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October 1, 2007 A Californian based company has produced the world’s first disposable photonic lab-on-a-chip solution for next-generation water and food analysis, chemical and biological agent detection, and point-of-care diagnostics. The PhotonicLab Platform from Bioident Technology Inc. enables rapid in-vitro diagnostics, chemical and biological threat detection, and environmental testing without the need for off-site lab analysis. This offers greater mobility and sensitivity compared to existing biological and chemical assays and delivers a cost-effective disposable lab-on-a-chip solution by eliminating the need for complex and expensive readout systems. To produce the device Bioident utilized the latest breakthroughs in nanotechnology and leveraged...

WASHINGTON - Question: If government and business leaders do their part to lower the cost of health insurance, should people be required to sign up? Republican Mitt Romney used to answer yes. Now he says no. Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton says yes, but this time promises no new bureaucracies. The way these and other 2008 presidential candidates answer the "individual mandate" question says as much about their characters, their strategies and the tricky politics of health care reform as it does about the actual policies. "Individual mandate" is the jargon politicians use to describe health care plans that assume every...

LOS ANGELES - In a year when Republicans are slouching toward a post-Bush era, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he has a winning strategy for his party — be like me. California's popular governor is known for his kaleidoscopic political stripes, and that's his point. He said Republicans could face a future of Election Day misery unless the party makes a decisive shift to the political center and claims issues usually associated with the Democratic agenda, like global warming and health-care reform. "We are dying at the box office," the actor-politician told party activists, lamenting a decline in Republican registration that...

GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY (RECORDING): "... could lead to the violent death of Americans. We need to know about that, track them, follow them and make sure that in every way we can we know what they're doing and where they're doing it. And if it means we have to go into a mosque to wiretap or a church then that's exactly where we're going to go. Because we're going to do whatever it takes to protect the American people. And I hear from time to time people say 'Hey, wait a second. We have civil liberties we have to worry...

Minneapolis I-35 bridge collapse: Failure Analysis The I-35 West bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, consisted of three trussed spans and several beam and post spans typical of 1960's era freeway construction. Analysis to date here at Free Republic has centered on looking for the triggering cause in the bridge collapse, and the sequence of failure, as determined by available pre- and post-collapse imagery and video. Efforts so far have been hampered by uncertainty regarding the condition and disposition of the eastern truss panels originally located above and near pier 6. I hope to rectify this uncertainty and...

(AP) Karl Rove deserves as much credit for spoiling George W. Bush's presidency as he does for creating it _ which is to say he had a lot to do with both. The strategist's political genius helped make Bush president. His arrogance helped make Bush a lame duck. "Rove is the model for all future presidential advisers _ disciplined, smart and personally tight with the commander in chief. With that power comes all of the negative baggage when policy and governing failures erupt out of control," said Republican consultant Scott Reed. "He has kept remarkably cool as the GOP has...

Focusing on Focus Groups: Why Opposing Forces REALLY Fear Romney posted by: Jeff Fuller | posted at: 2:23 PM | permalink here Focus Groups, in my opinion, are the untold story of this campaign so far . . . and help explain the motives behind the early, constant, and repeated attacks on Romney by rival campaigns and the mainstream media (MSM). I'll argue this claim below after presenting some of the focus group findings from the most recent debate. Focus Group #1 run by Frank Luntz (results generally shared on various Fox News programs): Click for video. While the...

With Fred Thompson expected to enter the race next month, and the Ames straw poll next week, you’re going to see real pressure to start trimming the field in these debates. I can't imagine that too many people are happy with the current nine-soon-to-be-ten guys on stage format. Right now, I only want to see more of about half these guys. First, George Stephanopolous was almost as bad as Chris Matthews, and that’s a high bar to clear. Steph was snippy, too obsessed with time and cutting off candidates. Almost all of his questions came from the mindset of a...

WASHINGTON - In seven tumultuous months in power, congressional Democrats have learned to compromise with President Bush as well as confront him. The first minimum wage increase in a decade and expanded power to eavesdrop are early fruit of the Congress that convened in January. So are the historic clash over the Iraq war and a veto on stem cell research. "We've done a lot of heavy lifting," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said last week as Congress lumbered toward its month-long summer vacation. Across the Capitol, House Democrats offered evidence that they had already accomplished more of...

CHICAGO - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is running for president on her husband's White House record, and it's a strategy that cuts both ways. The New York senator and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, constantly remind voters of the nation's economic prosperity in the 1990s and his record on the environment, college aid and family medial leave. Press releases from the campaign often include sentences that start , "Under the Clinton administration ..." "Yesterday's news was pretty good," Bill Clinton said last month in Iowa while campaigning with his wife. But yesterdays' news isn't always easy to explain today....

WASHINGTON - Beset by poor approval ratings and internal differences, congressional Democrats hope to give themselves a triumphant send-off when Congress departs on a monthlong summer vacation. "They can't possibly do all the things they want to do," counters Rep. John Boehner, the House Republican leader. Perhaps not. But Democratic leaders, seven months in power, have set an ambitious agenda for themselves for the next 10 days, even momentarily dispatching their efforts to end the Iraq war to the background. They intend to send President Bush bills to counter terrorism and tighten congressional ethics, measures that were among the party's...

Governor Richardson stated that Republicans suppress minority voters. I would like to know the exact information he has access to that states that there have been any convictions of any republicans suppressing minority voters. Tee only evidence of minority voter fraud is the organization that where caught registering multiple voters in households as democrats that didn’t exist. I know that Democrats are for animal and child rights, but to grant dogs, cats, and seven year old girls the right to vote is going a bit to far. The writer is sure that Dogs would be Republicans and cats Democrats. The...

The reaction in Britain to two car bombs in London and a third up north baffles most Israelis, and not only Israelis. There is no rush to the scene by senior politicians; the cabinet doesn't change its agenda but instead goes ahead with a planned debate on constitutional reform; and the new prime minister makes do with a short statement, not mentioning the suspected perpetrators. Indeed, it was only two days after the car bombs were found in central London that Gordon Brown acknowledged to the BBC that it's "clear that we are dealing, in general terms, with people who...

WASHINGTON - The harder President Bush has pushed to win in Iraq, the closer he has come to losing. The question no longer is whether the U.S. military can fully stabilize Iraq. It cannot. That was a possibility four years ago, immediately after Saddam Hussein's government fell. Before the insurgency took hold. Before U.S. occupation authorities lost any chance to avoid the sectarian strife of today's Iraq. Now only the Iraqis can save Iraq. They need the U.S. military's help, no doubt. But the Bush administration has made no secret of the fact that the U.S. troop buildup in Baghdad...

Does Fred Help Mitt? I think he does. Many people are speculating that Thompson could pull from Romney, and it's quite possible. The polls have not shown this in the least, even Yepsen had to use to totally unrelated polls to make a case Thompson might hurt Romney: Here's how it works: The Register's Iowa Poll showed last month that without Thompson in the race, Romney leads McCain 30 percent to 18 percent in the state. But when Thompson is added to the mix in an American Research Group poll of Iowa GOPers taken about the same time, Romney's support...

Images that show how fingerprints can be used to reveal whether you are a smoker, an avid coffee drinker or even a drug addict have been revealed by UK scientists. They were produced using a novel forensic technique that could in future be used on fingerprints collected at a crime scene. If the prints in question are not on file, this would still give police a powerful way to shrink their pool of suspects, by identifying their lifestyle habits. The technique was developed by a team of forensics experts at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, and King's...

On Thursday night, the current crop of Republicans running for president in 2008 met at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, for their first debate. National Review Online asked a group of commentators and politicos for their take on this first venture out together. Yuval Levin In terms of the format and the moderators, this was easily the worst political debate I’ve ever seen. Too many questions, too little time, too much focus on silly Internet questioners, and Chris Matthews was simply a buffoon. Why shouldn’t a Republican host a Republican primary debate? Given that inherent (but...

NEW YORK - Call it the Clinton contradiction. Hillary Rodham Clinton is a political trailblazer, pursuing the precedent-setting achievement of becoming the first female candidate to win the presidency. How, then, did she also become the candidate of the Democratic Party establishment — a title historically attached to less-than-scintillating contenders like John Kerry, Al Gore and Walter Mondale? It's a curious paradox for Clinton, a presidential hopeful who calls herself a feminist and touts her experience as a woman and a "mom." But her long career in Washington, army of political consultants and marriage to a former president have all...

WASHINGTON - Another day, another scandal. The Justice Department's improper and illegal use of the USA Patriot Act puts Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on the hot seat, an all-too-familiar place for President Bush's inner circle. The last thing a troubled president needs is another friend in trouble. "This strikes me as another blow for the administration," said Republican consultant Joe Gaylord. He was not the only Republican fretting about the Bush White House after a Justice Department audit criticizing the FBI's use of post-9/11 powers to secretly obtain personal information. "This is, regrettably, part of an ongoing process where the...

WASHINGTON - Lies from the White House. Incompetence in treating wounded veterans. Irrelevance in Congress. Can't anybody do anything right? It's days like these that turn Americans sour on government, stoking a desire for leaders who actually lead. Exhibit A is the perjury conviction of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, whose trial cast unflattering light on the Bush White House and the mainstream media. Exhibit B is the shameful treatment of wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan at Walter Reed Medical Center, and the likelihood that veterans care problems are systemic — a national disgrace. And let's not forget Iraq and...

In the script Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recited this week during his trip to Washington, D.C., California is a nirvana where political parties have put aside their differences for the good of the people. "We reformed prescription drug costs, passed the world's most comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gases and began rebuilding the state's infrastructure," the Republican governor told a rapt audience of jaded political reporters at the National Press Club while he was in town for the National Governors Association Conference. "We did this working together." By following California's "post-partisan" model, Schwarzenegger said, President Bush and Congress could stop bickering...

NEW YORK - A Hollywood-style brawl with the campaign of rival Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) is the latest in a series of speed bumps tripping up Hillary Rodham Clinton's early presidential moves. From the Clinton team's decision to criticize — and therefore publicize — producer David Geffen's complaints about both Clintons to increasingly skeptical questions about Sen. Clinton's nuanced explanation of her 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq war, it became apparent even a battle-tested front-runner can fall prey to missteps. On top of that, voters were reminded of the downside of the first Clinton presidency. "Her explanation for...

WASHINGTON - Rep. Joe Donnelly (news, bio, voting record) is one of a clutch of freshmen Democrats who snagged victories over Republican incumbents last fall amid public discontent over the war in Iraq. Now, as his party prepares to register its opposition to President Bush's plan to boost troop levels, Donnelly is on the fence. "The most important part of this to me is standing up for the troops and making sure we have full funding for them," Donnelly said Tuesday, after a weekend meeting with veterans' groups and constituents back home in his conservative north-central Indiana district. "I haven't...

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record)'s visit to Iraq is a clear sign the newly empowered Democratic Congress is not going to abide by the notion that foreign policy is the sole province of the White House. While President Bush met with military leaders in the Oval Office Friday, she and anti-war Rep. Jack Murtha turned up in Baghdad. The timing of the trip, from the Bush administration's point of view, couldn't have been worse. It came just days after the president asked Congress in his State of the Union address to give his revised Iraq...

WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton enters the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination with unrivaled political strengths and challenges to match, a former first lady turned senator, soon to be tested in a campaign unlike any other in American history. While Clinton seeks to become the first woman commander in chief, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) is in the early stages of what promises to be the most credible White House campaign ever by a black politician. One year before the first caucus and primary votes are cast, sheer star power sets them apart from the...

Every so often I will present seemingly insoluble problems for the reader to consider and attempt to answer. You are limited in your devising of an acceptable answer only by the boundaries of your imagination, intelligence, intellect, education, and wisdom. Then again your possession of the boundaries of these things may also provide the very substance of your inability to solve these riddles. These riddles are part of a series of problems designed to train Investigators and Intel Analysts in the skills of close observation, deduction, induction, and problem solving, among other things. Enjoy, and resolve. And if you can’t...

When predicting traditional or conventional military threats, the U.S. Army employs analytical methodologies such as intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB) and related tools. The terrorist threat, however, is unique in that its nature and survival require it avoid direct engagements with main force units. Terrorists are exceedingly mobile, have mastered the art of blending into the surrounding population, and employ harsh measures to ensure security. On the other hand, our national collection assets provide so much diverse information that making sense of it all is a daunting task. Reports on terrorist activity originate from all intelligence disciplines, to include...

Republicans were spending too much. So we elected Democrats who think government should cost more. Republicans weren't decreasing the size of government. So we elected Democrats who think government should be bigger and do more. Republicans weren't doing anything about illegal immigration. So we elected Democrats who believe in amnesty. Conservatives didn’t think Republicans were conservative enough. So we elected liberal extremists instead. Voters didn’t mean to impeach Bush. Voters didn’t mean to abandon our Iraqi allies. Voters didn’t mean to raise taxes. Voters didn’t mean to give up on conservative judges. Ya, that makes sense guys. This is what...

Two environmental groups say they will sue to stop construction of the intercounty connector, arguing that building the highway would violate sections of the federal Clean Air Act. Environmental Defense and the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club said the Washington region already fails to meet certain clean-air standards and that building the six-lane, 18-mile highway would increase pollution. The $2.4 billion intercounty connector would link Interstate 270 in Montgomery County with Interstate 95 in Prince George's County. "There are elementary schools and nursing centers close to the ICC, and people who live and work within several hundred yards of...

NEW YORK - U.S. officials had low expectations for the current U.N. meetings, marked by anti-American insults heaped on President Bush, and have scant accomplishments to show so far. The United States made few direct requests of other nations at the annual opening session and took minimal risks. Bush administration leaders did tone down the rhetoric that has played poorly abroad and refrained from criticizing the United Nations itself. The approach reflected an attempt at rapprochement with countries still at odds with the U.S. on many levels, and acknowledgment that several administration's goals and initiatives for the Middle East, North...

Analysis: Is bin Laden truly dead? By CLAUDE SALHANI UPI International Editor WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Osama bin Laden is dead. At least according to Saudi intelligence sources cited by a French newspaper, which in turn claims to have obtained a document leaked to them by French counter-intelligence services. The news of the death of al-Qaida's chief was reported in the Saturday edition of l'Est Republicain, a respected regional daily. The French paper cites a memo they claim was obtained from the French counter-espionage agency, the Direction Générale des Services Extérieurs, or the DGSE. Bin Laden, the world's most...

WASHINGTON - Six weeks before elections, the Democratic strategy for the war on terror is one part attack President Bush and one part agree with him. The goal is to court voters dissatisfied with the job the administration has done, yet avoid being tagged as soft on Osama bin Laden. "Democrats are united behind the need to work on a bipartisan basis to bring terrorists to justice, and to do it in a manner consistent with our laws, our values and our national security," Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said a few hours after Bush and rebellious Republicans ended a...

ASKARI’S CONCLUSION There is a viable alternative to imposing more sanctions: stop threatening Iran, especially in public. And America should attempt to understand (not necessarily agree with) the Iranian perspective, minimize U.S. hubris and engage in true dialogue. Iran would be instrumental in allowing the United States to solve most of the problems it faces in the Middle East, including achieving peace and stability in the region, saving U.S. lives and treasure and enhancing global energy supplies. HUMINT REBUTTAL Hossein is trapped in dimension where only he, and presumably those who agree with him, maintain the capacity to understand Iran,...

WASHINGTON - Republicans decided long ago their party won't pay a significant price at the polls for the scandal spawned by lobbyist Jack Abramoff. It's a proposition likely to be tested anew in the aftermath of Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record)'s agreement to plead guilty to corruption charges. Within minutes of the disclosure of Ney's signed plea bargain papers on Friday, House Democrats circulated a list meant to suggest guilt by association. It highlighted the names of more than 60 Republican incumbents who have accepted political donations from the six-term lawmaker. "Americans are ready for a new direction...

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers stood side by side on the steps of the Capitol and belted out an impromptu rendition of "God Bless America" after the terrorist attacks five years ago. Democrats and Republicans pulled together, as did the country at large. "We had an astonishing moment of unity," former President Clinton said Monday. But now, the two political parties couldn't be further apart. On the fifth anniversary of the terror attacks, Democrats and Republicans struggled for the upper hand on what has become the main issue of the midterm campaigns — the war in Iraq and its relationship with the...

After trailing all summer in the governor's contest, Democratic contender Phil Angelides described himself this week as a championship boxer eyeing a comeback in the closing rounds. But while Angelides tried to muster enthusiasm for his fight against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Democratic legislators huddled in the governor's corner to strike a global warming deal that gave the Republican his most significant election-year accomplishment. The timing seemed particularly bad for Angelides. As he focused this week on linking the governor with President Bush, the greenhouse gas reduction plan was widely portrayed as a Schwarzenegger snub of the Bush administration on an...

Analysis: Iran Won't Back Down From U.N. Wednesday August 30, 2006 11:16 PM By LEE KEATH Associated Press Writer CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Iran isn't blinking in the face of Thursday's U.N. deadline for it to halt uranium enrichment or else finally face the possibility of sanctions the United States has sought for years. Tehran appears confident it can withstand any punishment - if it comes at all. There seems to be no question of Iran's bending to the U.N. demand. It was enriching small amounts of uranium gas at its facility in Natanz as recently as Tuesday, U.N. and...

Analysis: Taking on al-Sadr Carries Risk Wednesday August 30, 2006 6:46 PM By ROBERT H. REID Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - This week's intense clashes between the Iraqi army and a Shiite militia are part of a strategy to whittle away the power of a radical cleric. But the high-risk gambit could trigger more fighting across the Shiite south - at a time when the cleric's stronghold in the capital is virtually off-limits. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has promised to disband militias, including the Mahdi Army of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, as a way to curb the sectarian...

Analysis: Syria UN border warning By Michael Voss BBC News, Damascus Syria has made clear its opposition to having UN troops along its Lebanon borderSyria's threat to close its border with Lebanon if UN peacekeepers are deployed along the frontier has further complicated the struggle by world powers to agree on the makeup and role of an international force to police the fragile ceasefire. On the face of it, the threat has left President Bashar Assad more isolated than ever. So what does he hope to achieve by taking such a hard line? In the labyrinthine world of Arab politics,...

JERUSALEM - The war in Lebanon has badly bruised the Israeli government and boosted Hezbollah's standing in the Arab world. Israel says it has made some gains — the Lebanese army, backed by international troops, is to take control of south Lebanon. But as the guns fall silent and the dust settles, an ominous question lingers over the Jewish state: Is the next Iranian-inspired war, perhaps with even more sophisticated weaponry, just around the corner? A cease-fire that took effect Monday seeks to end the 33-day conflict in which the mightiest army in the Middle East was fought to a...

The Reuters Photo Scandal A Taxonomy of Fraud A comprehensive overview of the four types of photo fraud committed by Reuters, August, 2006 The recent discovery that the Reuters news agency released a digitally manipulated photograph as an authentic image of the bombing in Beirut has drawn attention to the important topic of bias in the media. But lost in the frenzy over one particular image is an even more devastating fact: that over the last week Reuters has been caught red-handed in an astonishing variety of journalistic frauds in the photo coverage of the war in Lebanon. This page...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Joe Lieberman's primary defeat Tuesday night came at the hands of Democratic voters angry over the war in Iraq and demanding that lawmakers stand up to President Bush rather than stand with him. It wasn't a polite message they sent their three-term senator, a former vice presidential running mate who fell to anti-war challenger Ned Lamont. It was an eviction notice, served by an electorate that has grown remarkably sour about the course their country is on. That makes the result both an opportunity and a challenge for Democrats nationally as they head into a fall campaign...

For all of the hand-wringing that has occurred, and is occurring regarding the use of surveillance schemes by the NSA to uncover terrorists communications, the loss of personal privacy has been a recurring theme in the press, as well as the left blogsphere. More than anything, I think, it boils down to a distrust of the Republican administration. Not unlike the right's distrust of the previous Democrat administration. Remember the FBI files? Unless you conduct all of your transactions in cash, use shielded and encrypted internet connections, and stay away from telephones, you have no privacy. I'm not even sure...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces strike the Baghdad base of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — but his gunmen hold their fire. U.S. soldiers kill 15 of al-Sadr's followers, drawing little more than a few perfunctory complaints. That's a dramatic departure in style for the youthful firebrand, who launched two major uprisings against the American-led coalition two years ago when U.S. authorities closed his newspaper and pushed an Iraqi judge into issuing an arrest warrant against him. If anything, al-Sadr is more powerful today than he was then. But that power is also a restraint: al-Sadr has more...

JERUSALEM - When the fighting is over, both Israel and Hezbollah are likely to declare victory. But the truth will be far more complicated. Hezbollah looks certain to be pushed back from Israel's border, but its standing in the Arab world will remain high. Israel appears set to achieve its goal of getting Hezbollah off its doorstep, but the guerrillas can say they stood up to Israel and lived to tell the tale. Because of each side's deep-seated need to appear victorious, a thunderous show of force is not unlikely in the time before a cease-fire deal is arranged —...

CAIRO, Egypt - It's hard to defeat a group of extremists who can mingle among civilian supporters and are pros at propaganda. Israel's military faces the same conundrum the United States has encountered elsewhere — finding that airstrikes are costly in civilian deaths and public support, while ground attacks are risky for soldiers. That does not mean Hezbollah is winning militarily. But the guerrilla group has so far avoided a knockout by Israel, even as international pressure for a cease-fire has grown. And in the war of perceptions, Hezbollah has only to look strong against Israel and make Israel look...

Taepodong-2 Launch Failure: What Really Happened /begin my excerptThere is another interesting development. Up to now, it has been reported that, 42 seconds after its launch, (N. Korea's) Taepodong-2 missile (1) exploded in mid-air  or (2) veered off its intended flight path, and continue to fly for another 7 minutes, covering 499km. However, more careful investigation showed that, it developed some problem 29 seconds after the launch,  smoke came out from some parts of the missile, it veered off its flight path, flying in a spiral path, and finally ending in the complete explosion, 42 seconds after the launch, blowing up into...

WASHINGTON - Six-party talks: Dead? Tensions around the Sea of Japan: Off the charts. And in Washington: What do we do now? North Korea delivered some unwanted fireworks to the Bush administration on the Fourth of July, shooting off missiles in an act heard around the globe. Now the White House must figure out how to transform what it calls a "provocation" into an opportunity. "We're just going to have to do our homework, do the analysis and see what we can divine about what they had in mind," National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said of North Korea. Even before...

WASHINGTON - Buoyed by the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, U.S. government officials hope the exposure of his radical network through hundreds of raids across Iraq will help them eliminate key tentacles of the amorphous al-Qaida organization. These officials say the raids have led to solid insights into al-Qaida in Iraq and provided new clues about how the group trades information with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida central. They also are learning who is connected to whom and how external support is funneled through Iraq from across the Middle East, including Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iran. Several officials requested anonymity...

WASHINGTON - Eager to advance President Bush's election-year agenda, Majority Leader Bill Frist maneuvered for months to bring immigration legislation to the brink of Senate passage. But as a presidential hopeful in a party dominated by conservatives, the Tennessee Republican also voted for changes aimed at derailing the bipartisan compromise he helped forge. So is he for the bill, with its emphasis on increased border security? Or is he against the measure, which would give millions of illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship? "It's moving in the right direction," he said recently, a noncommittal answer that reflects a political straddle...