeking compensation for...

PAWTUCKET — Racism and xenophobia are contributing to a Rhode Island social climate in which immigrants are regarded as the villains, speakers at a pro-immigration rally said yesterday. “We build walls for people who have to leave their country for economic reasons,” said Gladys Gould of the Providence Presbyterian Church, one of a number of organizations that took part in “Unite for Fairness,” held at the Pawtucket Visitors Center. “You don’t see them going after the Irish. The difference is, the police will stop us because of the way we look. It is all about race,” said Gould, a native...

Somewhere across the country, a Hillary staffer is having a breakdown ... private healthcare offered directly from doctors? This is going backwards for the universal healthcare nuts. We need more government, not less! But now we have this program in Rhode Island called HealthAccessRI. http://www.projo.com/news/content/HEALTH_ACCESS_01-17-08_7A8L2NU_v19.24317c9.html You pay $30 for a "membership" in a primary care doctor's practice and you get 24-hour telephone access, sick visits, well child care, check-ups, school and sports physicals, family planning and yearly physicals. Each office visit is just $10. Thirty dollars! That's less than a cell phone bill or one tank of gas. Now this...

Albert Jordan, 21, isn’t one to hold back, especially when he describes what it’s like being a soldier in Iraq. “It sucks…It’s definitely an experience, but it sucks being in Iraq,” said Jordan, a U.S. Army Specialist, during an interview with the Beacon, a day after returning home from his first tour of duty. “At first it’s kind of exciting because you’re doing different things. You’re doing what you see in video games, but then a couple of IED’s [improvised explosive devices] go off or a couple of bullets go by your head and you go, ‘Whoa, what is this...

Fred Thompson Receives Endorsement of Rhode Island Right to Life State's National Right to Life Affiliate Supporting ThompsonContact: Press Office, 571-730-1010; www.Fred08.comMC LEAN, Va., Jan. 11 /Standard Newswire/ -- Today the Rhode Island Right to Life Federal PAC endorsed Senator Fred Thompson for President."The RI Right to Life Federal PAC will do all it can to assist in the nomination of Fred Thompson for President," said Rita Parquette, Executive Director of Rhode Island Right to Life.  "Fred Thompson will do everything he can to protect the lives of the unborn, the elderly, the disabled and the sick if he becomes the next...

ACLU Criticizes Plan to Electronically Track Middletown StudentsMonday, January 07, 2008 PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A civil liberties group is criticizing a plan in Middletown to track the movements of elementary school students by attaching computer chips to their backpacks. The Rhode Island chapter of the ACLU says the pilot program to track students from the Aquidneck School when they're riding the bus to and from school raises enormous privacy and security concerns. A similar proposal in Northern California was abandoned after protests by parents and privacy advocates. Superintendent Rosemarie Kraeger says the program will be in place January 17 and...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The father of Rhode Island's first baby of 2008 faces deportation after being arrested for violating immigration laws, while his roommate, also an illegal immigrant, was found dead of a suspected suicide hours after the arrest. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Mynor Montufar at his apartment Friday after local newspapers and television stations showed him and Carmen Marrero as parents of the first baby born in the state after the new year rolled in, officials said. ICE spokeswoman Paula Grenier said the timing of Montufar's arrest was coincidental to the publicity surrounding his child. Another man...

<p>In one of the shortest session in its history, the Senate's final session of the year lasted a total of 12 seconds Monday.</p> <p>Only one senator, Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island, was in the chamber to gavel open the Senate and adjourn it until January 3.</p>

An upset in Newport: Coaty defeats Cicilline in House race01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, December 19, 2007By Richard Salit Journal Staff WriterCharlie Berluti and Teresa Sullivan check in a voter at Carey School, in Newport’s 3rd Ward, yesterday. Political newcomer Steven J. Coaty, a Republican, defeated longtime Democrat figure J. Clement “Bud” Cicilline to win the Dist. 75 House seat.The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires NEWPORT — In yesterday’s special election to fill the vacant House seat of the late Paul W. Crowley, Republican Steven J. Coaty, a lawyer making his first bid for public office in Rhode Island,...