Free Republic

Remember the Pentagon's $600 hammer? Its $1,000 toilet seat? Those 1983 revelations of profiligate defense spending touched off months of hearings and recriminations. Almost overlooked amid the hubbub was the man who started it all -- an unassuming Iowa farmer named Charles Ernest Grassley. Until the Pentagon follies, no one paid the junior senator from the Hawkeye State much notice. Nor did anyone have great expectations for this Republican who was labeled an Iowa bumpkin destined for a single term. But don't underestimate Grassley. Since acting on whistleblower complaints about defense spending 20 years ago, Grassley has taken on fraud...

Backwoods militias suspected of being behind biowar threat IAN BRUCE THE FBI's domestic terrorism unit is investigating the possible role of illegal militia groups in the spate of anthrax outbreaks in Florida and New York. Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber who killed 168 people when he blew up a federal building in 1995, was a supporter of one such group, the National Alliance. Others have threatened to use biological weapons, including anthrax, botulism, and ricin, in their struggle against what they see as a global conspiracy between the US administration and the United Nations to disarm and enslave them. Every ...

BREAKING NEWS: Human Remains Found at Weaver's Home 08/24/2002 By DOUG IRVING, kgw.com Staff Investigators found the apparent remains of a single body hidden in a backyard shed as they searched Ward Weaver’s former property Saturday for evidence of two missing girls. Police had not identified the remains. Search crews continued to search a concrete slab behind Weaver’s Oregon City house, not far from the apartment complex where Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis disappeared. Weaver had identified himself as a top suspect in the months-old case, but had denied any involvement. He was jailed earlier this month on unrelated rape...