Padilla to Enter Plea on Terror Charges After 3 Years in Gulag
• Associated pressAfter more than three years in a Navy brig as an "enemy combatant," alleged al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla will begin constructing his defense as a civilian.
Current News Headlines
These pages list the most recent news stories reported by the readers and editors of Freedom's Phoenix:
Activists upstage Jan Brewer at re-election announcement
• Arizona RepublicWhat had been planned as a simple announcement on the Capitol lawn quickly turned chaotic, as a handful of agitators managed to upstage the first-term Republican and her legion of supporters with criticism of the state's use of Diebold Election S
TSA: Be grateful we don't execute you on the spot
• Associated Press"I don't want to be on the list. I want to fly and see my grandma," the 4-year-old boy said. A ticket agent told his mom: "You're lucky that we're letting you through instead of putting you through the other process."
Paying the price for trying to investigate vote fraud
• East Valley TribuneSen. Bill Brotherton, D-Phoenix, hopes to force an investigation into an agreement between Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, and a Phoenix weekly newspaper violates the Senate’s ethics rules by trying to investigate vote fraud.
Brain's Cannabis Compound Fights Inflammation
• HealthDay NewsNew research details how a cannabis compound produced by the brain helps protect neurons from inflammation. May aid in the development of new drugs to treat inflammation and brain degeneration caused by multiple sclerosis (MS) and other related disor
China is so sure of our economy they are dumping the dollar
• Financial TimesChina indicated on Thursday it could begin to diversify its rapidly growing foreign exchange reserves away from the US dollar and government bonds - a potential shift with significant implications for global financial and commodity markets.
Robertson Links Sharon's Stroke with God's Wrath
• Media Matters (video link)Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for "dividing God's land."
Reid to keep donations from Abramoff clients
• Reno Gazette-JournalU.S. Sen. Harry Reid has no plans to return about $61,000 in political donations from clients of Jack Abramoff, the super lobbyist who has pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges.
Sharon Kept in Medically Induced Coma
• Associated PressThe respected Haaretz Daily quoted hospital officials as saying Sharon suffered vast brain damage. But Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, Hadassah Hospital director, sought to quash widespread rumors that the prime minister was brain-dead. Sharon's pupils wer
AZ Sec. of State Calls Transparent Election Advocates 'Anarchists', 'Conspiracy Theorist
• Brad BlogElection Transparency Advocates who turned out today at Arizona's Sec. of State Jan Brewer's speech to announce her re-election bid were labeled "anarchists" and "conspiracy theorists" by the woman who recently approved Di
Records on Nonprofit Tied to DeLay Sought
• Associated pressA Texas prosecutor issued subpoenas Thursday for records of a contribution to a nonprofit organization linked to Rep. Tom DeLay and lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The Economic Costs of the Iraq War
• TMP CafeNobel Laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard budget expert Linda Bilmes plan to present this week a paper estimating the cost of the Iraq War at between $1-2 trillion.
US agents shot at, tension mounts on Mexico border
• ReutersU.S. Border Patrol agents have come under fire twice along the Rio Grande in Texas in recent days amid rising tension on the frontier with Mexico, although no one was reported wounded, U.S. authorities said on Thursday.
Secretive military unit sought to solve political WMD concerns prior to securing Iraq
• by Larisa Alexandrovna (The Raw Story)“They come in the summer of 2003, bringing in Iraqis, interviewing them. They start talking about WMD and they say to [these Iraqi intelligence officers] that ‘Our President is in trouble. He went to war saying there are WMD and there are no WMD. Wha
Howard Stern to Get $220M in Sirius Stock
• ReutersSirius Satellite Radio Inc. will give Howard Stern 34 million shares of stock — worth about $220 million at today's prices — because the company has met agreed-upon targets for gaining new subscribers under its 2004 deal with the shock jock.
130 Killed in Iraq, Drawing a Shiite Warning
• New York TimesAttacks by suicide bombers killed as many as 130 people on Thursday, rekindling fears of a return to mass sectarian killings after a relative lull and prompting Iraq's most powerful Shiite political faction to warn of retribution and blame the US
"Daily Show's" Jon Stewart to host Oscars
• ReutersSharp-tongued comic Jon Stewart, who regularly skewers politicians and the media as anchor of the satirical television newscast "The Daily Show," was named on Thursday as host of this year's Academy Awards.
3 GOP Senators blast Bush bid to bypass torture ban
• Boston GlobeThree key Republican senators yesterday condemned President Bush's assertion that his powers as commander in chief give him the authority to bypass a new law restricting the use of torture when interrogating detainees.
NASA pays Russia to transport our astronauts
• ReutersNASA will pay the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) $21.8 million per passenger for Soyuz rides to and from the International Space Station (ISS) starting this spring.
Sorry we killed your family. We were trying to kill terrorists.
• ReutersA bomb that killed six civilians Monday near Baiji, Iraq, missed its target by 65 feet and hit the wrong home, military officials said.
Earliest known Mayan writing found in Guatemala
• ReutersArcheologists excavating a pyramid complex in the Guatemalan jungle have uncovered the earliest example of Mayan writing ever found, 10 bold hieroglyphs painted on plaster and stone.
The Pimping of the Presidency
• Texas ObserverJack Abramoff and Grover Norquist Billing Clients for Face Time with G.W. Bush
Firm knew Abramoff was paid by ex-DeLay aide before scandal broke
• by John Byrne (The Raw Story)Officials at the lawfirm that employed indicted conservative lobbyist Jack Abramoff may have misled in public statements when speaking about what they knew about his role in a massive lobbying scandal and when they knew it
The corruption is . . . very extensive
• USA TodayWhat set Abramoff apart from legitimate Washington power brokers was his willingness to exploit an extensive network of Capitol Hill contacts - from well-positioned congressional staffers to members of the Republican leadership - regardless of the ru
Letterman tells O'Rielly he is full of crap
• Crooks and Liars (video links)Bill joined David last night on the Late Show and found that Letterman wasn't buying his phony war on Christmas deal. David also wasn't happy about his attacking Cindy Sheehan, the Iraq war and a lot of what Bill has to say in general.
J.D. Hayworth donated small pitance of Abramoff bootie to charity
• Arizona RepublicRep. J.D. Hayworth reversed himself, at least partly, on Wednesday by announcing that he will donate $2,250 in personal campaign contributions received directly from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to the Salvation Army's Katrina Disaster Fund.
Pentagon "loses" legal round on Guantanamo names
• ReutersA federal judge rejected the U.S. Defense Department's argument for not disclosing the names of detainees at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but stopped short of ordering that the names be released. [hunh?!]
Marines set up and betrayed in ambushes
• NewsNet5Paul Schroeder said his son's fellow 3/25 Marines told him something that the military never told him, how Augie was killed Aug. 3 while trying to capture the Iraqi insurgents who had killed the snipers. "They were set up. Someone knew wh
Speaker of the House Hastert Rushes to donate Abramoff loot to charity
• CNNHouse Speaker Dennis Hastert became the latest lawmaker to dump campaign contributions from clients of high-flying lobbyist Jack Abramoff, giving about $70,000 to charity.
Sharon's departure casts shadow over peace hopes
• ReutersWhatever the medical prognosis, the prime minister's political life appeared to be at an end. Doubt hung over whether Israel's giant shift toward the political center -- engineered by Sharon just weeks ago after completing a Gaza pullout -
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