Free Republic

Many Obama supporters never received 3am VP wake-up text By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetaNews August 25, 2008, 12:30 PM "Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee," read the Obama campaign's early morning SMS message to his supporters. Trouble was, even by that time, many already knew it, and some weren't even getting the message. The original plan was for Barack Obama supporters nationwide to be the first to receive the news of his vice presidential running mate. But well over two hours before many of those supporters received what ended up being, perhaps in an...

Someone emailed me this link. I thought I'd post it here as a public service in case any Freepers know someone who might want to take this job.

ANN ARBOR, MI – Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Chessani, USMC, will be arraigned in a Camp Pendleton courtroom on Friday, November 16, 2007, at 9:00 AM Pacific Standard Time almost two years to the date of the anniversary of the so-called “Haditha Massacre.” Chessani faces criminal charges that he failed to properly report and investigate a possible “law of war” violation stemming from a November 19, 2005, house-to-house battle involving four Marines from LtCol Chessani’s battalion. If convicted, LtCol Chessani faces 2 ½ years imprisonment, dismissal (dishonorable discharge) from the Marine Corps, and loss of all retirement benefits. The Thomas More...

Sen. Reid proposes doing cartwheels down center aisle of Senate chamber; draw attention to Republicans blocking legislation... Developing...

Multi-Middleman 'Mpack' Attacks Use Google AdWords to Lure Victims By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetaNews June 19, 2007, 11:46 AM One of Russia's fastest growing markets, and quite possibly a contributor to stabilizing that country's fickle economy, is cut-rate, self-deploying Trojan horse packages. As malware writers there have discovered, rather than baiting and waiting for victims to fall into their traps at random, so that they carry out DoS and identity theft attacks without knowing they're doing so, would-be victims worldwide will gladly pay for the privilege of knowingly carrying out those same attacks. "In terms of social engineering," writes...

WASHINGTON, June 2 — President Bush’s advocacy of an immigration overhaul and his attacks on critics of the plan are provoking an unusually intense backlash from conservatives who form the bulwark of his remaining support, splintering his base and laying bare divisions within a party whose unity has been the envy of Democrats. It has pitted some of Mr. Bush’s most stalwart Congressional and grass-roots backers against him, inciting a vitriol that has at times exceeded anything seen yet between Mr. Bush and his supporters, who have generally stood with him through the toughest patches of his presidency. Those supporters...

By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetaNews May 22, 2007, 10:30 AM Just a few months ago, with Microsoft's Web services division still waning in comparison with its others, speculation began on whether it was gearing up to address that problem by purchasing an existing ad brokerage. The focus centered on DoubleClick, one of the oldest and most reputable display ad providers on the Web; and before too long, Google responded to that speculation by pre-empting a Microsoft takeover. That started a tidal wave of major players playing catch-up, including Yahoo's acquisition of Right Media a few weeks later. Last week,...

You are like Ibrahim ... a great fighter against idolatry. ... The axe was in his hand! . . . Ibrahim, the fighter of idolatry, came out of the house of "Azar", the idol-maker of his tribe. He broke the idols; he broke Nimrood. He fought against ignorance, oppression and passiveness. ... You are like Ibrahim! Fight . . . This teaches you to be ready to jump into the fire for Jihad! ... You are like Ibrahim! Sacrifice your Ismail. ... PUT THE BLADE AT YOUR SON'S THROAT SO THAT YOU MAY TAKE THE BLADE FROM THE EXECUTIONER'S HAND!...

Talking" closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras which allow operators to shout at people behaving badly are to be installed across England, the government announced Wednesday. The scheme lets local council workers in a control centre monitor pictures from the cameras and talk to them if they feel they are doing something wrong. The cameras were piloted in Middlesbrough, north-east England, where they have been used to reprimand vandals and litter bugs, but now loudspeakers are being fitted to cameras in another 20 areas. Britain has some 4.2 million CCTV cameras and the government's privacy watchdog, Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, warned last...

Bloomberg does not allow posts. Anyone interested in this important article should go to the source and have a look: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a5LkaU0wj714&refer=home

FBI Dealing With its Lost Laptop Problem By BetaNews Staff, BetaNews February 13, 2007, 2:54 PM Although the FBI still seems to suffer from a problem of losing laptops, a new report indicates that the agency is getting better in keeping track of its equipment. During a 44-month period, the company either reported as lost or stolen 160 laptops. This is a marked decrease from the initial study in 2002, which found the agency lost some 317 units in a 28-month period from October 1999 through January 2002. However, even with the improvement come concerns of data loss. As many...

I just received a fund raising letter from Planned Parenthood today, don't ask me why. They want me to declare that: "I will not stand silently as pharmacists are allowed to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions!" It further asks me to sign "Letters of Objection" to Target, Winn-Dixie, and Safeway urging them to clarify their policy. If Planned Parenthood has its way, pharmacists will be forced to sell abortificients and other drugs regardless of their personal or religious beliefs. Also, pharmacy chains will be forced to sell these drugs, like it or not. This is a heads up. As...

Governor Warns of Crisis in Wake of Diebold 'Repair' Revelations By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetaNews October 27, 2006, 1:30 PM A so-called "technical refresher" which purportedly involved everyday maintenance procedures conducted on Diebold Election Systems electronic voting equipment in Maryland during the summer of 2005, included the replacement of motherboards on account of their ability to cause systems to freeze without warning, the Baltimore Sun reported yesterday. But state voting officials were never apprised of the equipment replacement, said Giles W. Burger, chairman of the State Board of Elections, in an interview with the Sun, nor were they told...

Rev. has beard to thank for relation with pope By Jennifer Brannock Saturday, September 30, 2006 The Rev. Joseph Fessio has a rebellious beard to thank for his close, personal relationship with Pope Benedict XVI. The seemingly strait-laced, clean-shaven provost of Ave Maria University laughs when he recalls the strange series of events that led to his association with the former professor. As a seminary student in California in the 1960s, a tough professor classified Fessio as a rebel because of his slightly unruly beard. Feeling the student needed more discipline, the professor recommended Fessio train for his theology degree...

COURIC: CBS 'EVENING NEWS' RATINGS DISASTER Monday, Oct. 16, 2006 NEW YORK CITY WABC 7.1 WNBC 5.3 WCBS 3.7 LOS ANGELES KABC 5.9 KNBC 3.1 KCBS 1.5 WASHINGTON, DC NBC 9.3 ABC 7.8 CBS 2.5

Chinese President to Visit Gates Home By Nate Mook, BetaNews April 17, 2006, 12:19 PM China's President Hu Jintao will be making a historic trip to the United States this week, but his host will not be U.S. President George Bush. Rather, Hu is traveling to Seattle, Washington to have dinner with Bill Gates in the Microsoft chairman's 66,000 square-foot house that overlooks Lake Washington. President Hu will join a group of 100 dinner guests, including Washington state Governor Christine Gregoire and Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz. A key topic for the evening will be China's efforts to crackdown on software...

And a bit of history (including my history) Richard Russell snippet Dow Theory Letters April 3, 2006 Extracted from the March 31, 2006 edition of Richard's Remarks It's strange, but of all the stuff I've written over 48 years of writing, I get more requests for stories about World War II than any other subject. World War II has been called the greatest single event in human history. I'm no historian, but I suspect that this is true. World War II enveloped the globe in an endless series of the most monstrous battles and tragedies in recorded history. The story...

New gadget repels teenagers A new gadget repels gangs of teenagers by emitting a high-pitched noise that can be heard only by under 20s. Police are backing the Sonic Teenager Deterrent, nicknamed the Mosquito because of its sound, reports the Daily Telegraph. It annoys teenagers so intensely they have to clutch their ears. Eventually they can stand it no longer and have to move on. But because the body's natural ability to detect some frequency wave bands diminishes almost entirely after 20, adults are completely immune. The £622 black box, which can be attached to the outside wall of shops,...