Free Republic

How the New Capitol Visitor Center Distorts American History by Gina L. DiorioWhile the media trains its cameras on the bailout proceedings on Capitol Hill, another fierce battle is being waged just a few feet away. A battle over our nation’s past, it has profound ramifications for our future. Yet, thanks to the mainstream media’s overwhelming lack of interest in telling the story – or perhaps overwhelming interest that the story not be told – most Americans will never hear it. The clash is over the glaring historical omissions of the soon-to-be-opened Capitol Visitor Center (CVC). The largest undertaking in...

American taxpayers have spent more than $600 million on a new visitors' center at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., and it will have acres of marble floors and walls, photographs of Earth Day, information about an AIDS rally and details about the nation's industrial sector. What it will not include is America's Christian heritage, raising objections from members of Congress and drawing an inquiry from Chuck Norris about whether he can help fix it. The new 580,000-square-foot center, mostly built underneath the grounds just east of the U.S. Capitol to protect the scenic views of the historic building, is about...

A 28-year-old Russian female, who visited Dubai on a tourist visa, and a 30-year-old male citizen of Lebanon, a salesman in a local store, were put on trial for drinking juice in a public place in the daytime during Muslim fasting. The police caught the two people red-handed at a gas station in Dubai, Emirat.ru reports with reference to Gulf News. In accordance with the Federal Penal Code of the United Arab Emirates, a public intake of food and beverages during daytime hours of the month of Ramadan is forbidden by Article 313. The article stipulates the punishment in the...

THE way Barack Obama talks of Iraq, you'd think the whole county is a sea of fire and blood, created by the United States. So he might be surprised to learn that tour operators in Europe and the Middle East are touting this "sea of fire and blood" as a new holiday destination. One program just put on the market by Terre Entiere, a leading French tour operator, offers a "Christmas Pilgrimage" in December to Iraq's biblical sites, some of which date back more than 2,000 years. Another program starts in January. Called "Forgotten History," it includes visits to some...

Michigan (Detroit Free Press) - The music starts. The hazy images appear. A pond. A sunrise. A porch. A windmill. A sailboat. Then the wistful voice begins: "Twenty-five thousand mornings, give or take, is all we humans get." This TV ad has been playing all summer in select cities across the Midwest, enticing visitors from Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland and Detroit to vacation in "Pure Michigan." The $17.5-million campaign - all heart and naked emotion - is designed to appeal to our secret longing for simplicity, thus drawing big bucks and new tourists. Starting next month, the state will spend...

Tel Aviv Rental Apartments Become Real Estate Gold By Carole Fradette Israel News Agency Jerusalem, Israel --- August 22 … With the peace process moving forward in the Middle East, a drop in terror attacks and a record breaking season for tourists visiting Israel, rental apartments in Tel Aviv have quickly turned into a much prized asset. Hard evidence that the Tel Aviv apartment rental and sales sector is rapidly expanding is illustrated by the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) which has also risen recently, and of all sectors real estate has taken the largest and most consistent jump. Investors...

Residents of the Castro are watching with growing concern as their neighborhood becomes a regular attraction on the sightseeing tour of the city. In the last three months, large tour buses have begun to park in the area on Thursday and Sunday afternoons, opening their doors and sending hundreds of tourists out to gawk and snap photos of the exotic sight of two men holding hands. For gay and lesbian residents, who are doing nothing more remarkable than, say, walking over to Cliff's Hardware Store, the idea that as many as six tour buses could turn up at once seems...

A SPANISH couple's language difficulties has cost them several thousand dollars after they mispronounced their destination giving instructions to a Norwegian taxi driver. The couple, who were touring Norway's fjords, wanted to travel to Olden on the country's west coast. Instead their taxi took them to Halden, hundreds of kilometres away, a trip that cost them €3870 ($6600). The pair in their 50s were on a cruise of the fjords when they had to spend a short time in hospital while on a stopover in Stavanger, the Verdens Gang (VG) newspaper reported. Once out of hospital the two decided to...

With hundreds of species of wildlife, there is always something new for visitors to discover in California’s great outdoors. Whether out on a backpacking excursion in the middle of the wilderness or strolling through one of the state’s largest cities, California affords visitors the opportunity to see a broad variety of wildlife, many of which are specific to the Golden State. According to the California Travel and Tourism Commission (CTTC), the winter and spring months are the most dramatic seasons to visit Huntington Beach, part of the Orange County Region, because the city lies within the famous Pacific Flyway, a...

Link only - Pack your bags for Baghdad? Iraq looks to tourism

The majority of South Carolina residents are upset over an advertising campaign to attract homosexual tourists. The ad campaign was run in London for several cities. South Carolina was the only state with a role, and their ad said "South Carolina is so gay." Oran Smith of the Palmetto Family Council notes those who heard the ad were surprised. "And it was a shock to everyone who heard about it, and the contract was immediately canceled and the individual who is responsible has resigned," Smith explains. A legitimate question is whether state tax dollars were used for the promotion. "Yes, this was...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The flap over an ad promoting South Carolina as “So Gay� will cost the state tourism dollars, according to an industry expert. Gay and lesbian travelers will likely be turned off by the political posturing surrounding the ads, which were pulled by the state tourism agency and led one employee to resign. “We experience discrimination every day, so we certainly don't want to when we travel,� said Wesley Combs of the Washington-based communication firm Witeck-Combs, which specializes in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender travel. Combs noted that national media attention about the ad, including jokes on Conan...

Southern California gamblers who regularly drive to Las Vegas have cut back their visits by a third because of record gas prices, and those who still come say they’ve cut their gambling back by 29 percent, a new poll has found. The findings indicate that gas prices are having a greater impact on tourism than can be gleaned from statistics generated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. They compile key figures such as the number of visitors who drive or fly to Las Vegas, hotel occupancy and room rates, but don’t try to quantify how gas prices affect...

A state employee has resigned and officials have disavowed an international advertising campaign that led to calls for an investigation of tourism posters proclaiming “South Carolina is so gay.” The campaign, which plastered the London subway with posters advertising the charms of South Carolina and five major U.S. cities to gay European tourists, landed with a resounding thud in South Carolina, where the issue of gay rights has long been a political flashpoint. The advertisements were timed for London’s Gay Pride Week, which ended Saturday. The posters touted the attractions of the state to gay tourists, including its “gay beaches”...

South Carolina’s top tourism agency has canceled an overseas advertising campaign targeting gay tourists. The campaign, tied to gay pride week celebrations in London, included ads that proclaimed “South Carolina is so gay.” A handful of other U.S. destinations joined the campaign, including Atlanta, Boston and New Orleans. After learning last week the state had agreed to spend tax money on the campaign — and spurred by a post on The Palmetto Scoop blog — the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism said Thursday it would not pay the tour operator. Parks, Recreation and Tourism director Chad Prosser said an...

Since Iran has unique historical, cultural and natural tourism attractions, its tourism industry has the potential to replace oil as a source of revenue. Expressing this on Wednesday at the International Conference on World Trade in Furniture, Home Designing, Interior Decoration, deputy head of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) for tourism affairs Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh said that certainly over-reliance on oil alone are among the reasons for the underdevelopment of the national economy. He further said, "In the past three years, a considerable growth was witnessed in the tourism industry thanks to efforts made as well as...

Remember the tightwad tourist whose baggy shorts, frequent complaining and shouted questions about why none of the locals spoke any English made the ugly American the world's Visitor From Hell? Well, it's time for Archie Bunker to move over and make way for Petulant Pierre. According to a recent international survey, the French are now considered the most obnoxious tourists from European nations, and behind only Indians and the last-place Chinese as the worst among all countries worldwide. And it's not only the rest of the world that have a gripe with the Gallic attitude: the French also finished second...

WASHINGTON - New York got a record-setting 7.6 million foreign visitors last year, making it the U.S. city most visited by travellers from overseas, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Following New York on the list of top U.S. destinations for foreigners were Los Angeles (2.7 million); Miami (2.3 million); San Francisco (2.3 million); Orlando (2.1 million); Las Vegas (1.7 million); Honolulu (1.6 million); and Washington (1.2 million), the Commerce Department said. Miami jumped two spots in becoming the third most-visited destination, showing a 19 per cent increase in 2007. Las Vegas and Honolulu traded positions as Honolulu registered a...

VIENNA, Austria (May 19) -- The hills are alive ... with the sound of protest. Plans to run a hotel out of a former home of the von Trapp family immortalized in the movie "The Sound of Music" have triggered fierce resistance from neighbors who fear tourists will tie up traffic and make a nuisance of themselves. "We will fight this with all means at our disposal," said Andreas Braunbruck, who lives near the Villa Trapp in a neighborhood of Salzburg already teeming with "Sound of Music" tourists seeking a glimpse of the house. "Buses and cars are constantly in...

The fallout from losing its New Jersey casino license will force the owner of Tropicana casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company said Monday. --- The bankruptcy filing would cover nine properties: The Tropicana Casino & Resort in Las Vegas; Bayou Caddy's Jubilee Casino in Greenville, Miss.; Casino Aztar in Evansville, Ind.; Horizon Casino Hotel in Vicksburg, Miss.; Horizon Casino Resort and the MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa, both in Lake Tahoe, Nev.; the Tropicana Express Hotel & Casino in Laughlin, Nev.; River Palms Resort & Casino in Laughlin, Nev.; and the...

Just a hop, skip and a jump from the city, Gothenburg's archipelago is a great place to get away from it all, writes Matt O'Leary. Gothenburg’s archipelago (or, more accurately, archipelagos, as the islands form two clearly-defined and differently-named clusters) consists of dozens of islands which stretch into the sea next to the city’s coastline. Each of the main islands shares a few defining characteristics which make them attractive to first-time visitors and annually-returning guests alike; however, this isn’t to say that they’re indistinguishable. Far from it, in fact: many of the individual islands have charm and features galore to...

U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-OH, blamed labor unions and partisan politics for a U.S. House vote this week rejecting an amendment that could have kept the Delta Queen riverboat from having to phase out its overnight cruise packages. The historic riverboat has been operating with a special Congressional exemption from the federal Safety at Sea Act since 1968, an exemption that has been renewed eight times. The safety act bans the use of wooden vessels for overnight cruises. Backers of the exemption claim the Delta Queen deserves special treatment because of its historical significance and recently upgraded fire-safety systems. With...

In 2007, the number of Americans kidnapped while in Mexico doubled from the previous year. This has not only reduced tourism to Mexico, it is affecting the future of real estate projects, such as Donald Trump's towers in Tijuana. Jill Barshay reports TEXT OF STORY Lisa Napoli: This week, the U.S. State Department issued a travel alert for Americans heading to the northern border region of Mexico. The reason: a surge in violence and kidnappings linked to Mexican drug cartels. Marketplace's Jeff Tyler reports the violence it's starting to take its toll on the tourism industry. -------------------------------------------------------- Jeff Tyler: Last...

Loss of ATA and Aloha could mar tourism By Allison Schaefers aschaefers@starbulletin.com The loss of nearly 15 percent of the airline capacity to Hawaii this week with the abrupt closure of ATA Airlines and Aloha Airlines is sending shock waves through the state's visitor industry. State tourism officials said other carriers' existing flights could have filled the void left by Aloha. But the loss of ATA's seats could cause state visitor counts to fall by more than a half-million in the next nine months if new flights are not added, said state Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert. "It could be devastating...

A California aerospace company plans to enter the space tourism industry with a two-seat rocket ship capable of suborbital flights to altitudes more than 37 miles above the Earth. The Lynx, about the size of a small private plane, is expected to begin flying in 2010, according to developer Xcor Aerospace, which planned to release details of the design at a news conference Wednesday. The company also said that, pending the outcome of negotiations, the Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded it a research contract to develop and test features of the Lynx. No details were released. Xcor's announcement comes...

Aerospace giant EADS says it will need a production line of rocket planes to satisfy the space tourism market. The European company's Astrium division, makers of the Ariane rocket, has plans for a commercial vehicle to take ticketed passengers above 100km. Its market assessment suggests there would be 15,000 people a year prepared to part with some 200,000 euros (£160,000) for the ride of a lifetime. Astrium anticipates it be will be producing about 10 planes a year.

KARBALA — Boosting agribusiness, tourism and private investment by way of social venture capital were the top issues discussed at a March 12 meeting at Iraqi Police Headquarters in Karbala. Iraqi government officials, local businessmen, Multi-National Division - Center leaders and provincial reconstruction team members participated in the meeting. Security in Karbala is steadily improving, said Karbala provincial governor Aqil al-Khazali, as evidenced by the millions of pilgrims who safely commemorated Ashura in the holy city. “Karbala is ready for investment,” al-Khazali said. Brig. Gen. Edward Cardon, MND-C deputy commander for support, agreed safety has improved and Iraqis are doing...

JERUSALEM—The tourists still haven't come back to Israel, despite the aggressive rebranding campaign ("Hot Israel") and the photo spread in Maxim magazine ("Women of the Israel Defense Forces"). The country had even gone a year without a single suicide bombing, but our garrulous taxi driver was complaining as he drove us from the Ben-Gurion airport to the Sheraton hotel in Jerusalem. "Now, it's mostly religious travelers—evangelical Christians and religious Jews," he said. True to the driver's word, we arrived at the Sheraton to find the lobby crowded with Orthodox Jews celebrating the Sabbath. We had arrived in Israel neither as...

Israel Tourism Ministry Creates Interactive PR Forum By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem ---- March 13....(INA) - A new online community from the Israel Ministry of Tourism website will connect users from all over the world. The Israel Ministry of Tourism has uploaded over 300 attractions and about 500 accommodation options in Israel to Google Maps and Google Earth, the Ministry told the Israel News Agency. The Israel Ministry of Tourism has launched a new Internet community forum - http://community.goisrael.com - which allows global users and potential visitors to Israel to ask questions and receive recommendations and information about...

Danes have always loved the US as a travel destination. But with the dollar at its lowest point in 30 years, residents are now gobbling up the many discount offers being pitched by the nation's travel companies. Several travel bureaus are reporting increases of up to 140 percent on sales of trips to the states, where Danes can feel like wealthy plantation barons. In the past two years, the dollar has fallen from a value of 6.4 kroner to a shocking 4.8 kroner today - its lowest point since 1977. Weekend trips to New York City have been a hot...

HOUSTON -- In a cramped guard booth on the edge of a community of luxury townhouses, the sense of helplessness that has become so familiar to Gregory Sam since Hurricane Katrina uprooted him from his home town of New Orleans can become all-consuming. "I'm struggling," said Sam, 29, a college graduate who took an $8-an-hour post as a security guard after more than 20 job interviews led to nothing. "I feel like I'm isolated in the country somewhere . . . in a time warp." For the nearly quarter-million people such as Sam who were evacuated to Texas after the...

BROWNSVILLE — The disturbing news of deadly clashes between police and drug traffickers along the border has followed the McCullochs from their home in Canada to South Texas. Upon arriving at their South Padre Island destination the embellished stories of bloodshed had grown ominous through countless telling. Without ever setting foot in Cameron County, the couple had made up their minds about Mexico. “The tourist office in Kingsville told us the only safe place on the border is Progreso,” said Dave McCulloch, a retired government employee. “We got the message that Mexico wasn’t the thing to do.” The first-time Winter...

The Brazilian city of Recife is to distribute morning-after pills to women during carnival after public prosecutors on Tuesday rejected a Catholic Church lawsuit claiming the initiative promoted sex and provided "abortions." "The pill has no abortive effect, as the archdiocese claims, and its distribution is in no way an incentive to have sex," the prosecutor who made the decision, Ivana Botelho, told AFP. On top of its legal defeat, the church has come under fire from the Brazilian government for attempting to sway public health policy. "The (Recife) mayor's office is right and the church is wrong, again," Health...

Virgin Galactic today unveiled the design of its new space launch system based on SpaceShipOne, which successfully flew into space for the third time in October 2004 and won the $10m Ansari X Prize. The construction of the White Knight Two (WK2) mothership, or carrier aircraft, is now very close to completion at Scaled Composites in Mojave, CA and is expected to begin flight testing in the summer of 2008. White Knight Two will be the world's largest, all carbon composite aircraft. It is designed to have the capability of launching SpaceShipTwo -- carrying six passengers and two pilots --...

TIJUANA – With cross-border visits showing marked declines, business and Baja California tourism officials are going into full-scale damage control in hopes of regaining ground lost over the past year. “The image of the security problem has hit the state very badly,” said Baja California's tourism secretary, Oscar Escobedo Carignan. At a news conference Wednesday at state government offices in Tijuana, Escobedo described a new program aimed at luring visitors back to the region's tourist spots. The program, called “Get Your Passport,” offers discounts at hotels, restaurants bars and shops to those holding a U.S. passport. On the promotional posters...

Hi, I am looking for any suggestions regarding where to stay while vacationing this February in Ixtapa. This is a 20th wedding anniversary celebration for my wife and me. She would prefer an all-inclusive. I would prefer excellent food ( I HATE buffets ). The number #1 priority is peace/relaxation and BEACH space.

Of all the things that make no sense about New Jersey, the state's failure to invest, promote and capitalize on our Revolutionary War history has always led my list. People who ran state tourism said there was no money in it. But 40 years ago, the government leaders of Pennsylvania saw the 1976 Bicentennial coming and funded the Valley Forge Convention and Visitors Bureau. It cost them about a million bucks to promote the historic significance of the area, the natural beauty and the proximity to Philadelphia. In time, hotels and restaurants went up, most with a historic theme. Within...

I rarely post articles much less vanities, but we're planning a trip to my mother's other home in Vicksburg, MS, in March. Hubby was thinking maybe we'd drive down to Gulfport or Biloxi for a day or two. My questions are these: I know the area was devastated during hurricaine Katrina, are things back to normal? Semi-normal? What is there to do there? Besides casinos. We'll have our 8 year old son with us. Any recommendations? I can look online at places like Virtual Tourist, but it's hard to know how to plan when there is a chance the restaurant...

Crime-Wary Americans Shun Popular Strip of Mexican Beaches Just South of San Diego PLAYAS DE ROSARITO, Mexico (AP) -- Assaults on American tourists have brought hard times to hotels and restaurants that dot Mexican beaches just south of the border from San Diego. Surfers and kayakers are frightened to hit the waters of the northern stretch of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, long popular as a weekend destination for U.S. tourists. Weddings have been canceled. Lobster joints a few steps from the Pacific were almost empty on the usually busy New Year's weekend.

PLAYAS DE ROSARITO, Mexico — Assaults on American tourists have brought hard times to hotels and restaurants that dot Mexican beaches just south of the border from San Diego. Surfers and kayakers are frightened to hit the waters of the northern stretch of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, long popular as a weekend destination for U.S. tourists. Weddings have been canceled. Lobster joints a few steps from the Pacific were almost empty on the usually busy New Year's weekend. Americans have long tolerated shakedowns by police who boost salaries by pulling over motorists for alleged traffic violations, and tourists know parts...

The 2008 Dakar Rally has been cancelled because of safety concerns in the African republic of Mauritania. Four French tourists were murdered in Mauritania on 24 December, which led to the French government advising against any travel to the country. Eight of the rally's 15 stages were due to pass through Mauritania. The event's organisers, the Amaury Sport Organisation, said there had been "direct threats against the race issued by terrorist groups". The annual car and motorcycle marathon had been due to start in Lisbon on 5 January with the finish coming in Dakar on 20 January. "Following several consultations...

Global warming has led to a new travel boom as holidaymakers embrace what tour operators are calling doomsday tourism - the urge to see some of the world's most endangered sites before they disappear for ever. Newly awakened to the perils facing the planet, American tourists are leading the charge to the melting glaciers of Alaska, Patagonia, the Arctic and Antarctic, the sinking islands of the Pacific and the fading glories of the Great Barrier Reef - and their British counterparts are not far behind. A polar bear is seen on the Monaco Glacier, Spitsbergen, No Ken Shapiro, the editor...

Detroit makes the list of top spots for travel destinations in 2008. The Motor City beat out New York in a ranking released by the New York Times on Sunday. Detroit and the DIA reopening are given prominent billing, both in images and display. Some of the other things mentioned, the new MGM Grand Hotel and Motor City Casino, the historic Book Cadillac Hotel being transformed into the Westin. Detroit was ranked number 40.

Chinese citizens flush with cash from their booming economy will find it easier to vacation in the U.S. following a long-awaited agreement that the American travel industry hopes will bring in billions of dollars. The deal, signed Tuesday by U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez in Beijing, will allow Chinese travel agencies to market packaged leisure tours to American destinations, and it will permit U.S. destinations to advertise directly to the Chinese public. ---SNIP--- Consulates have dealt with concerns that some Chinese might not return home from their vacations destination.

While thousands have flocked to Las Vegas for the rodeo, thousands more are here for Saturday's boxing matchup between Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton. Even though Mayweather lives in Las Vegas, it's Hatton's fans that are making all of the noise. Thousands of visitors from Great Britain have been arriving in Las Vegas over the past couple of days, many coming to local spots and spending big money. Not only is the fight a major draw to Las Vegas, but just like rodeo fans -- these visitors say the shopping here is a bargain they can't pass up. Visitors from...

Rosen: Fla. Lost Billions Of Dollars Because Of Incorrect Storm Outlook ORLANDO, Fla. -- Central Florida's most famous hotel owner, Harris Rosen, lashed out at hurricane expert Dr. William Gray for his gloomy storm predictions saying they have damaged state tourism. The hotel mogul said surveys show 70 percent of guests not returning to his hotels cited hurricane fears as the reason why. "I suspect it costs the state billions of dollars," Rosen said. "Five thousand people scheduled to attend my association meeting and I'm looking at Orlando and it is September or October, I may say, 'Why take a...

ran is scheduled to build its first seven-star hotel with a supplementary solar energy system on Kish Island over the next two years, Press TV reported. Hossein Sabet, solar hotel investor The two-year project with an estimated budget of 520,000,000 dollars is aimed at completing the hotel in Kish in the southern province of Hormozgan by 2009-10. "Generating electricity from the sun is a very expensive project but I mean to bring this technology to Iran," said Hossein Sabet investor of the solar hotel. "Now that other countries are imposing sanctions on Iran, building such a hotel is an important...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Instead of highlighting New Mexico's picturesque desert landscapes, art galleries or centuries-old culture, a new tourism campaign features drooling, grotesque office workers from outer space chatting about their personal lives. The 30-second TV spots — which lead in roundabout fashion to the tag line that New Mexico may be "the best place in the Universe" — are provocative, funny and bold. But to increasingly vocal critics, the state-financed ad campaign is a possible threat to the well-being of the state's $5.1 billion tourism industry. In other words, while the ads may yield a chuckle or two, the...

Fewer Britons are visiting the United States than in the year 2000, despite an exchange rate that makes holidays much better value than they were then. New York is one of the only cities not to suffer a fall in visitors This week, when the pound rose to $2.07, its highest level against the dollar for 26 years, the US Office of Travel and Tourism Industries released figures that confirm how badly tourism from Britain has been suffering since the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the measures enacted in response to them.

Surfer's Baja tale is warning to others Camping trip ended in robbery, assault By Terry Rodgers UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER November 19, 2007 Pat Weber didn't plan on being part of a crime trend that has generated worldwide buzz this past week, but he didn't have much choice. The Encinitas resident and surfing instructor got lost on a dirt road in Baja California last month while looking for a surfing spot called Cuatro Casas. He and his girlfriend decided to park for the night on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Just after sundown, two men wearing ski masks approached Weber's motor...