Free Republic

In “How Somali Pirates Could Take Obama Hostage,” [editorial below] Professor Dominic Tierney advises President Barack Obama how to respond should terrorists make hostages of Americans sent abroad in service of the nation or serving on board merchant ships flying the flag of the United States. Americans, Mr. Tierney claims, care too deeply about the capture of a fellow citizen. Out of what he describes as profound idealism, they quickly make a hero out of a captive, and their moral outrage prompts them to demand freedom for the captive and punishment of the captors. Because a captive’s continued detention seems...

Suppose you wanted to test the effects of halving the amount of salt in people’s diets. If you were an academic researcher, you’d have to persuade your institutional review board that you had considered the risks and obtained informed consent from the participants. You might, for instance, take note of a recent clinical trial in which heart patients put on a restricted-sodium diet fared worse than those on a normal diet. In light of new research suggesting that eating salt improves mood and combats depression, you might be alert for psychological effects of the new diet. You might worry that...

WASHINGTON — Tighter gun control and stronger law enforcement in Southwestern states were recommended Thursday by lawmakers concerned about drug violence in Mexico possibly spilling across the border. --snip-- "The United States and Mexico border violence can only be solved if we look at all parts of the equation," Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., said Thursday during a House subcommittee considering changes to U.S. gun laws. "Let’s examine our gun laws, let’s cut down on U.S. drug consumption, let’s ask there to be more resources to root out drug-money laundering," he said...

It is no secret the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News have severe financial difficulties. The parent company of both newspapers, Philadelphia Media Holdings, has missed its debt payments since June, and according to Bloomberg News, the company is in “technical default” on its loans. The papers were bought from the McClatchy Company in 2006 for $562 million. There are currently no buyers, especially given the recent volatility experienced by media entities nationwide. Making the situation even more precarious is that, even if there were a prospective buyer, obtaining financing in these market conditions is difficult, if not impossible. The Tribune...

NY Times: Global Warming Claims Bogus Tuesday, January 1, 2008 4:38 PM By: Newsmax Staff Critics are calling it clear evidence that the climate of opinion on alleged global warming is shifting in favor of skeptics, especially since it comes from the New York Times, until now a fervent acolyte of climate change guru Al Gore and his doctrine of ongoing and disastrous climate change. In his Times column for the first day of the new year, "In 2008, a 100 Percent Chance of Alarm," columnist John Tierney took a close look at the global warming debate and found that...

(AP) A man who for 12 years served as president of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union was sentenced to seven years in prison for downloading what authorities said was some of the "most abhorrent" child pornography they have ever seen. The prison term for Charles Rust-Tierney, 52, of Arlington, is one year less than the minimum sentence suggested under federal sentencing guidelines, and more than the five-year term defense attorneys wanted. Rust-Tierney said depression and "plummeting self-esteem" led him astray.

A former Arlington County youth sports coach and civil rights lawyer who once headed Virginia's American Civil Liberties Union chapter was sentenced today to seven years in federal prison for buying child pornography that prosecutors labeled sadistic and masochistic. Charles Rust-Tierney, 51, pleaded guilty in June to downloading hundreds of pornographic images of children as young as 4. Authorities said Rust-Tierney used a computer in his 11-year-old son's bedroom to view the files, which included a six-minute video that depicted sexual torture of children, set to a song by the rock band Nine Inch Nails.

I agree with the judge, this was the most abhorrent kind! A former Arlington County youth sports coach and civil rights lawyer who once headed Virginia’s American Civil Liberties Union chapter was sentenced today to seven years in federal prison for buying child pornography that prosecutors labeled sadistic and masochistic. Charles Rust-Tierney, 51, pleaded guilty in June to downloading hundreds of pornographic images of children as young as 4. Authorities said Rust-Tierney used a computer in his 11-year-old son’s bedroom to view the files, which included a six-minute video that depicted sexual torture of children, set to a song by...

A former president of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union pleaded guilty Friday to federal child pornography charges. 51-year-old Charles Rust-Tierney entered his plea to one count of receipt of child pornography in US District Court in Alexandria. He had been indicted last month on one count each of receipt and possession of child pornography. Prosecutors say from March 2005 until October 2006, Rust-Tierney bought at least five subscriptions to child pornography Web sites and downloaded other illegal materials offered at additional cost. Rust-Tierney, who also coached Little League baseball in Arlington, has been in jail since...

McLEAN, Va. (AP) - Court records show a former president of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is expected to plead guilty to charges stemming from child pornography possession case. A judge in Alexandria today scheduled a plea agreement hearing for 51-year-old Charles Rust-Tierney of Arlington. It was not clear what charges would be included in the plea agreement. A grand jury indicted Rust-Tierney earlier this month on one count each of receipt and possession of child pornography. According to federal sentencing guidelines, a conviction at trial on both counts could have resulted in a prison sentence...

Los Gatos man alleged to have 750,000 child porn photos A Los Gatos man faces 10 years in prison in what law enforcement officials are calling the largest child pornography bust in the Bay Area - more than 750,000 sexual photos of boys found tucked in in ammunition boxes and then buried in the man's backyard. Michael F. Palmer, 53, covered his buried stash of explicit photos with plywood and plants in the Santa Cruz side of unincorporated Los Gatos, deputies said. Most of the photographs, Sgt. Robin Mitchell said, came from overseas. But, officers also seized non-pornographic, homemade films...

ACLU's Charles Rust-Tierney: Case Simply Bizarre In what amounts to the first two half-real news story on the Charles Rust-Tierney case by the Washington Post and and WDBJ, the story may be even more unsettling to some. Two dozen people, including a neighbor and his former wife, Diann Rust-Tierney spoke on his behalf, both saying they'd trust him with their kids tomorrow, yet Charles Rust-Tierney was apparently downloading images and video of the sexual torture of infants and toddlers in his ten year old son's bedroom during the night. Prosecutors say Charles Rust-Tierney, a former president of the Virginia ACLU,...

"Somewhere along the line, many Americans relegated the media to a notch on the morality scale only slightly above that of child molesters." ... On February 23, former president of the Virginia chapter of the ACLU Charles Rust-Tierney was arrested at his home in Arlinton, Va. and charged with receiving and possessing child pornography... Despite the news worthiness of this story, the mainstream press has failed to cover it. Rust-Tierney owned numerous computer discs filled with images of young girls being victimized. The investigation report described prepubescent girls "seen and heard crying" and many "bound by rope." There were even...

In the summer of 2003, Operation Predator was launched by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency. The investigation has targeted individuals who make and consume child pornography worldwide. Because much of this stuff is manufactured overseas and shipped to America, ICE agents took the lead in tracking down the bad guys in the United States. According to ICE agents, one of those who used a credit card to purchase child porn is attorney Charles Rust-Tierney, the former president of the American Civil Liberties Union in Virginia. Tierney was arrested and charged on Feb. 23. Tierney apparently told the feds...

Don't bother looking for it via Google News. There hasn't been a single major story published on him since Charles Rust-Tierney appeared in Court. A local source sent me this, which Google either didn't capture, or hasn't spidered, yet. Previous coverage here and here. Alexandria, Va. (WUSA) -- A public defender from Arlington now finds that he is the accused. Fifty-one year old Charles Rust-Tierney appeared in United States District Court in Alexandria Wednesday. He’s accused of receiving and possessing child pornography, and investigators outlined what they say they found after searching his home. They say Rust-Tierney had video showing,...

The New York Times gets its fair share of criticism. So does CNN. So do the major broadcast networks. The Washington Post and L.A. Times have their own detractors. In fact, these days, nearly everyone recognizes press bias, incompetence and arrogance when they see it in the major media.Yet, it is my considered opinion that one news agency gets off nearly scot-free from criticism despite being the worst purveyor of political propaganda and distortion. I refer to the largest news-gathering organization in the world – the Associated Press. For the life of me, I don't understand why there haven't been...

In what may or may not be surprising to opponents of the ACLU, the former president of the Virginia ACLU chapter has been arrested for allegedly possessing child pornography. The complaint states that Charles Rust-Tierney "has subscribed to multiple child pornography web sites over a period of years." Rather violent and brutal Web sites if the complaint is true. It also alleges Rust-Tierney admitted to the lawbreaking. Ironically, the former coach of various youth athletic teams argued in the past against restricting Internet access in public libraries in Virginia. He wrote, "Recognizing that individuals will continue to behave responsibly and...

Federal authorities yesterday charged the former president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, who serves as a leader of youth sports organizations in the state, with receiving and possessing child pornography. Charles Rust-Tierney, 51, of Arlington, was named in a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Alexandria and was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and Arlington County police... Mr. Rust-Tierney, a former public defender in the District, was identified in court documents as having coached various youth sport teams in and around Arlington County... ICE officials had no comment on...

<p>BREAKING: O'Reilly had Catherine Heridge (sp?) on describing the case.</p> <p>ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A youth sports coach in Arlington County who is also a past president of Virginia's American Civil Liberties Union chapter was arrested Friday and charged with receiving and possessing child pornography.</p>

Tapes reveal WMD plans by Saddam By Rowan Scarborough THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published March 13, 2006 Audiotapes of Saddam Hussein and his aides underscore the Bush administration's argument that Baghdad was determined to rebuild its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction once the international community had tired of inspections and left the Iraqi dictator alone.     In addition to the captured tapes, U.S. officials are analyzing thousands of pages of newly translated Iraqi documents that tell of Saddam seeking uranium from Africa in the mid-1990s.     The documents also speak of burying prohibited missiles, according to a government official familiar with the...

"William Tierney, the former United Nations weapons inspector who unveiled the so-called "Saddam Tapes" at a conference in Arlington, Virginia, Saturday, told National Review Online that God directed him to weapons sites in Iraq and that his belief in the importance of one particular site was strengthened when a friend told him that she had a vision of the site in a dream."

WMD: The quote above is that of a former UNSCOM member after translating and reviewing 12 hours of taped conversations between Saddam Hussein and his aides. So what's on the covers of Time and Newsweek? Funny thing about dictators and tyrants: Very often they are meticulous record keepers. The fall of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union and Saddam Hussein's Iraq all produced treasure troves of information. In Iraq's case, there were so many documents and records that even now only a small fraction have been translated and analyzed. Among them are 12 hours of conversations from the early 1990s...

Posterboard is up on screen showing translations of what Saddam and Tariq Aziz said on the tapes released this weekend at the Intelligence Summit. It sounds like former UN inspector Tierney is the one reading the translations.

Bill Tierney will appear on Fox & Friends Monday Feb. 20 at 7:15 am with taped recordings of Saddam convesations along with english text related to Iraq's Nuclear Plasma Program linked to their Atomic programs. In a clear confession, Saddam along with 2 previously unknown scientist's discuss Iraq's ongoing Plasma Program.

The FBI translator who supplied the 12-hours of Saddam Hussein audiotapes excerpted by ABC's "Nightline" Wednesday night now says the network discarded his translations and went with a less threatening version of the Iraqi dictator's comments. "What you heard on ABC News was their translation," former U.N. weapons inspector Bill Tierney told ABC Radio's Sean Hannity on Thursday. "They came up with something different on a key element regarding terrorism in the United States," Tierney insisted. In the "Nightline" version of a 1996 recording, Saddam predicts that Washington, D.C. would be hit by terrorists. But he adds that Iraq would...

New York Times columnist John Tierney brings libertarian ideas to America's big-government bible. A Reason interview Earlier this year, libertarians greeted with enthusiasm the news that The New York Times' John Tierney had been tapped to succeed William Safire as a voice from the right on the country's most influential liberal op-ed page. A firm libertarian himself, Tierney had broken The New York Times Magazine's hate mail record with an article on compulsory recycling, infuriated fellow train lovers with a feature piece titled "Amtrak Must Die," and riffed on Robert Nozick and the immorality of rent control in his eclectic...

'NY Times' Unveils Expanded Opinion Section By E&P Staff Published: April 10, 2005 11:00 AM ET NEW YORK As promised, The New York Times unveiled its expanded Sunday op-ed section, a move set in motion at least partly by the decision to move the lengthy Frank Rich contributions here from Arts & Leisure. But there are several added angles, as well. For one thing, since the new two-page group of columns runs as a spread, not merely opposite the editorials, the name has been changed from op-ed to “opinion.” The paper has also shuffled columnists with longtime Sunday favorites Maureen...

NEW YORK The New York Times has named conservative columnist John Tierney to its op-ed page after the departure of Times legend William Safire, the paper announced Tuesday. "Safire retired, and now we have John Tierney as a new Op-Ed columnist," Diane McNulty, a Times spokeswoman, told E&P. "You don't replace William Safire." Tierney, who joined the Times in 1990, will begin writing a twice-weekly op-ed column in April, the paper said. Since joining The Times, Tierney has been a general-assignment reporter, a staff writer for the Sunday magazine, and a columnist. He wrote the weekly “Political Points” column during...

<p>The Muslim organizations that certify chaplains for the U.S. military have come under renewed scrutiny since the arrest of Army Chaplain Yousef Yee and two Muslim translators who worked with al Qaeda prisoners in Guantanamo Bay — and that's all to the good. The Graduate School of Islamic Social Sciences (GSISS) and the American Muslim Foundation (AMF) were already being investigated, and it may well be that somehow Mr. Yee picked up his radical Islam from some contact with these groups. But so far another possibility has been overlooked, perhaps because its political incorrectness quotient is positively off the scale: The possibility that Yee was sincere when he denounced the September 11 attacks, and that his mind was changed by the Guantanamo prisoners themselves.</p>

A former UN Weapons Inspector tells Joeseph Farrah that he knows where Iraq was reprocessing uranium for development of nuclear weapons and is urging the US Defence Department to take a look.Bill Tierney says that he has first hand knowledge of the uranium enrichment program at a nuclear reasearch facility about six miles from the Iraqi town of Tarmiya.'The Iraqis have an underground chamber where they have cauldrons used for the electromagnetic isotope seperation method,' asserts Tierney. 'And all they have to do is hop in their cars, go up Canal Road, take a right at Baghdad-Mosul Road, go about...

<p>SOUTH OF BAGHDAD — In a valley sculpted by man, between the palms and roses, lies a vast marble and steel city known as Al-Tuwaitha.</p> <p>In the suburbs about 18 miles south of the capital's suburbs, this city comprises nearly 100 buildings — workshops, laboratories, cooling towers, nuclear reactors, libraries and barracks — that belong to the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission.</p>

Former weapons inspector Bill Tierney (unlike the former inspector who is a pedophile and wrote a silly little book with a whackjob teacher who couldn't get on CNN) said on the Sean Hannity radio show that we will be shocked with what we are going to find in Iraq. He has no doubt we will find huge amounts of what Iraq swears it does not have. In addition, Tierney said that he has told our government where Hussein has hidden an underground uranium plant. Tierney said "I can drive there with my eyes shut."

Former intel officer says method aided interrogationBy Vince Crawley, Times staff writerChief Warrant Officer 3 Bill Tierney's military career began in 1983 when, he says, God told him that his mission in life was to join the Army. His career ended 16 years, 9 months and 27 days later because of a prayer.The Defense Intelligence Agency said Tierney, an Arabic-speaking analyst and former U.N. arms inspector, overstepped his bounds when he prayed with an Iraqi Christian defector shortly before the 1998 Desert Fox air strikes against Iraq. At the time, Tierney was assigned to the U.S. Central Command.Such actions "could...

George Nourey(sp?) has former weapons inspector John Tierney on right now as a guest. I just tuned in, but I think Tierney will be on another hour and a half. I think I heard Tierney say that he believes he has located the area where Hussein has been enriching uranium. He believes Hussein has a nuke.

Anthropology and the Search for the Enemy WithinBy THOMAS A. GREGOR and DANIEL R. GROSS The American Anthropological Association has just published the results of an extensive investigation into charges of abuse of the Yanomami Indians of Venezuela and Brazil that had been brought by its own members against their colleagues Napoleon Chagnon and James Neel. The AAA report is a 325-page document, dense with opinion papers, ethical pronouncements, vast but unbalanced background materials, even the panelists' résumés. When those materials are stripped away, what remains is a verdict of not guilty on the truly serious charge -- genocide --...