http://texasfred.net No Holds Barred, News, Commentary and Opinion Sat, 17 May 2008 05:09:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Back in the day of chain gangs, Alabama passed a law that gave sheriffs $1.75 a day to feed each prisoner in their jails, and the sheriffs got to pocket anything that was left over. More than 80 years later, most Alabama counties still operate under ... http://texasfred.net/archives/1196 John McCain has had a rocky relationship with the National Rifle Association over the years, with his support for closing the gun show loophole at the top of the organization's list of grievances and his shepherding of campaign finance reform a close second. On Friday McCain addresses the NRA's annual ... http://texasfred.net/archives/1195 AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A Dutch political cartoonist was arrested this week on suspicion of insulting people because of their race or religion through his work, authorities said Friday. The cartoonist, who works under the pseudonym Gregorius Nekschot, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of violating hate speech laws and held overnight before ... http://texasfred.net/archives/1194 RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - President Bush is appealing to oil-rich Saudi Arabia to increase production just as oil prices have hit another record high. As U.S. consumers cope with rising prices at the gas pump, Bush is on a one-day visit to Saudi Arabia for another burst of diplomacy with ... http://texasfred.net/archives/1191 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - California's Supreme Court declared gay couples in the nation's biggest state can marry - a monumental but perhaps short-lived victory for the gay rights movement Thursday that was greeted with tears, hugs, kisses and at least one instant proposal of matrimony. Same-sex couples could tie the knot ... http://texasfred.net/archives/1188 COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, although he rejected suggestions that his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamoring for full-scale troop withdrawals. The Republican presidential contender, in ... http://texasfred.net/archives/1187 JERUSALEM (AP) - President Bush feted Israel on Thursday in honor of the 60th anniversary of its founding and predicted that its 120th birthday would find it alongside a Palestinian state and in an all-democratic neighborhood free of today's oppression, restrictions on freedom and extremist Muslim movements. Delivering this rosy forecast ... http://texasfred.net/archives/1186 HANNITY: Obama, Wright GAY Relationship Nationally Syndicated radio talk show host Sean Hannity, continued his commitment of the “Stop Obama Express”, by providing a forum for Pastor James David Manning, of ATLAH World Ministries, to launch yet another unsubstantiated and slanderous attack against Senator Obama (D-IL). The most recent allegation leveled ... http://texasfred.net/archives/1185 WASHINGTON (AP) - Companies working on Iraq reconstruction have been accused of padding their profits through an insurance scam, leading to a criminal probe and hurried changes in the way many contracts are handled by the U.S. Army, according to internal military documents obtained by The Associated Press. The investigation of ... http://texasfred.net/archives/1184 KABUL, Afghanistan — A teacher was shot to death in northern Afghanistan after he gave a speech condemning homicide bombings, officials said Wednesday. Abdul Hadi criticized such attacks as un-Islamic and un-Afghan during a speech Tuesday in the Archi district of Kunduz province, said Khair Mohammad Subat, the provincial education department ... http://texasfred.net/archives/1183