Ingrid Betancourt arrived in France today after being held captive for six years in the Colombian jungle, amid claims that a ransom was paid to free her.
The Colombian government said that she was freed in an audacious operation after the military tricked Farc into handing the French-Colombian politician over without a shot being fired.
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Tags: terrorists · troops · colombia · farc · south+america · hostage · hostages · france · terrorism · military · politics · government · usa · bush+administration · u.s.+news
Stand-up comedian George Carlin, whose routine about forbidden words on the airwaves led to a key Supreme Court decision on government broadcast oversight, died of heart failure near Los Angeles. He was 71.
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Tags: usa · society · comedy · obituary · comedian · america · culture · u.s.+news · politics · government · entertainment · death
Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba (now retired) served as the deputy commanding general for support for the Third Army for ten months in Kuwait during the early days of the Iraq occupation. In a statement released today, he bluntly accuses the Bush administration of war crimes and lays down a challenge for prosecution.
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Tags: bush+administration · culture · constitution · mideast · terrorists · troops · government · supreme+court · open+society · military · two+americas · congress · politics · terrorism · iraq
In the waning months of his tenure, President Bush and his allies are once again trying to scare Congress into expanding the president’s powers to spy on Americans without a court order.
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Tags: bush+administration · fisa · society · constitution · analysis · mideast · spying · america · politics · congress · opinion · supreme+court · culture · government · military

Pentagon officials firmly opposed a proposal by Vice President Dick Cheney last summer for airstrikes against Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) bases by insisting that the administration would have to make clear decisions about how far the United States would go in escalating the conflict with Iran, according to a former George W. Bush administration official.
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Tags: constitution · bush+administration · pentagon · mideast · analysis · troops · america · government · military · bush · cheney · congress · supreme+court · politics · iraq
GENESEE COUNTY, Mich. - Police - or at least K-9 units - now can go sniffing around outside your house even without a warrant.
A recent court ruling said police don’t need a search warrant to take drug-sniffing dogs to the front door of homes, as long as they have a tip there are illegal drugs there.
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Tags: rights · constitution · dog · law+enforcement · rightds · k+9 · society · police · politics · congress · search · supreme+court · culture · government · Uncategorized
GENESEE COUNTY, Mich. - Police - or at least K-9 units - now can go sniffing around outside your house even without a warrant.
A recent court ruling said police don’t need a search warrant to take drug-sniffing dogs to the front door of homes, as long as they have a tip there are illegal drugs there.
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Tags: rights · constitution · dog · law+enforcement · rightds · k+9 · society · police · politics · congress · search · supreme+court · culture · government · Uncategorized

Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the ’50s and ’60s, has died. He was 84.
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Tags: society · film · actors · nra · obituary · religion · culture · movies · politics · activism · entertainment · death
NOAA deployed the final two tsunami detection buoys in the South Pacific this week, completing the buoy network and bolstering the U.S. tsunami warning system. This vast network of 39 stations provides coastal communities in the Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico with faster and more accurate tsunami warnings.
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Tags: scientists · united+states · buoy · tidal+wave · tsunami · warning · ocean · science · world · america · us · usa · u.s.+news
Gaza is under murderous assault and the United States is escalating regional threats while pushing new sanctions against Iran.
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Tags: constitution · society · mideast · troops · terrorists · analysis · bush+administration · america · military · iraq · terrorism · politics · culture · government · u.s.+news
Following the death of the Italian-French war veteran Lazare Ponticelli, a total of nine men who served in their countries’ armed forces during World War I are known to be still alive around the world.
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Tags: troops · usa · warfare · world+war+i · wwi · society · veterans · military · world · politics · government · culture · u.s.+news
The latest annual count of hate groups operating in the United States rose to 888 last year, capping a 48 percent increase since 2000.
(THESE are the terrorists Americans should be worrying about.)
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Tags: constitution · society · fundamentalism · church+and+state · terrorists · analysis · bush+administration · culture · terrorism · congress · politics · supreme+court · education · u.s.+news
America’s national security institutions have failed and the military has been left holding the bag in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, conducting nation-building tasks for which it is ill-suited, according to the final report of a House Armed Services Committee panel established in 2007 to examine military roles and missions.
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ABC News’ Jonathan Karl Reports: The Bush Administration apparently does not want a U.S. military study that found no direct connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda to get any attention. This morning, the Pentagon cancelled plans to send out a press release announcing the report’s release and will no longer make the report available online.
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Tags: constitution · society · lies · propaganda · analysis · mideast · bush+administration · america · congress · military · politics · supreme+court · culture · government · iraq
NEW DELHI, 27 February 2008 (PlusNews) - The silence and taboo surrounding anal sex is putting millions of men and women at risk of HIV, delegates attending the fourth international microbicides conference in New Delhi, India, heard this week.
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Tags: hiv · medicine · disease · doctors · illness · analysis · aids · prevention · education · government · science · culture · research · sex · politics