Free Republic

Customs and Border Patrol agents arrested the passenger, Ali Mohamed Almosaleh, on July 7 in Minneapolis after he was picked randomly for a search, sources said. Agents found Almosaleh to be carrying what they described as a suicide note and DVDs containing "anti-American material," officials said.

(Raleigh-AP) -- US Senate hopeful Erskine Bowles is among the North Carolina Democrats who are crossing into enemy territory, trying to woo veterans who typically vote Republican. In recent campaign stops, Bowles has called for reform in the way veterans benefits are administered to those who've fought for the United States and their families. Bowles touted his veterans plan in Greensboro today. He was joined by US Representative Mel Watt, a Democrat who was one of just three members of North Carolina's House delegation to vote against the 2002 resolution that authorized President Bush to use military force in Iraq....

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) - Three heterosexual couples said they were turned away from a hotel in this gay-friendly tourist spot because of their sexual orientation. The six were vacationing with a gay couple and had reservations at a hotel called Big Ruby's when the three straight couples were turned away. "The manager literally said, 'We don't want you here,'" said Jim Pirih, who was vacationing with his partner and straight friends. The group was already settled in their rooms Wednesday when the manager told the straight couples they would have to leave, citing a policy of not allowing heterosexuals...

While it may look like a spontaneous uprising, recent complaints of "liberal bias" on local college campuses fit into a well-funded national strategy of the right For weeks, the 33 students in Elyse Crystall's "Literature and Cultural Diversity" class at UNC-Chapel Hill had been tackling sticky issues like racism, sexism and various forms of privilege. Discussions were lively and respectful, students recall, even when they touched on emotional subjects. On this particular day in February, talk turned to why some straight men feel threatened by gay men. There was the usual back-and-forth, with people expressing a range of views. Someone...

CHAPEL HILL -- UNC-Chapel Hill is under investigation by federal authorities for an incident in February in which an English instructor singled out a student for "hate speech" after the student spoke out against homosexuality. The university was notified of the investigation in a letter March 22 from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. "Specifically OCR will be investigating whether an e-mail sent by a teacher on or about Feb. 6 ... constituted harassment based on race or sex and whether the university responded appropriately," the letter said. "Our review will include whether any similar incidents had...

KINSTON -- Vietnam veteran Ted Sampley has his mouth locked, loaded and ready to fire. Ask him about Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and he cuts loose. He calls the Massachusetts senator "Hanoi John" because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. Kerry is a traitor, he says, not fit to be commander in chief. It's a view that might ordinarily be dismissed as political rhetoric in an election year. But Sampley, an outspoken advocate for missing servicemen, is not easily ignored. Tapping his extensive contacts with veterans and the range of the Internet, he has mounted a campaign against...

DURHAM -- Gay couples can't get married in Durham, but that hasn't stopped one couple from exchanging vows in Durham Central Park. The couple stood on the hillside off Foster Street on Tuesday morning, holding hands, their hair and make-up done, beneath a just-married banner. Unless you looked inside the matching wedding dresses, you almost didn't notice the chicken wire holding up the foam mannequin heads. "From a distance, it's so lifelike," said Leigh Scott, the director of Durham Central Park, who first noticed it Monday. Scott was working with volunteers across the street when one of them noticed the...

CHAPEL HILL -- Three UNC student organizations have teamed up to put together a weeklong series of events addressing issues related to radical feminism. The series of talks, workshops and seminars is called "Making the Political Personal: Radical Feminism in Action," and it kicks off Friday, March 19. The goal, organizers say, is to address feminist issues on both a local and global scale. "With nearly everything progressive feminists believe in under attack, it's more important than ever that we have a place to come together to discuss, teach, learn and unify," said Jessica Albrecht, one of the event's organizers....

<p>DENVER, Colo. — Rabbi Daniel Cohen was shocked to find anti-Semitic symbols such as swastikas spray-painted on the walls of his Denver synagogue last weekend, but the community's response surprised him as well.</p> <p>The graffiti was especially hurtful because the messages were sprayed the night before Purim — a time during which Jewish people remember past suffering. The congregation's Holocaust survivors who came to temple the next morning were horrified.</p>

RALEIGH -- Public education is a monopoly controlled by the government and defended in part on the principle that education is too important to be left to the private sector. Should we then decide that food is too important to be left to the private sector? Is it only government that can equitably distribute groceries? After all, if we don't eat, we can't learn. What would it be like if we purchased food the same way we purchase education? Grocery stores would be government-owned and -operated. There would be a Department of Groceries with a highly paid superintendent of groceries,...

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) - Teenage sniper Lee Boyd Malvo was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday for an October 2002 killing spree in the Washington, D.C., area that left 10 people dead. Malvo, 19, was sentenced a day after sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad was given the death penalty. Malvo did not speak at the brief hearing. Malvo was convicted in December of the slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, outside a Falls Church, Va., Home Depot store. His defense team had argued that Malvo had been molded into a killer by the charismatic Muhammad. Muhammad used...

<p>"I'm not the happiest camper," Andersen said hours before the recount was scheduled to get under way. "We're going to redo everything."</p> <p>The recount in the Panhandle county will not affect the outcome of Florida's primary, which handily went to Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who secured 77 percent of the state's vote.</p>

Debate begins over book assignmentHere we go again For the third straight year, UNC-Chapel Hill's freshman reading assignment is igniting hot debate. But this time, it is happening even before the book is picked. related  How should UNC make its decision on a freshman reading selection? the search for balance This year the reading committee started with 500 suggestions, from the Bible to Nabokov's "Lolita." to "Dude, Where's My Country," by Michael Moore. PREVIOUS PICKS Freshman summer reading list selections at UNC-CH for the past five years: 1999: "There Are No Children Here" by Alex Kotlowitz 2000: "Confederates in the...

A UNC-Chapel Hill instructor has apologized after a student said during a class discussion that he opposed homosexuality -- and found himself singled out by the teacher for hate speech. In an e-mail message sent Feb. 6 to her "Literature and Cultural Diversity" students, the lecturer, Elyse Crystall, wrote, "[W]hat we heard [T]hursday at the end of class constitutes 'hate speech' and is completely unacceptable. [I]t has created a hostile environment." Crystall went on to name the student, identified as Tim, and said he was a perfect example of the topic of discussion during class: privilege. She referred to Tim...

DOVER, Del. (AP) -- Delaware officials ordered the destruction of some 12,000 farm chickens on Friday after confirming that the flock was infected by avian influenza. State agriculture secretary Michael Scuse said the flu strain is different from the one that has spread to the human population in Asia, and that there is no threat to human health. Scuse would not disclose the location of the infected chicken houses or identify the grower, saying only that it was an independent operation in Kent County. The strain, known as H7, has the potential to cause severe economic damage if it spreads...

A reward of up to $20,000 was announced Thursday for tips leading to the arrest and charges of a hit-and-run motorist who killed a chemist walking in the Texas Medical Center. Robert Leslie Burghoff, 45, a postdoctoral fellow at Baylor College of Medicine's molecular virology and microbiology department, was walking to his car Nov. 20 when he was hit from behind by a white or light-colored cargo van that jumped the sidewalk in the 1600 block of South Braeswood. Burghoff, a father of three who lived in The Woodlands, had been studying the Norwalk virus plaguing cruise ships. Broken glass...

SAN FRANCISCO -- With some pundits starting to write off the chances of Howard Dean's Democratic presidential rivals, Sen. John Edwards tried to make the case Friday that he could give the party a more optimistic -- and electable -- messenger. "If all we are is divisive and angry, if all we do is attack President Bush and each other, then we will not win the White House in 2004, and we won't deserve to," the North Carolina Democrat said in a speech at the Commonwealth Club. Though he did not mention Dean by name, the former governor of Vermont...

<p>A new career awaits Democratic presidential candidates: offering advice to hunters.</p> <p>Tuesday, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean explained his support for extending the assault weapons ban next year because “deer hunters don't need to have assault weapons.” Gen. Wesley Clark says: “I like to hunt. I have grown up with guns all my life, but people who like assault weapons should join the United States Army, we have them.” Sen. John Kerry offered, “I never contemplated hunting deer or anything else with an AK-47.”</p>

The light turned red just as Carlos Estudillo Pineda drove through the intersection, and within seconds the flashing blue lights were behind him. The Raleigh officer who pulled him over early one morning in September 2002 spotted three Bud Lite cans in the car's rear and smelled alcohol. Officer Mike Inguanta had Pineda perform the usual battery of sobriety tests, which the 27-year-old Chapel Hill man failed miserably. Walk nine steps in a straight line, turn around and walk back, Inguanta ordered. Pineda cried as he continued past nine steps without turning. Stand on one leg, Inguanta instructed. Pineda lifted...