FEMA Acknowledges Blunders During Katrina
• Associated PressA ranking Louisiana health official turned down federal offers to help move or evacuate patients as Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, a newly released document shows.
Current News Headlines
These pages list the most recent news stories reported by the readers and editors of Freedom's Phoenix:
Bush scaling down his agenda
• Christian Science MonitorOf all the audiences George W. Bush faces Tuesday night in his fifth annual State of the Union message - Congress, the American people, the world - perhaps the most important will be independent voters. They who left the president's side l
Immigration fuels housing battles
• USA Today (see related link)Overcrowded housing is emerging as a battleground in immigration as towns and counties crack down on landlords who permit many unrelated people to occupy single-family homes. [After years of blocking landlords efforts to evict!]
Activist Cindy Sheehan Arrested at Capitol
• By LAURIE KELLMAN AP - Jan 31 9:50 PM US/EasternCindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq who reinvigorated the anti-war movement, was arrested and removed from the House gallery Tuesday night just before President Bush's State of the Union address, a police spokeswoman said
Indian bribes no good
• USA TodayCampaign-finance law has helped Indian tribes increase their political clout is under scrutiny. Last year, tribal casinos raked in nearly $20 billion in revenue, becoming political donors in the same league with drug companies and defense contractors
Bush's State of the Union / Going to War with Iran speech is tonight
• News LinkWhat will be the most repeated word in tonight's speech?
It helps to know the powerful in Congress
• Los Angeles TimesThe lobbying firm of Grimes and Young Inc. is not on K Street, famous address of some of the nation's most influential lobbyists. In fact, Grimes and Young is about a 2 1/2-hour drive from the halls of Congress, in politically remote Media, Pa.,
Al-Zawahri video on failed U.S. air strike
• MSNBC (link to video)Al-Qaida No. 2 man al-Zawahri said in a videotape that President Bush was a “butcher” and a “failure” because of a deadly US airstrike in Pakistan targeting him, and he threatened a new attack on the US. “In seeking to kill my humble self and four of
Sheehan becoming pawn of the left?
• Agence France PresseThe six-day World Social Forum wrapped up in Caracas with US anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan calling President George W. Bush a "terrorist" during an event hosted by Venezuela's leftist leader.
Obesity May Be Contagious
• LiveScience.comA human pathogen called the adenovirus Ad-37 causes obesity in chickens. Previous research found that 2 adenoviruses, Ad-36 and Ad-5, cause obesity in animals. Ad-36 has associated with human obesity in previous studies, and Ad-37 might be, too,
The Next X Prizes: DNA, Nanotech, Autos and Education
• LifeScience.comThe people behind the X Prize that kick-started personal space travel are planning prizes in a variety of non-space fields, from automobile technology and genome research to nanotechnology and education. "... for cutting through the bureaucracie
Dominatrix Acquitted in Bondage Death
• Associated PressProsecutors said Asher confessed to police, but the alleged confession was not taped, and investigators testified they did not save their notes. Asher's lawyer, Stephanie Page, said there was nothing to prove Lord was even dead — no body, no b
Primary Physician Care about to collapse
• ReutersPrimary care—the basic medical care that people get when they visit their doctors for routine physicals and minor problems—could fall apart in the US without immediate reforms, the American College of Physicians said.
Meet Sudan's No. 1 SOB
• Daily TelegraphIf Osama bin Laden and the radical Islamist movement embodied by Hamas possess a pantheon of heroes, a Sudanese intellectual with a British education will be among them. Hassan al-Turabi built Africa's first Islamist state when he dominated Su
Congress ignores debt limit - U.S. in technical default
• Dr. Chris Martenson - Hammer of Truth
Oil hostages released but Nigerian rebels issue new threat
• Agence France PresseNigerian insurgents released four kidnapped foreign contractors but immediately vowed to press home a series of violent attacks against the country's key oil and gas industries.
Frist pays for his grand standing in Terry Schiavo case
• Associated PressSenate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who took a leading role in the Terry Schiavo case, said it taught him that Americans do not want the government involved in such end-of-life decisions.
Testing Balloons for Cellular Service
• Associated pressWhy put up costly cell phone towers in thinly populated areas, when a few balloons would do? In North Dakota, former Gov. Ed Schafer is backing a plan to loft wireless network repeaters on balloons high above the state to fill gaps in cellular covera
Troops have little protection against new enemy in Iraq
• Associated PressIraqi and U.N. health officials said Monday a 15-year-old girl who died this month was a victim of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, the first confirmed case of the disease in the Middle East.
Hamas plan for an Palestinian army draws fire
• Washington PostHamas suggested yesterday that the Islamic group could create a Palestinian army that would include its militant wing -- responsible for scores of deadly attacks on Israelis -- in the aftermath of its crushing victory in parliamentary elections.
Falcon 1 lauch resheduled for Feb. 8<sup>th</sup>
• Space Explorations Technologies PRThe new launch time is February 8 at 5:30 p.m. Arizona time with Feb. 9 as a backup day. We will actually be ready to launch earlier, but are planning to spend extra time reviewing and double-checking all vehicle systems. Following the problem on De
US asks India to back off Syria oil deal
• SINAIndia considers the Syrian venture to be of enormous strategic significance for the value of underlying assets and the role it will play in cementing China-India partnership for acquiring oil and gas equities in third world countries.
First Republican Senator says he will oppose Alito nomination
• Raw StoryU.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R-RI) announced this morning in Providence that he will vote against the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court. In a statement this morning, the Rhode Island senator said he was "greatly con
Savings rate lowest since 1933
• Associated PressAmericans' personal savings rate dipped into negative territory in 2005, something that hasn't happened since the Great Depression. Consumers depleted their savings to finance the purchases of cars and other big-ticket items.
Al Qaeda Detainee's Mysterious Release
• Washington PostDuring the battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, when al Qaeda leaders were pinned down by US forces, Tabarak sacrificed himself to engineer their escape. He headed toward the Pakistani border while making calls on Osama bin Laden's satellite pho
Exxon posts highest profits on record
• Associated PressExxon Mobil Corp. posted record profits for any US company— $10.71 billion for the 4th quarter and $36.13 billion for the year— as the world's biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from high oil and natural-gas prices and solid demand for
Whitehouse photographers complain: Replaced by staged photos
• Editor & PublisherThe practice of providing news organizations with staged photos of events involving the president has become a regular occurrence with the Bush Administration. Each of these events were closed to news photographers. White House-manufactured images i
Ignore 6<sup>th</sup> Amendment; allow secret witnesses
• Associated PressA federal judge plans to decide this week whether she will allow Israeli intelligence agents to take the witness stand in a Chicago courtroom and testify using aliases and wearing disguises.
Blair and Bush 'conspired to go to war regardless of UN'
• The IndependentTony Blair knew that George Bush was only "going through the motions" of offering support for a second UN resolution in the run-up to the Iraq war, it was claimed last night.
Construction money gone; Cheney's Halliburton sells KBR
• Chicago Sun-TimesHalliburton said it plans to sell a minority stake in its engineering and construction unit KBR through an initial public offering. KBR has generated controversy over how it became the largest U.S. contractor in Iraq.
Watch Streaming Broadcast Live:
