Free Republic

A year ago, a woman who is a member of the Washoe Tribe told me that every time she sees the "s-word," she feels a full-body reaction. The word, "squaw," is a painful reminder that historic violence against Indigenous people continues to linger in our daily lives, she said, as I was reporting a story for the Tahoe Quarterly. The word has no ties to the language of the Washoe Tribe, whose ancestral land encompasses Lake Tahoe and the surrounding region; their word for women is damumóˑʔmoʔ. But it traveled across the country with settlers more than 150 years ago...

New information is emerging about efforts by major Democratic Party figures to undercut American war efforts in Iraq by providing aid to the insurgents.  Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson's article Treason in America details how a coalition of radical organizations, including US-based Code Pink, delivered some $600,000 in cash and supplies to insurgents and their families in Fallujah, just days after 51 American troops were killed there in some of the bloodiest action of the Iraq war.  An approving article published in Islam Online tipped off the connection between the anti-American Global Exchange coalition and the Democrats who made their venture...

The nearly $30-billion Gateway program to overhaul Northeast Corridor rail lines between Newark and New York City, an array of tunnels, bridges and viaduct over wetlands has two main thrusts: rehabilitation and expansion. These objectives are deeply intertwined—the project team must build new structures in the huge effort before it can upgrade old ones. That’s why digging two 1.4-mile, 28-ft-dia train tunnels under the Hudson River—an estimated $12.9-billion project component—isn’t just an expansion job but a lifeline to free a pair of 107-year-old tubes heavily damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and in need of a rebuild. It’s also why...

Lake Sediments Record Climate Change At Cahokia INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA —National Public Radio reports that climatologist Broxton Bird of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and colleagues analyzed layers of calcite crystals interspersed with layers of mud on the bottom of Indiana’s Martin Lake in order to learn about historic rainfall levels at Cahokia. The study suggests that beginning in the 900s, the Central Mississippi Valley received more rain than usual. And carbon isotopes found in skeletons at Mississippian cities indicate that people ate a lot of corn. “That comes at right around 950, and that’s around the time the population at Cahokia...

COVERT, Mich. - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission launched a special inspection at the Palisades Nuclear Plant after several workers were exposed to radiation, officials said Thursday. The workers were not expected to suffer any adverse health effects and no medical treatment was necessary, the agency said in a statement. About six workers were handling a two-part storage container underwater in the refueling area early Wednesday when an inner portion of the container briefly rose to the surface, the NRC said. The employees were exposed to radiation emitted from highly radioactive equipment inside the container. According to radiation detectors worn by...

Tuesday 26th July 2005 (18h58) : A neighbor’s view of Valerie Wilson’s ’outing’ Joe and Valerie Wilson are my next door neighbors in a hilly neighborhood just west of Georgetown. We moved in within months of each other seven years ago, attracted to our respective houses by the view of the Capitol in the distance and the Washington Monument in the foreground. The patriotic view is stirring. I have another view from my window, of a neighbor who is a working, devoted mother of 5-year-old twins, a volunteer for charities, a woman active in her church, and a caring person....