Free Republic

REPORTING FROM SEOUL -– Even at first glance, the design renderings for the soon-to-be-built pair of apartment towers here pack a wallop: They evoke New York’s World Trade Center towers in mid-explosion in the terrifying moments after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. But wait. The Dutch designers say the images have nothing to do with debris flying off two towers that have just been rammed by a pair of commercial airliners. It’s more like a dreamy cloud formation inspired by a gaze up at the sky. Netizens aren’t buying the explanation. In recent days, an international frenzy of criticism...

Rags to riches tale of kitty who went from living on the streets to lap of luxury once down-on-his-luck stray cat has become the world’s richest kitty — thanks to a childless widow who left him $8.5 million in her will. Tommaso the black cat, who once scoured the streets of Rome for food, can now afford a gilded litter box with the inheritance. In a handwritten will penned shortly before her death last month, Maria Assunta, 94, ordered that the money from her real estate empire should keep the green-eyed feline she rescued in the lap of luxury. Animals...

If you’re not a political junkie, the redistricting process can be about as thrilling as an afternoon of C-SPAN. Unless you're paying attention to Arizona. This year, the state's redistricting efforts are rife with personality clashes and political intrigue. In 2000, Arizona voters approved a ballot measure that made redistricting the responsibility of a panel comprised of two Democrats, two Republicans and an independent chair, which was supposed to tamp down the partisan warfare that retooling political boundaries invites. (This year, California’s political lines were drawn for the first time by a similar independent panel.) But Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission...

Around 7:30 this morning, the FDNY, along with the NYPD, confiscated the generators and bio-diesel fuel at Zuccotti Park, claiming that they pose a fire and health hazard to the occupants. Soon after, we spoke to members of some of the working groups at Occupy Wall Street, to find out how the loss of generators and fuel might affect the functionality of the 99%. James, who works with the Info group in Zuccotti Park but declined to give his last name, tells us, "The Fire Department and police came and spoke on a bullhorn saying the generators and the fuel...

The Obama administration cut a major planned benefit from the 2010 health-care law on Friday, announcing that a program to offer Americans insurance for long-term care was simply unworkable. Although the program had been dogged from the start by doubts about its feasibility, its elimination marks the first time the administration has backed away from a key piece of President Obama’s signature legislative achievement. Republican critics of the law immediately said the decision proved that the legislation is unsound and unsustainable. Every major GOP presidential candidate has pledged to work to repeal it.

Not to be outdone by the likes of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who claimed there is "horrible repression" of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters or by an Iranian commander who called the demonstrations an "American Spring," Communist Party USA wants in on the "Occupy" protest action.

A prominent old world collection of imperial ceramics fetched $72 million at a Sotheby's Hong Kong sale on Wednesday, with an early Ming cobalt blue Meiping vase going for a record $21.6 million despite recent financial market turmoil. The Meiyintang collection, a unique, respected assemblage of Chinese porcelain collected over nearly half a century by Swiss tycoons, the Zuellig brothers, was offered onto the market for the first time in April in a highly anticipated Hong Kong sale.

Vice President Joe Biden today likened the Occupy Wall Street protests to expressions of grassroots frustration by members of the Tea Party. “Let’s be honest with one another,” Biden told an audience on camera at the Washington Ideas Forum. “What is the core of that protest? The core is: The bargain has been breached. The core is the American people do not think the system is fair, or on the level. That is the core is what you’re seeing with Wall Street. “There’s a lot in common with the Tea Party,” he said. “The Tea Party started, why? TARP. They...

Jamie Peachey One of the goddesses in the "green Chakra room" at Phoenix Goddess Temple ​Phoenix Goddess Temple, the "sexual healing" church featured in the New Times' story Sacred Sexuality in February, was raided by Phoenix police officers Wednesday. Sixteen people -- five men and eleven women -- were detained for questioning. Among those arrested was temple practitioner Wayne Clayton, who is one of 12 people being indicted on grand jury charges including illegal control of enterprise, maintaining a house of prostitution, and receiving the earnings of a prostitute. Phoenix police sergeant Steve Martos confirmed that officers served a search...

The skull that sparked a hunt for Ned Kelly's skeleton may belong to a serial killer once arrested in WA and suspected of being Jack the Ripper. An investigation into the identity of the skull began after former Derby farmer Tom Baxter handed it over in 2009, claiming it belonged to Kelly. It has never been revealed how he got the skull, which was stolen from a glass cabinet in the Old Melbourne Gaol in 1978. Heritage Victoria senior archaeologist Jeremy Smith said yesterday that Mr Baxter had claimed the skull came into his possession about a week after it...

<p>CBS/AP) LOS ANGELES - A magnitude-4.2 earthquake and aftershocks rattled nerves across the Los Angeles region Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of damage.</p> <p>The quake hit around 1:47 p.m. and was centered 24 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was followed by more than a half-dozen aftershocks up to magnitude-3. The jolt was felt widely across Los Angeles County including the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, downtown and to the coast. It was felt as far north as Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert to as far south as Orange County.</p>

Global Warming and Climate Change are phenomena that broke the bonds of scientific circles to emerge as a matter of debate between "believers" and "skeptics." Countless studies validating and denying global warming have seen the light of the day, providing fodder for more debates, some of which somewhat bitter. Within the past month, Nobel Prize winner and leading climate change "alarmist" Al Gore has called those who deny global warming akin to "racists," and "pseudo-scientists," and accused media of manipulating evidence about global warming. Research findings published by none less than CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in the...

The organisation, which calls itself B4U-Act, is lobbying for changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, the guideline of standards on mental health that is put together by the American Psychiatric Association, FOXNews.com said. The group says its mission is to help paedophiles before they create a crisis, and to do so by offering a less critical view of the disorder. "Stigmatising and stereotyping minor-attracted people inflames the fears of minor-attracted people, mental health professionals and the public, without contributing to an understanding of minor-attracted people or the issue of child sexual abuse," reads the...

<p>The "No Reservations" host called the Southern chef "the most dangerous person in America" and lays into her further via Twitter. Travel Channel host Anthony Bourdain is in a war of the words with Food Network personality Paula Deen over her cooking.</p>

Greg Stanton • Opposes SB1070 • Endorsed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union – who helped lead the Arizona boycott • Endorsed by Maricopa Area Labor Federation – Affiliated with AFL-CIO which condemned SB1070 • Would have voted for pay increases Claude Mattox • Supported by the largest public employee union in the City of Phoenix • Voted for the food tax increase • Supported this year’s budget and pay increases (Arizona Republic, June 8, 2011) Lobbyist Wes Gullett • Worked for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to organize medical workers to unionize at Maricopa County Hospital •...

Despite years of great progress in treating AIDS, the number of new infections with the virus that causes it has remained stubbornly around 50,000 a year for a decade in the United States, according to new figures released on Wednesday by federal officials. The American epidemic is still concentrated primarily in gay men, and is growing rapidly worse among young black gay men. That realization is causing a rift in the AIDS community. Activists say the persistent H.I.V. infection rate proves that government prevention policy is a flop. Federal officials are on the defensive even as they concede that the...

TNT has given the greenlight to DALLAS, an all-new series based upon one of the most popular television dramas of all time, about the bitter rivalries and family power struggles within a Texas oil and cattle-ranching dynasty. Famous for its ratings-grabbing cliffhangers, the original series was known for its wealth, seduction, scandal and intrigues. Set in the big state of Texas, TNT's new DALLAS — from Warner Horizon Television — also lives life large and in the fast lane and brings a new generation of stars together with cast members from the original drama series. The new DALLAS stars Josh...

Is there a little Fred Flintstone in you? According to a new genetic analysis, some of the human X chromosome originates from Neanderthals -- but it's found exclusively in people outside Africa. The ancestors of Neanderthals left Africa about 400,000 to 800,000 years ago. They evolved over the millennia mostly in what are now France, Spain, Germany and Russia, and went extinct (or were simply absorbed into the modern human population) about 30,000 years ago. The ancestors of early modern humans left Africa about 80,000 to 50,000 years ago, according to DiscoveryNews.com. Despite that wide spread in time, genetic material...

You have the right to remain stupid, and what you say and do can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion. Unfortunately, the court of public opinion is expanding into a stupid-is-as-stupid-does joke. And it has a president and gang of thieves in the United States government to represent it. So goes the sheeping of America. Welcome to Euro II. With the level of dishonesty, fraud, abuse of power, corruption, rampant irresponsibility, downright criminal behavior and vehement refusal to be accountable, our government has clearly lost its collective mind - and its soul. The brain-dead,...

Jim Morrison's ghost has allegedly been hanging around Paris for decades. Since Morrison died on July 3, 1971, his ghost and his legend have only grown in status. In fact, journalist Brett Meisner even claimed that he took a photo of The Doors' lead singer standing at his grave years ago, as apparent proof that he did "break on through to the other side." If he did, then he has officially been there for 40 years, since today is the 40th anniversary of his death. It is fitting that stories about his ghost has persisted for years, to add to...