Free Republic

VETERAN ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION Please understand what this network is all about, then figure out how to be an asset. In order to get this off the ground without venture capitalists buying equity and taking control, we need to create a highly efficient team and crowdfund the money ourselves. A highly efficient team doesn’t need a leader barking orders and handing out tasks to followers who are waiting to be told what to do. It needs a group of highly motivated and proficient individuals who understand the mission and intent, and work together to accomplish the mission. If you don’t know...

Sherman Oaks, California I was detained last night by federal authorities at San Francisco International Airport for refusing to answer questions about why I had travelled outside the United States. The end result is that, after waiting for about half an hour and refusing to answer further questions, I was released – because U.S. citizens who have produced proof of citizenship and a written customs declaration are not obligated to answer questions. * * * “Why were you in China?” asked the passport control officer, a woman with the appearance and disposition of a prison matron. “None of your business,”...

Dip in air travel post-9/11 delayed flu spread 01:00 12 September 2006 NewScientist.com news service Roxanne Khamsi The sharp drop in air travel after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 may have slowed the spread of flu in the US, researchers have discovered. These real-world data about ordinary flu contrast with recent computer simulations modelling the spread of pandemic bird flu. These models cast doubt on the idea that air travel restrictions could slow bird flu's spread. The new work shows that the reduction in air travel following 9/11 may have slowed the spread of ordinary flu in the...

The terrorists of 9/11 had bigger plans than just killing people and blowing up buildings. They hoped that the attacks would send shock waves through the American financial system and severely harm the U.S. economy. In December 2001, Osama bin Laden said that the attacks had "shaken the throne of America and hit hard the American economy at its heart and its core." The economy was already in recession on 9/11, and was theoretically vulnerable. At the time of the attacks, industrial production had fallen for 11 consecutive months, new orders for durable goods were down 8.5% from the previous...

The White House has given details of 10 major terror plots that President Bush says have been foiled by the US and its allies since the 11 September attacks. Mr Bush cited the disrupted plans in a speech, designed to boost support for the so-called war on terror. They include a plot to use hijacked aircraft to hit the US East and West coasts and to attack Heathrow Airport. But the sketchy details provided by the White House make it hard to assess how serious or advanced the plans were. Most of the plots have been previously reported in some...

Hurricanes, turned tropical depressions, swirled all over the North American continent. England was still recovering from a chilling terrorist attack. Gasoline prices stood at all-time highs. And yet the world did not fall apart over the past week. In fact, our stock markets have risen, housing markets remain strong and growing government revenues have even started to trim our nation's deficit. These developments, and the public's reactions to them, demonstrate a major shift in the way the public responds to events. It is perhaps the dawning of a new day. America has joined other nations, more accustomed to acts of...

Once more we are having to listen to the black is white, up is down Dem-speak we’ve been subjected to for the last forty years. The Democrats, and their allies in the extremist lobbying organizations know how wrong Durbin’s comments were and that his “apology” on Wednesday was anything but a legitimate apology. They know that such a comment could be damaging to their election hopes in 2006 so they are running to cover Durbin’s egregious statements by trumping up a comparison between Durbin’s comments and those made by Carl Rove at a conservative fund raiser. Okay, I know that...

Like most of the world's great metropolises, San Francisco is a city inhabited largely by pilgrims, émigrés and exiles from afar and abroad. Whether originating from other states or other countries, many a wanderer has made his or her way to the City by the Bay, looking for a new life. Among their ranks are local migrants, the group to which I belong. I grew up in Marin County in a time when artists, hippie types and regular folk like my family could afford to dwell among the well-to-do. Needless to say, it made for a pleasant upbringing. But, like...

Normally, it would be unfair to attack Roger Ebert for his addiction to food. Normally, it would be in poor taste to hold the calorically-gifted film-critic’s insatiable taste-buds against him. Normally. But now, Roger Ebert’s irresistible yen for a sandwich is literally his excuse to defend an Islamic terrorist, Ibrahim Parlak. Parlak, who is under deportation orders, owns a restaurant in Harbert, Michigan—a restaurant Ebert frequents, with apparently great appetite. In a letter to the U.S. government opposing Parlak’s deportation, Ebert wrote, “[H]e offered to come to my home and prepare special foods for me.” But haute cuisine for liberal...

Michael Chertoff, President Bush's nominee to be secretary of homeland security, is widely hailed for his intellectual heft and tireless work habits as a federal prosecutor and judge. But he also faces criticism as an architect of some of the most controversial elements of the Bush administration's domestic war on terrorism that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. As an assistant attorney general in the months after the attacks, Chertoff helped oversee the detention of 762 foreign nationals for immigration violations; none of them was charged with terrorism-related crimes. A subsequent report by the Justice Department's inspector general determined that...

Back before the November election, many mainstream media pundits - trying desperately to get John Kerry elected -- began to harp on President Bush's unwillingness to stop certain federal gun control laws from expiring as scheduled. But their propaganda efforts came to naught because this issue was a non-starter with the American people. The fact is, in this day of post-911 increased security consciousness, most average Americans simply don't want more gun control. They want more guns on hand to defend themselves and their loved ones in the face of possible life-threatening danger. Soccer moms are now taking handgun proficiency...

http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=10146 Debate Score: Bush 1, Kerry 0 Written by Gregory Borse Monday, October 04, 2004 In order for the creeping dynamics of the race for the presidency to change as a result of the first presidential debate, two things had to happen: President Bush had to commit a major gaff and Democratic challenger Senator Kerry had to hit a home run. Neither happened. Still, this first debate offered an opportunity--as a result of the fact that the two participants performed so well--a real contrast between the candidates. For all the harping before the first of the three scheduled debates, about...

DOT, Delta Reach Settlement Regarding Discrimination Against Passengers The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today announced a consent order reflecting an agreement with Delta Air Lines regarding treatment of certain air travelers who are or were perceived to be of Arab, Middle Eastern or Southeast Asian descent and/or Muslim in the period following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The order finds that Delta acted in a manner inconsistent with federal laws that prohibit discrimination and requires the carrier to provide civil rights training over the next two years to its pilots, flight attendants and passenger service agents at a...

PHOENIX - A memorial to servicemen and women killed since Sept. 11, 2001, could be dedicated within a year. The Enduring Freedom memorial planned for Wesley Bolin Plaza across from the state Capitol will feature a soldier standing next to a field cross - a rifle jammed into the ground with a helmet on the end, along with dog tags and boots next to the gun.

Newly uncovered files examined by US military investigators in Baghdad show what is being described as 'a direct link' between Saddam Hussein's elite Fedayeen military unit and the terrorist attacks on America September 11, 2001.Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, who attended a 2000 Al Qaeda summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where the 9/11 attacks were planned, is listed among the officers on three Fedayeen rosters reviewed by US probers, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.'Our government sources, who have seen the translations of the documents, say Shakir is listed with the rank of Lt. Colonel,' the paper said.Saddam's Fedayeen has been identified...

PICKING YOUR BATTLESby Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher March 5, 2002 If there has ever been a time to pick sides, that time is now – and that applies to every aspect of your life imaginable. Six months ago, I may not have said that publicly (though I have privately practiced that philosophy my entire adult life), but since the events of 9-11, all bets are off. In every area of our lives, we are called upon to make choices, and those choices we make will affect other areas of our lives – as such, we need to choose carefully...

Germany (AP) - Lawyers for the second Sept. 11 suspect to go on trial argued Thursday that the Moroccan was unaware of the plot by hijack ringleader Mohamed Atta. Abdelghani Mzoudi, charged with more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder and membership in a terrorist organization, knew al-Qaida cell members but was not part of the plan to attack the United States, lawyer Guel Pinar told the Hamburg state court during closing arguments. "Abdelghani Mzoudi belonged to the group of students around Mohamed Atta. He spent time in Afghanistan. The evidence shows that - but no more than that,"...

Brockington and Moore were two of six disciplined in on-duty angling By Tony Plohetski AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, November 13, 2003 Two Austin police officers suspended for fishing while on duty apparently lacked an essential part of their gear: valid fishing licenses. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department records, Sgt. Dana Brockington's last fishing license expired in August 2001, months before police said he fished with several other officers while they were supposed to be guarding a power plant against possible terrorism at Lake Walter E. Long in far Northeast Austin. Officer Christopher Moore also did not have a license...

Friday » April 11 » 2003 Baghdad falls The new American era of peace through power Robert Fulford National Post National Post columnist Robert Fulford explains how the war in Iraq marks a turning point in world history. - - - A monstrous bronze version of Saddam Hussein, its elephantine arm outstretched, towered above Paradise Square in the core of Baghdad, one of the hundreds of self-glorifying symbols that he installed in his capital and across the country to tell the world that he was omnipresent as well as all-powerful, the only man of consequence in the Republic of Iraq....