Free Republic

Tomorrow night, President Obama will tell the world how he will -- in his own words -- “finish the job” in Afghanistan. And he will propose to do this, by whatever means, in less than eight or nine years which is the period his spokesman, Robert Gibbs, declared the limit of our commitment. Obama will get it entirely wrong. We know this now, a day before the speech, because the president has resolutely committed himself to the wrong theory, asking the wrong questions in search of his new strategy. Three points suffice. It’s not possible to “finish the job” in...

The helicopter that crashed near Robbie's Marina Saturday afternoon reportedly lifted off on its own before crashing into the water, according to both the Federal Aviation Administration and an employee at Robbie's Marina in Islamorada. The pilot of the helicopter, registered to G S Helicopters Inc. of Islamorada, reportedly made an emergency landing on Indian Key Historic State Park around 2:30 p.m. Saturday because he was experiencing problems with the aircraft, said Kathleen Bergen, communications manager for FAA's Southern Region. The uninhabited, 10-acre island is located several hundred yards south of U.S. 1 near Mile Marker 78 and includes a...

The forecasts of global warming are based on the mathematical solutions of equations in models of the weather.  But all of these solutions are inaccurate. Therefore no valid scientific conclusions can be made concerning global warming. The false claim for the effectiveness of mathematics is an unreported scandal at least as important as the recent climate data fraud. Why is the math important? And why don't the climatologists use it correctly? Mathematics has a fundamental role in the development of all physical sciences. First the researchers strive to understand the laws of nature determining the behavior of what they are...

Maurice Clemmons, the man wanted for questioning, has been convicted of five felonies in his home state Arkansas and has been charged with eight felonies in Washington state. In 1989, Clemmons, then aged 17, was convicted in Little Rock for aggravated robbery. He was paroled in 2000 after Mr Huckabee commuted Clemmons' 35-year prison sentence. Mr Huckabee, who took criticism during his run for the Republican presidential nomination for the number of pardons he issued, cited Clemmons' age at the time of the sentence.

After its miserable failure to cover the O’Keefe/Giles expose of ACORN, the MSM is striving for a repeat performance in ClimateGate with near silence. This is a story of “hacked” emails from the Hadley Climate Research Unit at East Anglia University in the UK that were made public about 12 days ago. It is a story of the top climate research scientists cooking the data, queering the peer review process and encouraging each other to destroy data covered by two nations’ Freedom of Information Acts. Coverage by the nation’s two “leading” newspapers has been underwhelming. A total of three print...

George Anter knows he has a lot to be thankful for during the holidays. The heart he received during a transplant procedure 12 years ago, for which he gives thanks every day, continues to do its job. Most Popular Stories # Elderly question flu shot controls # NORM: Wynns finalize divorce papers # U.S. HIGHWAY 95 CRASH: Longtime LV officer mourned # Slaying details emerge # NORM: At last, Ripa gets her wedding cake # NORM: Crash compounds Woods' problems # Surgeon agrees to plea deal in medical malpractice fraud case # Two more teens arrested in slaying of officer...

The Seattle Times reports that the man suspected of shooting four police officers in Washington State was granted clemency in Arkansas nine years ago by then-Governor Mike Huckabee. Huckabee had reportedly pardoned the suspected shooter, Maurice Clemmons, because he was just 17 when his original crimes were committed. (Clemmons was still on parole, and should apparently have been sent back to jail in Arkansas more recently.) But it's a tragic, and politically damaging story of the kind that, with the name Willie Horton attached, helped derail Mike Dukakis's bid for the White House.

HUTCHINSON — The Reno County Sheriff's Office is investigating the actions of a defense attorney who pulled out a hand grenade in court this week, pulled the pin and set it on the prosecutor's table.

the ClimateGate scandal as a topic for discussion during the Roundtable segment on Sunday's "This Week." As NewsBusters has been reporting since this story broke more than a week ago, television news outlets have been quite disinterested in the controversy now growing with each passing day. Breaking this trend, Stephanopoulos aggressively waded into this seemingly verboten subject by mentioning how it complicates President Obama's trip to "Copenhagen to deal with climate change." George Will of course agreed saying that the release of these e-mail messages raises a serious question about why America should "wager trillions of dollars and substantially curtail...

Sources tell TMZ the Florida Highway Patrol is now focusing on obtaining a search warrant -- allowing them to seize medical records from the hospital that treated Tiger Woods -- in an attempt to determine if the wounds Woods sustained are consistent with a car accident or domestic violence We're told authorities believe they can show probable cause a crime was committed, a necessary step in obtaining a warrant. One big piece of evidence showing probable cause ... sources tell us Tiger's wife, Elin Nordegren told FHP troopers she went looking for Tiger in a golf cart, came upon the...

With her brother home from deployment, Meghan McCain on the horrors soldiers face there and her frustration at the president should he—as expected—send less than the 40,000 troops General Stanley McChrystal has requested. The first time I watched my brother Jimmy deploy to Iraq, it was in a parking lot at Camp Pendleton. The whole experience was a lot quieter and more low-key than I had expected. It was literally a bunch of families waiting around, beginning at around five in the morning, for Greyhound buses to arrive. During most of that time, all anyone did was watch more soldiers...

Yesterday, the Pew Research Center released a really interesting study which found that young adults in the U.S. are responding to the recession by moving in with their parents or other roommates. This might be a predictable behavior, but it's always useful to see actual data support theory. And the findings are pretty strong. First: A recent survey by the Pew Research Center finds that 13% of parents with grown children say one of their adult sons or daughters has moved back home in the past year. Social scientists call them "boomerangers" -- young adults who move in with parents...

"Tourist Arrested In Disney Bomb Threat German Man Claimed He Was Joking, Deputies Say" ORLANDO, Fla. - SNIPPET: "According to the Orange County Sheriff's Office, Naumann was going through a security checkpoint at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom at about 10:22 a.m. and told a worker that he had two bombs in his backpack. The Disney cast member questioned Naumann, of Leipzig, Germany, and he again stated that there were two bombs in his backpack, deputies said."

ATLANTA (AP) | Just a few weeks ago, some suggested Atlanta was about to name its first white mayor in a generation. Instead, the Nov. 3 election set up a hard-fought runoff battle that's expected to break down largely along racial lines when voters return to the polls Tuesday. Mary Norwood, the white candidate, and former state Sen. Kasim Reed, a black man, are vying for a critical mass of racial crossover votes, with victory likely hinging on black-versus-white turnout. "What it comes down to is if she gets more black votes than he gets white votes," said political strategist...

A SWAT team and police negotiators surrounded a Leschi home in Seattle where the man sought for questioning in the Lakewood police shooting may be hiding. Police responded to the home at East Yesler Way and 32nd Avenue South where police stopped a woman who was leaving the home. She told them Maurice Clemmons was on the property and bleeding, according to a law enforcement source. The woman told police that someone had dropped Clemmons off at the home. The source also said police had received tips about two other properties they needed to search, in Queen Anne and Renton....

Police surround Seattle home where person of interest in police shooting may be hiding A SWAT team and police negotiators surrounded a Leschi home in Seattle where the man sought for questioning in the Lakewood police shooting may be hiding. By Seattle Times staff A SWAT team and police negotiators surrounded a Leschi home in Seattle where the man sought for questioning in the Lakewood police shooting may be hiding. Police responded to the home at East Yesler Way and 32nd Avenue South where police stopped a woman who was leaving the home. She told them Maurice Clemmons was on...

Pamela Bach, David Hasselhoff's Ex-Wife, Charged With Drunk Driving November 29, 2009 Former Baywatch star David Hasselhoff’s ex-wife was charged with drunk driving Saturday night and faces a Christmas Eve court date, the California Highway Patrol said Sunday. Pamela Bach was stopped just after 8 p.m. on Laurel Canyon Boulevard just south of the 101 Freeway. She recorded breathalyzer tests of .14 and .13, a CHP spokesman said. The legal limit is .08. Bach appeared in 14 episodes of "Baywatch" as cafe owner Kaye Morgan, according to the website IMDB.com.

Hundreds in L.A. Protest -- And Participate In -- Honduras' Presidential Election Poll workers say at least 500 expatriates cast ballots downtown, despite the protests of many who denounced the coup and urged the international community not to recognize Sunday's election results. Jose Duran, left, of Los Angeles protests Honduras election outside a polling site at Evans Community Adult School downtown. By Paloma Esquivel While Honduras' de facto government observed elections more than 2,000 miles away on Sunday, Honduran citizens in Los Angeles headed to a local school to make their voices heard -- one way or another. Inside the...

Julie Andrews to return to London stage (AFP) – 4 days ago LONDON — Julie Andrews, the star of "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music", is returning to the London stage for the first time in 30 years with a one-off show in May, the organisers announced Wednesday. The 74-year-old Oscar winner and five other performers will wend their way through some of the greatest musical theatre songs of the last 50 years, many of which Andrews made famous. She will also narrate "Simeon's Gift", the best-selling children's book she wrote with her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton. Andrews' singing...

CHENANGO, N.Y. — Chris and Robert Lacey own 80 acres of idyllic upstate New York countryside, a place where they can fish for bass in their own pond, hike through white pines and chase deer away. But the Laceys hope that, if all goes well, a natural gas wellhead will soon occupy this bucolic landscape. Like many landowners in Broome County, which includes the town of Chenango, the Laceys could potentially earn millions of dollars from the natural gas under their feet. They live above the Marcellus Shale, a subterranean layer of rock stretching from New York to Tennessee that...

5 min ago, our candidate and elect president Porfirio Lobo has delivered a speech in which he accept the victory in today's elections. with 61.85% of the votes counted at te moment, he has around 897,000 votes and the liberal candidate has around 613,000 votes.

Sometimes it's the page A14 stories -- the ones that never see the light of cable news or take a second life in the blogosphere -- that tell you the most about what happened during any given year. From a naval alliance that could shift the military balance of power on two continents to a troubling security gap in the U.S. passport system to a brand-new way to circle the globe, these are the stories that never got the attention they deserved in 2009 but could dominate the conversation in 2010.

November 29, 2009 President Ahmadinejad Uses Attack As The Best Form Of Defence Richard Beeston We are now moving into the endgame of Iran’s decade-long drive to acquire the hardware and technology to build a nuclear bomb. What happens next could determine whether Iran becomes a nuclear-armed state, whether the region is plunged into another war, or whether Iran and the Arab world embark on a nuclear arms race. Yesterday’s announcement showed that President Ahmadinejad has once again calculated that attack is the best form of defence. After being censured by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week, which...

November 30, 2009                                    Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 10:9-18 Brothers and sisters:If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lordand believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,you will be saved.For one believes with the heart and so is justified,and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.The Scripture says,No one who believes in him will be put to shame.There is no distinction between Jew and Greek;the same Lord is Lord of all,enriching all who call upon him.For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will...

___They trade jabs over sentencing, pardoning of killers, other thugs ___Several prosecutors around the state are upset with Gov. Huckabee for grant- ing clemency to violent criminals, but he is blaming the prosecutors for often not seeking the maximum penalty and keeping felons locked up longer. ___Until now, Huckabee has refused to comment on his controversial policy of making violent prisoners eligible for parole– they include murderers, armed robbers and rapists, who often return to a life of crime after they're freed – but in a statement to The Leader this week, he lashed out at prosecutors for not doing...

Number 4 is at again...putting up big numbers today for the Vikes...BRETT FAVRE PASSED FOR A SEASON-HIGH 392 YARDS AND THREE TOUCHDOWNS, AND THE VIKINGS INTERCEPTED JAY CUTLERTWICE IN A 36-10 VICTORY OVER THE BEARS ON SUNDAY.FAVRE WENT 32 FOR 48 WITHOUT A TURNOVER AND WAS 10 YARDS OFF HIS CAREER BEST,Favre may have fallen short, but he wasn't the only one looking at the record book..Erick Lind will have all the highlights of today's spectacular game coming up later in sports...

As the Tiger Woods alleged affair and accident scandal continues to gain steam, it now appears that the alleged 'other woman', Rachel Uchitel, is so steadfastly denying the affair that she is hiring a lawyer to potentially attack those who claim she did. TMZ reports this afternoon that Rachel Uchitel has retained the services of famed celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred in what many are speculating is the first step towards launching a massive lawsuit against the magazine. Gloria Allred is a relatively well known attorney representing quasi-celebrities, having worked Paul Jones in her case against Bill Clinton and also for...

BEIJING: In an unprecedented move, India on Saturday joined China and two other developing countries to prepare for a major offensive on rich nations at the Copenhagen conference on climate change next month. The four countries, which include Brazil and South Africa, agreed to a strategy that involves jointly walking out of the conference if the developed nations try to force their own terms on the developing world, Jairam Ramesh, the Indian minister for environment and forests (independent charge), said. “We will not exit in isolation. We will co-ordinate our exit if any of our non-negotiable terms is violated. Our...

Unless something monumental happens in the Western Hemisphere in the next 31 days, the big regional story for 2009 will be how tiny Honduras managed to beat back the colonial aspirations of its most powerful neighbors and preserve its constitution.

A foreign policy of penance has won America no friends. By FOUAD AJAMI 'He talks too much," a Saudi academic in Jeddah,... It was the norm for American liberalism during the Bush years to brandish the Pew Global Attitudes survey that told of America's decline in the eyes of foreign nations. ... 2009 bring findings from the world of Islam that confirm that the animus toward America has not been radically changed by the ascendancy of Mr. Obama. In the Palestinian territories, 15% have a favorable view of the U.S. while 82% have an unfavorable view. The Obama speech in...

1 Peter 3: 12For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

Best Buy recently removed itself from places we’ll shop by placing Islamist holidays above Thanksgiving and Christmas in things it thinks are important to celebrate. Best Buy was previously our go-to place for anything technical and electronic. The Mac we use to write this site is failing, so we’re saving up for a new computer, this time a PC, and we most likely would have bought that at Best Buy. Instead, we will be buying that new computer in 2010 at a store that does not promote Islam. On September 11th, 2001, our friend Jane was killed by Muslims in...

India's chief climate change negotiator has flatly rejected taking on emission reduction targets a day after Premier Manmohan Singh said the country would commit to cuts conditionally. But in an interview broadcast Sunday, chief negotiator Shyam Saran told the NDTV news channel that India was under no pressure to join the United States and China -- the world's top two carbon sources -- in announcing firm numbers ahead of the summit. "There cannot be any emission cuts," said Saran, adding that the developed world did not expect countries like India to adopt emission reduction targets but instead to accept "deviation...

Sorry to post a vanity but looking for tips on carpet cleaning.

Subtitle:"The new and improved Alaska rouge has an audience; now she needs a message." ...Once the Republican Party ticket was defeated, many heaved a great sigh of relief. Palin was gone … or so we thought. With the release of Palin’s new book and book tour, it is once again hard to escape the rasp of the Palin media frenzy. Whether it’s the cover of Newsweek, appearances on talk shows or banner ads on the Web, we’ve definitely been reintroduced to Palin, and the feeling that she is here to stay. Yet, interestingly, this time around you don’t see the...

The dispute followed a report in which at least 12 trusts in England were criticised for significantly underperforming on standards such as patient safety and infection control. Dr Foster, a private company that works with the NHS, also highlighted a further 27 hospital trusts that were found to have unusually high mortality rates, resulting in an estimated 5,000 avoidable deaths last year. Dr Foster said it had uncovered widespread safety issues including 39 per cent of trusts “failing to investigate unexpected deaths or cases of serious harm on their wards”. Items such as swabs and drillbits were left in patients...

Five years after same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts, the local Episcopal bishop yesterday gave permission for priests in Eastern Massachusetts to officiate at same-sex weddings. The decision by Bishop M. Thomas Shaw III was immediately welcomed by advocates of gay rights in the Episcopal Church, who have chafed at local rules that allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, but not sign the documents that would solemnize their marriages. The decision is likely to exacerbate tensions in the Episcopal Church and the global denomination to which it belongs, the Anglican Communion, which has faced significant division in the wake of...

SEATTLE – The man police are seeking as a person of interest in the shooting deaths of four Lakewood, Wash. police officers was supposed to be spending the rest of his life in an Arkansas prison. But, Maurice Clemmons, 37, who has a criminal history complete with violent, psychotic outbursts, was set free by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Killed Sunday morning in what detectives call an "ambush" at a coffee shop were Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39; Ronald Owens, 37; Tina Griswold, 40; and Greg Richards 42. In 1989, Clemmons, then 17, was convicted in Little Rock for aggravated robbery....

The Royal Navy is regularly allowing Somalian pirates to go free because of the risk they would claim asylum if prosecuted in Europe. Pirates terrorising ships in the Indian Ocean, looting and taking hostages, are often given medical checks and fed after being caught, before being sent of their way. This is also sometimes because although they are carrying guns and other weapons, they have not been caught in the act of piracy and therefore have not technically committed a crime. More than 340 suspected Somalian pirates have been captured by international naval forces in the last year and subsequently...

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Could it be true that some scientists, who support the theory that humans cause global warming, have tried to intimidate and even blacklist scientists with opposing views?The Wall Street Journal and other news organizations reported recently that e-mails from prominent climate scientists were leaked and posted publicly on the Internet. The e-mails, which were obtained from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, revealed what appears to be strong ethical questions about the conduct of some scientists who have been trying to “shout down” scientists with opposing views.The e-mails provide questions about the...

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Honduras' conservative opposition National Party said its candidate Porfirio Lobo won the presidential election on Sunday after exit polls and early official results showed him with a wide lead.

Quick Summary - Leaked emails from key research scientists uncover "trick" to "hide the decline" in global warming. LONDON - LONDON (AP) — Computer hackers have broken into a server at a well-respected climate change research center in Britain and posted hundreds of private e-mails and documents online — stoking debate over whether some scientists have overstated the case for man-made climate change. The University of East Anglia, in eastern England, said in a statement Saturday that the hackers had entered the server and stolen data at its Climatic Research Unit, a leading global research center on climate change. The...

As the health care debate moves to the U.S. Senate, much of the news coverage and commentary in recent days has focused on the advocacy of Catholic bishops and how their support of Rep. Bart Stupak’s amendment to prohibit the use of tax dollars to fund abortion was a major victory for the pro-life side. The bishops urged the House of Representatives, through local parishes and in a Nov. 6 letter, to ensure that “needed health care reform legislation truly protects the life, dignity, health and consciences of all." All people of good will, all those who value human life...

We now conduct war so that a lawyer can tell a general not to kill an enemy leader, while three SEALs need a lawyer to defend them after completing a successful mission. Wars requite warriors, not lawyers. Anyone who does not know this is a dangerous fool, even if he wears the uniform of a general or an admiral, or sits in the Pentagon or the Oval Office.

Move over, health care reform, climate change, and the economy. Judging by White House visits by various government agency heads, the Obama administration instead appears preoccupied with the re-regulation of communications, media, and the Internet. The Administration has just released logs of all visitors to the White House and Executive Office Buildings from Obama’s inauguration through August—including a staggering 47 visits by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski. By contrast, no other major agency head logged more than five visits. Chairman Genachowski obviously has an audience with those at the highest levels of power, including the President himself, but...

The world cannot trust scientists who abuse their powerFor anyone who doubts the power of the Internet to shine light on darkness, the news of the month is how digital technology helped uncover a secretive group of scientists who suppressed data, froze others out of the debate, and flouted freedom-of-information laws. Their behavior was brought to light when more than 1,000 emails,and some 3,500 additional files were published online, many of which boasted about how they suppressed hard questions about their data. The emails, released by an apparent whistle-blower who used the name "FOI," were written by scientists at the...

"The senseless and savage execution of police officers in Washington State has saddened the nation, and early reports indicate that a person of interest is a repeat offender who once lived in Arkansas and was wanted on outstanding warrants here and Washington State. The murder of any individual is profound tragedy, but the murder of a police officer is the worst of all murders in that it is an assault on every citizen and the laws we live within. Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures...

Two senior House Republicans want the Justice Department to make public any reports or statements given to internal investigators by the career department lawyers who brought a civil complaint against the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) that later was dismissed by President Obama's political appointees. Reps. Lamar Smith of Texas, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Frank R. Wolf of Virginia, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, said the "American people deserve a full accounting" of what they called the "incomprehensible dismissal" of a complaint charging the NBPP and three of its members with voter intimidation...

The Church and the Worker 1493. Has not the state always had the support of the Church in repressing workers? Certainly not in the case of the Catholic Church. She has always condemned injustice, insisting that men should be brothers in Christ. 1494. Can you give me one case where the Church has actively assisted the lower orders against the oppression of higher powers? Certainly. In Catholic times, when the Church had power, the people of England owed Magna Charta, or the great Charter of their liberties against the royal tyranny, to Stephen Langton, the Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, and...

Thirty global financial institutions make up a list that regulators are earmarking for cross-border supervision exercises, the Financial Times has learnt. The list includes six insurance companies – Axa, Aegon, Allianz, Aviva, Zurich and Swiss Re – which sit alongside 24 banks from the UK, continental Europe, North America and Japan. The list, which is not public, contains many of the multinational bank names that would be widely expected: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup of the US; Royal Bank of Canada; UK groups HSBC, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered;...