Free Republic

Using words such as "imposter" and "usurper," an active-duty Army officer in Iraq has joined a California lawyer's lawsuit intended to force President Barack Obama to prove he is a legal U.S. citizen, and therefore able to legally serve as the commander in chief.

OTTAWA, March 27 (UPI) -- An Ottawa woman trying to trick her terrier into trying a new kind of food ate it herself and developed symptoms, including foaming at the mouth, of illness. The stunt-gone-wrong began earlier in the month before a North American recall of moist pet foods was issued, but Elaine Larabie suspects she and her new 1-year-old pet, Missy fell victim to tainted food, the Ottawa Citizen reported Tuesday. She said once her dog started eating the food, she stopped, but both fell ill, and for three days she experienced foaming at the mouth, problems urinating, vomiting...

Al Gore, the former vice president and environmental evangelist, will be appearing at temples and churches across the nation this month. Well, sort of. To highlight global warming, congregations nationwide will show Gore's documentary, ``An Inconvenient Truth,'' through the month of October. Those who find Gore not to their political taste, can air HBO's ``Too Hot Not to Handle'' instead. So far, more than 4,000 congregations have signed up to participate, including 368 in California, according to California Interfaith Power and Light, a faith-based environmental group. Faith groups have been increasingly involved in the environmental movement, from asking ``What Would...

In a Milpitas mosque where wall decorations tout love and peace, Saadia Ahmed ushered her guests from prayer room to kitchen. She explained the special prayers for Ramadan, the flat bread called naan, and why Islam doesn't condone violence. It's a scene that will be replayed throughout mosques nationwide as Muslims welcome visitors during the holy month of Ramadan. Since terrorists steered planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, American Muslims have undertaken a public-relations campaign to distance themselves from terrorists who, they say, hijacked Islam as well as the planes. In the past five years, Muslims...

An armed man held up two employees and robbed the HoneyBaked Ham Co. store in Fremont shortly after noon on Wednesday, Fremont police reported. The man reportedly forced the employees to give him cash from the store's register as well as from the safe snip Police describe the robber as a white man between 25 and 30 years of age, standing 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall snip The man's weapon is described only as a black handgun. snip

The Army is discontinuing a controversial multibillion-dollar deal with oil services giant Halliburton Co. to provide logistical support to U.S. troops worldwide, a decision that could cut deeply into the firm's dominance of government contracting in Iraq. The choice comes after several years of attacks from critics who saw the contract as a symbol of politically connected corporations profiteering on the war. Under the deal, Halliburton had exclusive rights to provide the military with a wide range of work that included keeping soldiers around the world fed, sheltered and in communication with friends and family back home. Government audits turned...

Brazil's coffee industry has brewed up a plan to serve up to 1 million schoolchildren a free breakfast -- complete with a cup of java. Brazil's Coffee Industry Association (Abic) is seeking the support of 50 roasters to launch a pilot "Adopt-a-School" program to feed breakfast to 1 million Brazilian school children aged 6 to 18. Under the plan, a coffee roaster would adopt a school of at least 500 children and provide them with a free breakfast of coffee, milk and bread. The annual cost of the program for each school is estimated at 33,500 reais ($15,000). "Kids have...

Windows Vista won’t be available for shipment until the last quarter of 2006, a Microsoft Corp. executive let slip in a presentation on Microsoft’s campus Thursday. Microsoft had previously slated the release of the next client version of it Windows operating system (OS) for the second half of 2006. But at the Microsoft Financial Analyst Conference in Redmond, Washington, Thursday, Will Poole, senior vice president of the client division of Microsoft, said the OS would not be available until the 2006 “holiday” time frame in the U.S. This presumably would mean that the OS will not be available until sometime...

Ford Lund and Rae Bauer wanted to wed where it all began -- the Wal-Mart store in Missoula, Montana, where they met and where they work. They bought the cake and bought their rings there, too. The 74-year-old groom and 48-year-old bride met as co-workers in the garden department. They wed Saturday on the lawn in front of the store. Their co-workers got a quick break to attend the ceremony. The wedding photos were taken at the store's portrait studio. There was a small wedding day crisis -- the rings went missing. But the couple quickly borrowed a pair of...

Crockett wants California's governor to speak at the Carquinez Bridge grand opening next month. Officials just don't know whose name to put on the invitation. Will it be Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger's first official ribbon-cutting? Or will it be Gov. Gray Davis' swan song? The grand-opening party date of Nov. 15 coincides with the deadline for the Secretary of State to certify the recall election results. The certification could occur sooner, and many believe it will. But in the past 31 years, it has taken an average of 38 to 39 days, which falls on Nov. 14 and 15.

Gov. Davis Offers Tongue-In-Cheek Advice to Schwarzenegger With 'Top Ten' List on Letterman The Associated Press Oct. 11 — Gov. Gray Davis got a chance to reshape his staid public image with a cameo appearance Friday on David Letterman's "Late Show." The second governor in U.S. history to be recalled from office, Davis has never been known for his sense of humor. Nevertheless, the Democrat jumped at the chance Thursday to tape the popular "Top Ten" countdown for Letterman, offering bits of advice to his Republican successor, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.10. "When you realize you don't know what you're doing, give...

A judge Wednesday asked Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante to prove that his campaign is contractually obligated to continue paying for television ads bought with campaign donations that the judge earlier this week ruled illegal. Bustamante is not disputing Judge Loren E. McMaster's finding that the $3.8 million from five public-employee unions and three casino-owning Indian tribes violates California's campaign-contribution laws, but he says the campaign can't get the money back from television stations. The campaign contends that $2.2 million worth of commercials already had run by the time McMaster issued his ruling Monday and that an additional $2 million...

If I don't answer your post right away, it means I'm out and about getting votes for Arnold in my community. Cheers! CC :)

<p>Whenever San Jose soccer star Brandi Chastain was going through tough times in life, a knee injury or some other setback, her mother always was there to provide guidance.</p> <p>She has reason to think about those words now. Her challenge is dealing with the unexpected deaths of her mother and father in just a seven-month period.</p>

<p>MODESTO, Calif. (AP) -The memorial service for slain pregnant woman Laci Peterson and her unborn son is scheduled for Sunday -- the day that would have been her 28th birthday.</p> <p>The service is set for 3 p.m. at First Baptist Church, Laurie LaCore, a church spokeswoman said Tuesday. The church seats more than 1,500 and seating for about 800 others will be available in two other buildings where the service will be broadcast on closed circuit televisions.</p>

<p>In The Global-Investor Book of Investing Rules (Financial Times Prentice Hall), shareholder activist and gadfly money manager Robert Monks, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, coined a new rule for investors: Short the stock of any company employing a former Tennessee senator on its board. After all, Albert Gore Sr. sat on the board of oil giant Occidental Petroleum ( ) during a period of corporate misdeeds back in the 1960s. Former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker of the Volunteer State was on the board of Waste Management ( ), another troubled outfit. Construction concern Stone & Young had on its board ex-Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson. It declared bankruptcy soon after his tenure.</p>

<p>Digital video cameras are as visible as placards and plastic handcuffs at anti-war demonstrations these days.</p> <p>San Francisco police -- and departments around the country -- have been videotaping anti-war demonstrations, raising new concerns about civil liberties and questions about whether ``Support the Troops'' events are also being captured on camera.</p>

<p>California will pay an estimated $1 million to set up a program expected to keep one sexually violent predator fed, clothed, housed, counseled and watched over in San Jose for the next year.</p> <p>Most of the money will go to Pennsylvania-based Liberty Healthcare, which recently won a no-bid contract to create a supervised-release operation for California's sexually violent predator program. But at least at first, Liberty will have just one client: convicted child molester Brian De- Vries, who will soon be moved from Atascadero State Hospital to an as yet undisclosed San Jose location.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Gray Davis apologized for a state law passed nearly a century ago that resulted in the involuntary sterilization of about 19,000 Californians.</p> <p>Davis' announcement Tuesday places California among a handful of states that have issued formal regrets regarding eugenics, a movement that eventually sterilized 60,000 mentally ill people in 32 states.</p>

<p>Davis urges judge to block release of molester to S.J.</p> <p>Gov. Gray Davis on Monday asked a Santa Clara County judge to reverse his decision to release a serial child molester from a state mental hospital to an undisclosed location in San Jose.</p>