Soldiers ordered to take off private body armor
• Defense WatchThe soldiers were ordered to leave their privately purchased body armor at home or face the possibility of both losing their life insurance benefit and facing disciplinary action.
Current News Headlines
These pages list the most recent news stories reported by the readers and editors of Freedom's Phoenix:
Astronaut's memoir questions US space shuttle safety
• ReutersAstronaut Mike Mullane has flown on the shuttle 3 times, but in a new memoir he called this ship the most dangerous spacecraft humans have ever ridden. NASA's bureaucracy helped make it that way by discouraging questions about safety and other ma
Our Saudi friends keep trying to kill us
• Los Angeles TimesUS officials confirm an aggressive role by Saudi fighters in the insurgency in Iraq, where they accounted for more than half of all Arab militants killed. Millions of dollars continue to flow from wealthy Saudis to Al Qaeda and other suspected terror
Swiss government defends its stance on CIA prisons
• SwissInfoA week after revelations that the Swiss authorities knew of the existence of secret CIA prisons in Europe, 3 ministers have spoken out. They rejected criticism from the Council of Europe's investigator that Switzerland have failed to take the Whi
Returning soldiers finding it hard to adjust
• New York TimesThe duffel bag landed on the floor with a thud. The Army medic, looked around. The walls of his apartment were full of holes. The bathroom did not have any toilet paper. The floors were fuzzy with dust. Just returned from a year in Iraq, but no one h
Murtha details his exit strategy on <i>60 Minutes</i>
• CBS News (incl. video link)“I think the vast majority [of troops] will be out by the end of the year and I’m hopeful it will be sooner than that,” Murtha tells Mike Wallace. Mounting pressure from constituents in this election year will force Congress to pass his withdrawal pl
Government censorship and taxation used to destroy religion
• The Columbus DispatchIn a rare and potentially explosive action, moderate ministers signed a complaint asking the IRS to investigate World Harvest Church and Fairfield Christian Church and determine if their tax-exempt status should be revoked.
Interview of a NSA Whistleblower
• Reason MagazineRussell Tice: No, I'm referring to what I need to tell Congress that no one knows yet, which is only tertiarily connected to what you know about now.
The Redcoats of 1776; Iraqi raid detailed
• Associated PressNow, at 1:13 a.m., under a light drizzle, 25-year-old Lt. Mark Brogan and 13 men from his platoon crouch behind a wall, waiting for the signal to storm the house. The informant claims the financier and his son are inside. The two bodyguards, almost c
Democrats now oppose the war, but continue support with your pocketbooks
• ANG Newspapers"I'm not prepared to say (to the troops) that even though you're there on a flawed premise, I will not support you," Nancy Pelosi said over the shouts of protesters. "The fact is, the money is for the troops, and I'm not go
Look at Iran, not at our scandles
• ReutersRepublican and Democratic senators said on Sunday the United States may ultimately have to undertake a military strike to deter Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but that should be the last resort.
IRS Illegally Collects Congressional Passed Phone Tax
• Associated PressThe IRS is illegally collecting taxes from cellphone users to the tune of $9 billion over of the last 3 years, Sen. Charles Schumer said. The federal government started collecting taxes on long-distance calls way back in 1898 to help pay for the Span
US Deficit Killing Your Dreams
• Associated PressLike a person packing on pounds, the US keeps adding to its flabby budget deficits, endangering the nation's economic health and the pocketbooks of ordinary Americans. Persistent deficits will lead to higher borrowing costs for consumers and comp
Shell Evacuates Oil Workers in Nigeria
• BBC NewsShell has withdrawn about 330 workers from four sites in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria following a gunboat attack. Gunmen fought Nigerian soldiers on Sunday as they overran the Benisede pumping station near the port of Warri.
Raids across Brazil free 4,000 slaves
• The GuardianThe Brazilian employment ministry said its officials raided 183 farms, the highest number since Swat-style teams were introduced 10 years ago. In total 4,133 workers were freed, with R$7.4m (£1.8m) paid to victims, the ministry said.
Gore's speech attacking Bush for domestic spying
• Raw StoryAs we begin this new year, the Executive Branch of our government has been caught eavesdropping on huge numbers of American citizens and has brazenly declared that it has the unilateral right to continue without regard to the established law enacted
Translator's Conviction Raises Legal Concerns
• Washington PostYousry's conviction raises many troubling questions, not least how a court-appointed translator working on instruction from lawyers could be held responsible for navigating complicated and dangerous legal waters.
Ethics Committees Won't Commit to Action
• Associated PressThe leaders of Congress' ethics committees are not committing to any investigation of misconduct despite the growing revelations about the favors that lobbyist Jack Abramoff won for clients and the largesse he arranged for lawmakers. The committe
155 year old tradition ended: warm bodies needed in Iraq
• Daily KosI'm a sucker for my country and many of its most gaudy traditions, which brings me to today's Naval Academy-Marine story. Until this morning, I'd never heard of this tradition, but the fact that it's been around for 155 years (probabl
Rep. Ney temporarily steps down as committee chairman
• Associated PressRep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), an Ohio Republican implicated in a lobbying corruption investigation, said Sunday he will step aside temporarily as chairman of the House Administration Committee.
Alabama Remembers Black Soldier's Defiance
• Associated PressFive years before Rosa Parks launched a bus boycott by refusing to give up her seat to a white man, a uniformed black soldier balked at an order to board a bus through a back door and paid with his life.
Rep. Ney scandle in full bloom
• NewsweekOhio Rep. Robert Ney personally lobbied the then Secretary of State Colin Powell to relax U.S. sanctions on Iran. Who asked him to? A convicted airplane broker who had just taken the congressman and a top aide on an expense-paid trip to London
Chile elects its first woman President
• ReutersA torture victim in the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, a former defense minister and a medical doctor, socialist Michelle Bachelet parlayed her ability to connect with voters into becoming Chile's first woman president.
Jack Abramoff's $10,000 Question
• Time MagazineNey, the chairman of the powerful Committee on House Administration repeatedly demanded help in raising cash for the National Republican Campaign Committee. G.O.P. chairmen had to meet steep fund-raising quotas or risk losing their plum positions.
Iran under air strike consideration by several powers
• by Sanjay Suri (AntiWar.com)Western powers are already planning use of the military option in the face of Iran's insistence that it will go ahead with what it calls its nuclear research program. ''The military option is being considered already, they are just not ta
Spain defies US on Venezuela deal
• BBCSpain has said it will go ahead with the sale of 12 military planes to Venezuela despite US objections.
Iraqi election results unlikely to be released next week
• ABC NewsIraq's electoral commission won't release final results from last month's election in coming days because the panel is waiting on international monitors to finish investigating fraud complaints, a senior Iraqi election official said Satur
Saddam trial in disarray as judge quits
• Colin FreemanThe court now faces the daunting task of replacing Mr Amin, who, despite the criticism levelled at him, is generally considered among the more capable Iraqi legal minds willing to work for the court.
Iran 'does not need nuclear arms'
• BBC NewsIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that his country does not need a nuclear weapon. Mr Ahmadinejad said they were needed only by people who "want to solve everything through the use of force".
The UK leads the way to the modern "democratic" police state
• The IndependentThe rules have been changing ever since Mr Blair became PM and he has overseen a massive expansion of the state's capacity to spy on private individuals. Technology and new legislation have significantly increased the security services' capac
Watch Streaming Broadcast Live:
