Free Republic

WASHINGTON – Are secret meetings being held between the corporate and political elites of the U.S., Mexico and Canada to push North America into a European Union-style merger? Is President Bush's reluctance to control the border and enforce laws requiring deportation of foreigners who enter the country illegally part of a master plan to all but eliminate borders between the U.S., Canada and Mexico? Does the agenda of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America include a common currency that would scrap the dollar in favor of what some are calling the "amero"? It may be the biggest story...

Back in 2004, I published The Real Matrix, in seven parts (read them here). I had little idea how the process outlined there would accelerate in 2005 and 2006. Indeed, even those still "plugged in" ought to be wondering why the U.S. Senate just gave thumbs-up (62 yeas vs. 26 nays) to an immigration bill that most of the public does not want, and that would clearly be destructive of this country's long-term best interests – educationally, culturally, and economically. Those of us out here in the Desert of the Real are aware that the Senate just took us one...

The year 2010 will mark the 50th anniversary of humanity's strangest scientific quest: the use of giant radiotelescope dishes to listen for radio messages from alien beings in space. So far, the search has been a complete bust. The radioastronomers keep listening, but the stars aren't talking to us -- not yet, anyway. Oddly, the failure of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI, has been largely ignored by the general public, journalists and Hollywood filmmakers. They continue to be enchanted by (and, in Hollywood's case, to commercially exploit) the hope that intelligent life is sprinkled across the galaxy like...

The Star Trek vision of analysing rocks and minerals with the sweep of a handheld device has taken a step towards becoming science rather than science fiction. "We are developing a tricorder," said Robert Downs, associate professor of geosciences at The University of Arizona in Tucson. Professor Downs is using a technique called Raman spectroscopy to compile a library of spectral fingerprints for all the Earth's minerals. About 1,500 of the 4,000 known minerals have been catalogued so far. Although the current Raman spectrometer takes up an area the size of a tabletop, Professor Downs's colleague M. Bonner Denton, a...

George W Bush's protocol handlers have notified South Block that the American President's deep belief in his born again faith precludes his visiting Mahatma Gandhi's Samadhi at New Delhi's Raj Ghat -- during his forthcoming visit to India. When asked -- by reporters on a recent trip aboard Air Force One -- if he will be breaking a decades long tradition of foreign dignitaries visiting India paying respect to the Father of India, Mr Bush, as is his wont, was caught off guard and mumbled something about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ views cremation as a pagan practice. Astonishingly,...

CLEVELAND - Former U.S. Rep. James Traficant, expelled from Congress in 2002 after his bribery and racketeering conviction, is now dabbling in watercolors and acrylic rather than politics. The Ohio Democrat, who served nine terms in the House of Representatives, is serving eight years in federal prison after being convicted on a 2001 indictment. He's passing the time by painting. Traficant is currently selling 12 paintings, which feature pastoral scenes and horses, for $140 to $205 on the Web site http://www.beammeupart.com. The site's name comes from Traficant's practice of ending his often flamboyant congressional speeches by saying "Beam me up!"...

I am writing this urgent message because I was once a witch. I lived by the stars as an astrologer and numerologist casting horoscopes and spells. I lived in the mysterious and shadowy realm of the occult. By means of spells and magic, I was able to invoke the powers of the "controlling unknown" and fly upon the night winds transcending the astral plane. Halloween was my favorite time of the year and I was intrigued and absorbed in the realm of Wiccan witchcraft. All of this was happening in the decade of the 1960’s when witchcraft was just starting...

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Military_Antrax.html Thursday, December 1, 2005 · Last updated 10:01 a.m. PT _Anthrax shots may be required in military_ By PETE YOST ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER * WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration asked a federal appeals court Thursday to reinstate mandatory anthrax inoculations for many military personnel, while a lawyer for soldiers who refused the shots said anti-anthrax vaccine was never intended for the purpose the Pentagon is using it. * The government is appealing a decision by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who suspended anthrax vaccinations after he found fault in the Food and Drug Administration's process for...

LOS ANGELES (CP) -- The publicist for James Doohan says the actor who played Scotty on Star Trek has died at his home in Washington state. More to come...

PETER JENNINGS REPORTING: UFO's: LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE - THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24 (8:00-10:00 p.m., ET) -- Each year there are thousands of reports of unidentified flying objects, but the U.S. government doesn't investgate any of them. This special program will seriously examine the unexplained phenomena around the world that so many people believe is proof of the existence of UFOs.

A look at the dark underbelly of recent history, from the mid-1990s to the early part of this decade: one minute speeches by former Blue Dog Congressman, James Traficant. He took on the IRS. Then he was impeached and sent to jail. Felon or Fighter for Freedom? A little of both. And he knew how to make a darn good speech. There are many, many more speeches by former, impeached Congressman Traficant in the South Boston Phoenix 'vaults', which will be steadilly loaded and shared in the future, God willing, if people show an interest. South Boston Phoenix is loading...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - James Traficant, a flamboyant former congressman, lost an appeal on Monday seeking U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) review of his conviction on corruption charges and of his eight-year prison sentence. Reuters Photo Traficant, a Democrat from Ohio and a member of the House of Representatives from 1985 until his expulsion in 2002, urged the court to hear the appeal "to remedy the constitutional violations that undermine his conviction and sentence." Traficant, who represented a district based in Youngstown, was known for using the phrase "beam me up" during his colorful and controversial one-minute daily speeches...

Khaled el-Masri said he left his wife and children for a weeklong vacation and returned to them after five months of captivity. German's Claim of Kidnapping Brings Investigation of U.S. Link By DON VAN NATTA Jr. and SOUAD MEKHENNET Published: January 9, 2005 MUNICH - On the afternoon of Dec. 31, 2003, Khaled el-Masri was traveling on a tourist bus headed for the Macedonian capital, Skopje, where he was hoping to escape the "holiday pressures" of home life during a weeklong vacation. When the bus reached the Serbia-Macedonia border, Mr. Masri said, he was asked the usual questions: Where are...

Klingons for Kerry EXCLUSIVE: Straw-poll shocker! Fierce warrior race strongly backs Democrat. Even as John Kerry struggles to establish national-security credentials nationally, an exclusive WW straw poll shows his campaign dominating one skeptical, warlike demographic: Klingons. The poll, conducted when the DVD release of the Star Trek fan documentary Trekkies 2 attracted Portland's Klingon community to Tower Records on Southeast 102nd Avenue, may spell trouble for President George W. Bush. The incumbent has staked his campaign on the war on terror. But those who speak the language of the Trek warrior race--known to disdain dishonor, or quvHa'ghach--seem alienated by Iraq...

Former Ohio Congressman James A. Traficant Jr. (D-JAIL) is no longer seeking to trade his prison cell for the Oval Office. A group that formed a Presidential Exploratory Committee for the ousted Democrat announced Wednesday that it will end a two month campaign because of lack of support.Traficant is in prison for bribery and racketeering.Marcus Belk, the manager of the 'Draft Traficant for President in 2004' Campaign said the group could not raise the $100,000.00 needed to qualify for federal matching funds.All donations will be returned, Belk said.

WASHINGTON - James A. Traficant, a former Ohio congressman in prison for bribery and racketeering charges, has given his approval to supporters to form a presidential exploratory committee. "The battle to free James Traficant and to evict the Socialists and 'free traders' from the Democratic Party is now under way," campaign spokesman Marcus Belk said. "Someone buy the Washington establishment a bottle of Maalox." Belk said the group, which announced Friday that it had gotten Traficant's approval by letter, has raised $10,224 in cash pledges made on Traficant's campaign Web site. The average contribution was $71, he said. Once a...

Imprisoned Traficant Runs for President Oh, Ohio! If Democrat sleazemeister Jerry Springer can announce his ambitions for the U.S. Senate, why can't jailbird ex-Rep. James Traficant join the Democrats' already-wacky race for the White House? Why not indeed? The former congressman's campaign today announced he has given his approval to supporters to form a presidential exploratory committee. "The battle to free James Traficant and to evict the socialists and 'free traders' from the Democratic Party is now under way," campaign spokesman Marcus Belk said. "Someone buy the Washington establishment a bottle of Maalox." Watch out, John Kerry and Howard Dean:...

NO: NO: YES: "Democratic Nationalists" supporting Traficant's bid pledge electoral victory against ultra-left Democratic Socialists invasion of Democratic party as well as "free trade" economic treachery of the Democratic Leadership Council. On one year anniversary of Congressman's wrongful expulsion from Congress, candidate approved "Draft Traficant" Committee Files with FEC in Washington. July 24, 2003 In a stunning political move by his supporters, authorized "Draft Traficant" leaders file official organizational papers with Federal Elections Commission in Washington on Monday. Draft Committee pledges "Candidate's Movement" supporting Traficant throughout next year in Democratic primaries nationwide. "We will fight against the Democratic Socialists and...

If you need someone to Klingon. . . 05/10/03STEVE WOODWARD Multnomah County is looking for a Klingon interpreter -- just in case. The county doesn't expect to be invaded by the alien warriors from "Star Trek" movies and TV series. But the office that treats county mental health patients wants to be prepared in case a client arrives in an emergency room gabbing in the galactic language. "We have to provide information in all the languages our clients speak," says Jerry Jelusich, a procurement specialist for the county Department of Human Services, which serves some 60,000 mental health clients. So...

A Japanese scientist has developed a coat which appears to make the wearer invisible. The illusion was part of a demonstration of optical camouflage technology at Tokyo University. It is the brainchild of Professor Susumu Tachi who is in the early stage of research he hopes will eventually make camouflaged objects virtually transparent. The photograph was taken through a viewfinder that uses a combination of moving images taken behind the wearer to give a transparent effect. It's hoped the technology will be useful for surgeons frustrated their own hands and surgical tools can block their view of operations and pilots...