Free Republic

EATONTON, Ga. -- Authorities say an Augusta businessman killed himself after being chased by police in Putnam County. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills says a deputy tried to pull Jay Weinberger over early Saturday morning because he was towing a trailer with an expired tag. Sills says Weinberger eventually pulled over but took off when the deputy approached his car. The car left the road after a short distance, where the deputy found Weinberger dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Sills says the trailer was stolen and police later found several other stolen trailers in Weinberger's possession. Excerpt - more...

PANJSHIR, Afghanistan, April 6, 2009 – For more than eight years, the Afghan government has been building the country from the ground up, using millions of dollars in aid from foreign governments and private groups. Army Sgt. Ramon Guzman, member of the Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team, walks past villagers during a site visit in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley in March 2009. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. James L. Harper Jr.  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. In northern Afghanistan’s Panjshir province, however, progress is not measured merely in dollar signs and projects completed, the members of the Panjshir...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2009 – Coalition forces and members of the U.S. Agency for International Development are continuing their efforts to make Iraq self-sufficient. Amir Abdl al-Jabbar Ismael, left, Iraq’s deputy transportation minister, and Army Col. Todd McCaffrey, commander of the 25th Infantry Division’s 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, sign documents transferring control of Joint Security Station Salmiyat, northwest of Baghdad, to the Transportation Ministry, Feb. 5, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Cory Angell   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Northwest of Baghdad yesterday, coalition forces transitioned control of Joint Security Station Salmiyat, an idle rail and...

RENO, Nev. – Democratic candidate Barack Obama began his closing argument for the presidency Saturday by asking voters to look to the future while Republican rival John McCain continued to attack Obama on taxes. Obama, a senator from Illinois, unveiled a two-minute TV ad that asks, "Will our country be better off four years from now?" "At this defining moment in our history, the question is not, 'Are you better off than you were four years ago?'" Obama says in the ad. "We all know the answer to that." Without mentioning McCain, the ad promotes Obama's economic policies while saying...

started at point of origin on Oct.1996

This is a video using the voices of my grandson, granddaughter and myself singing Soulija Boy, also this is an animated video of a rare Colombian Parakeets called, Perija.

PHOENIX - Sen. John McCain is finding out what the Republican presidential nomination is worth this week. Then he plans to buff his foreign policy credentials, remind the nation of his long military history and try to frame the issues for the November election — in three separate tours while his two Democratic opponents continue to struggle for their party's nomination. "Whenever you're the nominee of your party, I think people will want to re-examine the candidate," the senator said before leaving Arizona following a weekend at home. "I'd like to believe that all 300 million Americans know me, but...

A domestic dispute led to a shooting in Tulsa on Tuesday morning. Now, Tulsa police are investigating whether a woman shot her ex-boyfriend in self-defense. Officers were called to the scene near 1500 East 51st Place North around 8 a.m. Police say the woman said her ex-boyfriend had come by Monday night, slashed her tires, and then beat her. Police say when he came back today, she shot him four times with a .22-caliber handgun. The man drove himself to the hospital and is expected to recover. Police say the woman was also taken to the hospital for her injuries.

A suspect is dead after messing with the wrong person Tuesday morning. North Las Vegas Police say a man tried to carjack a security guard at about 6 in the morning near Gowan and I-15. The intended victim and the suspect got into a shootout. The security guard was taken to the hospital with a minor wound. The suspect was taken to UMC where he later died. Police say the security guard may not face any charges, because it appears he was acting in self defense.

Pizza delivery driver kills attacker in Roswell ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) - Police say a pizza delivery driver in Roswell apparently acted in self-defense in the fatal shooting of a man accused of attacking him. The driver, Dustin Eoff, says he was jumped by three men and beaten with a tire iron as he was getting out of his car to deliver a pizza at a Roswell apartment complex. Police say 25-year-old Jay Brito was shot to death during the struggle. Police say Eoff is not facing any charges because the gun was fired in self-defense. (Copyright 2007 by The Associated...

On the night he shot Austin Bodahl to death, Daniel Kelly was a vulnerable target for three drunken drifters looking to hurt someone, anyone, as they staggered up State Street, Kelly 's attorney said Monday. So when Bodahl, 23, who was five inches taller and 40 pounds heavier than Kelly, fought him on May 22 in the middle of State Street, Kelly did the only thing he could to avoid being more seriously hurt: He fired warning shots into the air, then shot Bodahl, Assistant Public Defender Dennis Burke told a jury, as Kelly 's first-degree reckless homicide trial began...

They are a longtime odd couple, Bill Cosby and Harvard’s Dr. Alvin Poussaint, and their latest campaign is nothing less than an effort to save the soul of black America... ...There is a sense of deep sadness and loss — grief — evident in both men over the tragedy that has befallen so many blacks in America. They were on “Meet the Press” for the entire hour Sunday, talking about their new book, a cri de coeur against the forces of self-sabotage titled, “Come On, People: On the Path From Victims to Victors.” There weren’t many laughs over the course...

MEDFORD, Ore. - High school English teacher Shirley Katz insists she needs to take her pistol with her to work because she fears her ex-husband could show up and try to harm her. She's also worried about a Columbine-style attack. But Katz's district has barred teachers from bringing guns to school, so she is challenging the ban as unlawful, since Oregon is among states that allow people with a permit to carry concealed weapons into public buildings. "This is primarily about my Second Amendment right and Oregon law and the simple fact that I know it is my right to...

One man was killed and another wounded after being shot in Queens late Tuesday by a contractor who told investigators that the men had demanded $20,000 from him and threatened to harm his wife, law enforcement officials said. The contractor, Lulzim Kupi, 42, told investigators he shot the men in self-defense. He was expected to be charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, the police said. One man who was shot, Redinel Dervishaj, 32, was in stable condition at Elmhurst Hospital Center with gunshot wounds to the arm and torso, law enforcement officials said. The other man,...

HORRIFIED diners watched in shock as a maniac sliced off his manhood in a crowded pizza restaurant. The 35-year-old Pole burst into the Zizzi eaterie in central London and grabbed a knife from the kitchen. He then leapt on a table and dropped his trousers as customers fled screaming. A witness said: “There was blood everywhere. Everyone ran out of the place.” Surgeons battling to save the severed willy tried to sew it back on in the first UK op of its kind. Quick-thinking cops recovered the organ from the restaurant floor after subduing its crazed owner with CS gas....

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2007 – Notwithstanding a March 27 terrorist attack that killed and injured scores of Iraqis in Tal Afar, Iraq, coalition officials have recommended that Ninewah province be transferred to Iraqi control next month, a top coalition officer in the province said today. Army Brig. Gen. John Bednarak, deputy commander of Multinational Division North, told reporters via satellite that the Tal Afar tragedy must be balanced with the progress that has taken place in the province as a whole. Tal Afar is due west of the provincial capital of Mosul on one of the main roads into...

**URGENT** **URGENT** **URGENT** VCDL has just learned from our sources on Capitol Hill that the Department of the Interior (DOI) is **livid** over the National Park Service's (NPS) asinine rejection letter sent to VCDL concerning VCDL's Petition for Rule Making! (http://www.vcdl.org/pdf/NPS_Denial_of_VCDL_PRM.pdf) That petition would allow a law-abiding citizen to carry a handgun  for self-defense in a National Park if the state in which the park is located allows such carry. Apparently the National Park Service DID NOT CLEAR that rejection letter with their parent - the Department of the Interior! The Department of Interior had been telling VCDL and key...

(Left) Independent s-bots with blue lights, and (right) s-bots joined into a swarm-bot with red lights. Credit: Groß et al. ©IEEE 2006. In one of the latest studies on autonomous robots, scientists sat back and watched as their robot created itself out of smaller robotic modules. The result, called “swarm-bot,” comes in many varieties, depending on the assigned task and available components. As the current state of the art in autonomous self-assembly, swarm-bots offer insight into the potential versatility and robustness that robots may possess to perform missions beyond human abilities. A project coordinated by Professor Marco Dorigo, which was...

I know FReepers will show restraint.

Father kills 4 children, self after spousal disputeAssociated Press Posted on Wed, Jul. 05, 2006 An undated photo provided by the Gustine Police Department shows twins Alyssa Branscum, 5, left, and Taylor Branscum. The twins and their two other siblings were found dead in their Gustine, Calif., home Tuesday, July 4, 2006, officials said. The children apparently died of gunshots to the head, and their father, Trevor Branscum, 38, died of a self-inflicted wound, Mayor Jim Bonta said. Police Sgt. Vince Inaudi said the children appeared to be sleeping when they were shot. The evidence was consistent with a murder-suicide,...

BRISTOW, Okla. - Serving on the jury in an indecent-exposure trial unfolding in this conservative Oklahoma town has been a giggle-inducing experience. Former Judge Donald D. Thompson, a veteran of 23 years on the bench, is on trial on charges he used a penis pump on himself in the courtroom while sitting in judgment of others. The white-handled sexual device sits before the jury box for hours at a time. Occasionally an attorney picks it up and squeezes the handle, demonstrating the "sh-sh" sound of air rushing through the contraption's plastic tubing. The jurors sometimes exchange awkward looks and break...

Self-medicating sheep shake off the 'stupid' label 10:00 01 May 2006 From New Scientist CAN sick sheep write their own prescriptions? Almost, since it seems that sheep can select the correct medicine to treat a specific ailment. In anecdotal reports, primates have been observed engaging in self-medication by selecting a specific plant when something has made them ill. Now biologists at Utah State University, Logan, have run experiments that show sheep choosing the right drug to cure an illness. Juan Villalba and colleagues gave lambs food and mild poisons - either grains, tannins or oxalic acid - that made them...

An 18-year-old Singaporean student committed suicide last month because he was convinced his penis was too small, a report said on Wednesday. State Coroner Tan Boon Heng said the case highlighted the importance of sex education in schools and recommended the details be forwarded to the education ministry, the Straits Times reported. The teenager, who was not named, jumped from a building on March 3. A suicide note explained why, an investigation to determine the cause of death said. "He said it was not due to the stress of his examination, but it was more about his physical development... He...

Self-destructing comet to flash close by 10:30 24 April 2006 NewScientist.com news service Kimm Groshong Astronomers will soon be treated to a close-up celestial show, with a fragmenting comet streaming across the sky in more than 30 chunks. Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 has been breaking up since 1995, but between 12 and 14 May will come closer to the Earth than any comet since 1983. Fortunately no threat is posed to Earth since, even at its closest, the nearest of the pieces will be twenty times more distant than the Moon. But astronomers around the world will take advantage of the...

3/31/2006 - KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFPN) -- “Service Before Self,” one of the Air Force’s core values, is on the minds of 135 U.S. Air Force Academy cadets who are working during their alternative spring break in areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The project is part of the Cadet Service Learning program which centers on community involvement. “CSL takes this core value from theoretical concepts of the classroom and a training environment,” said Maj. Eric Ecklund, of the academy’s Center for Character Development. “It allows cadets to put it to the test in real situations, meeting the needs...

A domestic dispute Sunday evening left a Moffat County man dead, shot in the chest by his ex-girlfriend's son in an incident police say was justifiable self-defense. Craig Police say Mario Vigil...broke into a home...armed with a .30-30-caliber rifle. The homeowner, whose name has not been released, grabbed a shotgun, shot Vigil once in the chest, and hid in a bedroom with his 9-year-old son... The gunshot wounded Vigil but did not stop him... Vigil shot through the door of the room the homeowner was hiding in and tried to break down the door... The homeowner grabbed another gun, a...

Two women in Orange County, Fla., fought off a suspected carjacker by tackling and then pinning the man to the ground on his stomach until deputies arrived, according to a Local 6 News report.

The suspension of Bill Clinton's law license ends next month. The web page showing his suspension is pasted below - or click the Source link to see the original.

When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted; and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression; when the Federal Republican Constitution of their country, which they have sworn to support, no longer has a substantial existence, and the whole nature of their government has been forcibly changed without their consent, from a restricted federative republic, composed...

Sorry for the vanity but I could not resist speaking to this irony: 1) NARAL's web site comes up with a "tell your senator to oppose this three-eyed, twenty-foot-high firebreathing tentacled dragon monster Roberts", calling him "anti-choice". Yet NARAL's page offers no "choice" to change the message one sends to the senator. Pro-choice, eh? 2) The two top words are "Choose Justice". Justice... From NARAL - executing the most innocent of us in the most brutal manner imagineable. Justice. That word coming from them, unbelievable.

SPRINGFIELD -- Average citizens could carry concealed weapons under two bills that won overwhelming approval in a House committee Tuesday, setting up a rare, full-blown House floor fight over the issue that advocates say will make people safer and critics contend will lead to more gun violence.The move further buttressed the National Rifle Association's strategy to not only blunt Mayor Richard Daley's push for gun-control laws but to take the fight to him with a frontal assault of its own."I'm heartsick," said House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), a major advocate of gun control. The NRA is on a...

NEW YORK (AP) - An FBI informant who was set to be the star prosecution witness in a terror trial until he set himself ablaze outside the White House took the stand for the defense Thursday, saying he had sought $5 million for leading prosecutors to a Yemeni sheik he says gave Osama bin Laden money, arms and fighters. "I deserve that," Mohamed Alanssi said through an Arabic-English interpreter. "After I chase the terrorist and I bring him here to America I deserve even $10 million." Alanssi quickly laid out some of the government's most serious allegations against Sheik Mohammed...

Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in New Jersey: An Islamic Murder of Coptic Christians?.Anyone following the investigation into the mid-January slaughter of the Armanious family (husband, wife, two young daughters), Copts living in Jersey City, N.J., knows who the presumptive suspects are: Islamists furious at a Christian Egyptian immigrant who dares engage in Internet polemics against Islam and who attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity.The authorities, however, have blinded themselves to the extensive circumstantial evidence, insisting that "no facts at this point" substantiate a religious motive for the murders.Somehow, the prosecutor missed that all four members of this...

A Colombian mayor shot himself in the backside while he was on the toilet. Rafael Augusto Galan, Mayor of Ramiquiri, was out on his rounds when he was caught short. He asked to use the toilet of a local shop and disappeared into the back, reports Terra Noticias Populares. A witness said: "All we heard was the noise of a 9mm gun firing!" The mayor's handgun, which he was carrying in his back pocket, had gone off wounding him in the backside. Mayor Galan needed hospital treatment but has made a full recovery.

I’ve been challenged a few times on this blog to defend myself as a “libertarian”. Here’s a quick and incomplete statement of principles that I use to fit myself into that pigeonhole. As a “Jack Libertarian” I’m guessing that I’m in the minority of citizens of the state of Oregon, but I don’t really understand why. It’s probably the case that most people would rather let the experts (preachers, doctors, advertisers, talk show hosts, Ph.Ds, country music stars, gummint bureaucrats, etcetera) make their choices rather than listening to them and making our own choices. Small “L” libertarians are people that...

One day in 1994, Doug Burns was leaving an appointment at Mass General Hospital when he was set upon by a thug standing over 6 feet tall and weighing more than 300 pounds. The criminal first battered Burns and when Burns protested the assault the thug threw a weapon at Burns and then charged Burns. Burns then drew his licensed handgun and shouted at the attacker to stop and then yelled at everyone nearby to call 911. Many calls were then received by 911, telling of the attack and how the victim was holding the criminal at gunpoint. When the...

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- A women's magazine has touched off a firestorm of criticism with an article attacking pregnancy resource centers. The December 2004 edition of SELF magazine carries a two-page article dubbed, "The New Pregnancy Scare: Clinics Run by Antichoice Supporters Are Drawing in More Unsuspecting Women Than Ever." The article accuses pregnancy centers of using coercive tactics with their clients. It's a claim pregnancy center operators have heard before -- and a media-driven myth they hope to dispel. "This article paints such an unfair picture of pregnancy centers," said Kurt Entsminger, president of Care Net, which represents...

More than a year after his death, Aaron Huth continues to haunt those who knew him. His profile on the behemoth six-degrees-of-separation Web site Friendster.com still lets people know that in May of 2003 he was listening to bands like the Birthday Party and the Postal Service and reading Nietzsche. His likes and interests were frozen for posterity on May 26, 2003, the last time he logged into the site. While Huth’s 12 listed Friendster friends haven’t heard from him since May 29, the day he passed away, each time they log on to the site they are simultaneously reminded...

SUMMARY: Boosting people's sense of self-worth has become a national preoccupation. Yet surprisingly, researchshows that such efforts are of little value in fostering academic progress or preventing undesirable behavior. People intuitively recognize the importance of self-esteem to their psychological health, so it isn't particularly remarkable that most of us try to protect and enhance it in ourselves whenever possible. What is remarkable is that attention to self-esteem has become a communal concern, at least for Americans, who see a favorable opinion of oneself as the central psychological source from which all manner of positive outcomes spring. The corollary, that low...

HUDSON - A Catholic priest who used to serve at St. Patrick's Parish in Hudson, Wis. may be connected to the 2002 double murders of Dan O'Connel and James Ellison. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has learned that investigators questioned Father Ryan Erickson, 31, last week at his new Parish in Hurley, Wis. He was found dead Sunday outside that church of an apparent suicide. During the questioning, police took two of his guns, but returned them a couple of days later. Sources tell 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Fr. Erickson hanged himself outside the church. Those sources also say that he left a...

One useful fact all Americans should keep in mind is that they have no "right" to be protected by the police. American police are reactive, not proactive. They don't usually "prevent" crime. They catch lawbreakers after they have committed a crime. This was by design of the Founding Fathers. Because, as we see today with the anti-terrorism laws, in order to "prevent" crime, police would need all sorts of obnoxious powers that would trample all over our rights of life, liberty and property. Instead, Americans were intended to have the means of self defense. Put another way, the Constitution does...

Sheriff: No charge for wife in intruder-husband killing Protective order issued; wife's door forced open EMILY S. ACHENBAUM Staff Writer The Anson County Sheriff's Office will not press charges against a woman who killed her husband Wednesday after weeks of domestic violence against her. Joy Burgess had a protective order against estranged husband Brian Gathings. Gathings had been convicted of threatening Burgess before, and jailed several times for charges of violence against her. But as with other recent domestic violence killings, none of it was enough to keep her safe. When Gathings broke down his wife's back door with a...

SACRAMENTO -- Accused of mismanaging a federal voting-rights program, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley disputed the allegations on Monday and blamed some problems on the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials says Shelley, a San Francisco Democrat, has failed miserably in administering California's Help America Vote Act program. HAVA was passed by Congress in 2002 in the hope of preventing a repeat of Florida's 2000 presidential election debacle. In a letter to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Shelley disputed the charges, though he made no mention of the group or its specific allegations....

When hearing the many platitudes being used by the left these days, I frequently find myself thinking "hey, wait, WE should be saying that about YOU". One such phrase that frequently elicits this response is "Speaking Truth to Power". Now, in the wake of the CBS debacle, it has occurred to me that no event captures the intended meaning of this proverb better than the effect that the Internet Bloggers (take a bow, FR) have had on the power of the liberal media. Rivaling this, perhaps, is the effect that the Swift-Boat Vets had on the Kerry campaign. Anyway, getting...

As Democratic hopeful John Kerry whines about the Swift Boat Veterans questioning his Vietnam “war service,” more revelations have surfaced which challenge the legitimacy of his first Purple Heart. The Senator claims that that medal was received because of enemy fire he took, but his own personal diary contradicts that assertion. While the Senator’s supporters tried unsuccessfully to portray President Bush as being “AWOL” during the Vietnam War, they won’t address the fact that Kerry tried to defer his military service at that time for 12 months. And what would Kerry and his friends say about the fact that his...

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Want to get personal with your correspondence? Put your own face, or your new baby's face -- even shots from your crazy summer vacation -- on postage stamps.

click on purple heart to see my webpage of Kerry's Purple Heart Lie.It's simple, consise, you can send it's URL to email folks, or print it out and post it in public places...

June 20, 2004Bill’s Big But Book“It’s the timing, stupid!” Bill Clinton’s memoir debut is already mirroring his presidency, with a virtual roller coaster of bumpy ups and downs this week ... ·        CBS’s Dan Rather gushes he read the book and rates it “five stars out of five stars.” ·        The New York Times trashes it, calling it, “sloppy, self-indulgent and often eye-crossingly dull — the sound of one man prattling away, not for the reader, but for himself and some distant recording angel of history.”·        Bill Clinton declares, "The whole [impeachment] battle was a badge of honor. I...

Professional code for journalists: sense or nonsense? By Steven de Jong, chief editor Politiek-Actie.net - Because of factors like rivalry pressure and the high running speed of news, we tend to more and more forget about the journalistic norms and values. Important methods and values like hearing both sides of a story, objective reports and independent gathering of news are under pressure. When media copy each others reports too fast without taking the time to observe those values, media hypes with very harmful effects will develop. Harmful not only for those directly involved, but also for the journalist and the...

<p>A man in Granite Falls, Wash., who slept with a pistol beneath his pillow woke up one morning last week to find the gun had gone off and shot him.</p> <p>The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Saturday that the man, who was not identified, went to bed Thursday night with a loaded .22-caliber revolved tucked under his pistol. Sometime during the night, the gun discharged and shot him in the chest, but he apparently didn't realize he was wounded until he awoke early Friday.</p>