Free Republic

The U.S. has devoted billions of dollars to fighting terrorism overseas in the years since the Sept. 11 attacks. The Justice Department is increasingly warning about the danger posed by radicals on American soil, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wants prosecutors and FBI agents to devote more attention to the threat. Nearly two decades ago, after the Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 people, the Justice Department launched a group to fight domestic terrorism. That group was set to meet on Sept. 11, 2001, but the meeting got canceled and the idea shelved as the U.S. turned to fight terrorists...

I just moved to Oklahoma City from Houston. It's 5 degrees outside. I lived in Houston for more than a decade. The coldest it got where I lived was about 20. Maybe. For a couple of hours. FIVE. DEGREES. I didn't turn my pipes on to drip and am now trying to get some water out before it develops into a major disaster. Yeah, I've lived in a warm climate so long that I kind of forgot about winterization. The heater in my car, for instance, quit working. I needed antifreeze. I just changed the oil in my car to...

Responding to an angry constituent’s letter about the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama allegedly used a sexually charged derogatory term referring to members of the Tea Party movement. -snip- To his surprise, the 49-year-old teacher got a reply written on official White House stationary in which Mr Obama supposedly stated that while the health care law was 'certainly not the smart "political thing," it will be the right thing for the country. The president also took umbrage with Ritter's claim that his administration has been cracking down on Republicans and conservatives. ‘I... appreciate your concern about the toxic political...

In it, economic inequality features as one of the issues Francis is most concerned about. The 76-year-old pontiff calls for an overhaul of the financial system and warns that unequal distribution of wealth inevitably leads to violence. "As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world's problems or, for that matter, to any problems," he wrote. Denying this was simple populism, he called for action "beyond a simple welfare mentality" and...

My company is moving me to Oklahoma City in the next two months. I'm relocating from Katy, TX (in the Houston area). What we are looking for is a place where we have maximum freedom to do with our property as we like within reasonable driving distance (40 minutes of downtown). We homeschool our four boys and that is not going to change, so highly rated schools are not a factor for us. We've looked east of town towards Shawnee and North towards Guthrie. We've also talked about abandoning our hopes of having any kind of property and moving close...

This is absolute proof that 1)Michelle Obama is a Romulan agent and 2) she is no longer afraid of being exposed.

Kevin Madden, a GOP strategist who worked on Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign last year, said the retreat gives lawmakers a chance to start laying the groundwork necessary to re-establish the GOP brand. “Right now, we are caught in a vicious cycle of just reacting to events that happen in two-week increments. Instead, we have to look at our challenge of rebuilding in a much more comprehensive fashion,” Mr. Madden said. “What is the positive impression that we want voters to have two years from now, and then four years from now, when we have another presidential election?” SNIP Ford O’Connell,...

The battle is not going well. We've been running some serious fire missions for the last 5 years. I know you're tired. I know you want to give up. It's hot and your whole body is sore. You don't think we are having an impact on the battle. You want to walk away and try to protect your families as individuals. Yesterday I met another redleg at my voting precinct. He was a Vietnam vet. For some of you, Kuwait was your war. Some Iraq. Some Afghanistan. Some it is just this war. This war is different. This time we're...

SNIP In the study published Monday, nearly 9,000 respondents were asked to recall their childhood experiences before age 11, including favorite toys, games, roles they took while playing, media characters they imitated or admired, and feelings of femininity and masculinity. When they reached adulthood, the participants were surveyed again — this time about whether they experienced physical, sexual, or emotional abuse and were screened for PTSD. The results showed “very clear patterns,” said S. Bryn Austin, one of the study’s authors. “The young people who as children were most nonconforming were much more likely to report mistreatment or abuse, within...

BBC World Have Your Say just came on. A very angry Syrian man was being interviewed by the beeb. Rockets were falling very close to his position. He was screaming for help from the world. Then he said (and I'm paraphrasing, but this is pretty close), "Where is America? America is supposed to be the defender of humanity! Where is America?" While I'm happy that the guy has such a high opinion of us, I wonder whether he would feel the same way after *we* win his freedom for him, which is to say he'd be burning the US flag...

WASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - U.S. defense cuts that begin in the 2012 budget will ultimately cost up to 800,000 jobs, and additional spending reductions could push that figure to 1.5 million over the next decade, a top Republican lawmaker testified on Tuesday. Representative Buck McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said his panel estimated the initial $489 billion in defense cuts approved by Congress would cost 100,000 military jobs, mostly Army and Marines, as well as 200,000 civilian defense jobs and 500,000 defense industry positions.

Chris Wilson is Interviewed on Herman Cain

ARLINGTON, Texas -- A suburban North Texas high school teacher has been accused of having sex with five 18-year-old students at her home and was released on bond Monday. Brittni Nicole Colleps, an English teacher at Kennedale High School, is charged with five counts of having an inappropriate relationship between a student and teacher -- a second-degree felony. It is a criminal offense for teachers to have sex with a primary or secondary school student, no matter the student's age. A conviction carries a penalty of anywhere from two years to 20 years in prison per count.

The first decade of this century is "by far" the warmest since instrumental records began, say the UK Met Office and World Meteorological Organization. Their analyses also show that 2009 will almost certainly be the fifth warmest in the 160-year record. Burgeoning El Nino conditions, adding to man-made greenhouse warming, have pushed 2009 into the "top 10" years. The US space agency Nasa suggests that a new global temperature record will be set "in the next one or two years". World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Met Office scientists have been giving details of the new analysis at the UN climate...

The patriarch passed away at 10:45 CET on Sunday, at Belgrade's military clinic VMA, where he had been treated since November 2007. The bells of the Cathedral Church of St. Michael the Archangel are tolling today 15 minutes before each full hour to mark the passing. The patriarch's body is expected to be moved to the Patriarchy in Belgrade during the day. The Holy Synod is expected to meet on Monday morning. Metropolitan Amfilohije confirmed the news, and said that the patriarch received his communion this morning, after which "his holy, Christ-loving heart stopped beating". The spiritual leader of the...

When looking for an appropriate reaction to the problems connected with the current crisis, we should build on the idea that the crisis was basically a failure of governments, not markets. The manipulation of monetary policy in an attempt to artificially prolong the period of growth, the irrational subsidization of demand in the housing sector and the failures of financial market regulation contributed substantially to the crisis. Let us not delude ourselves that the economic cycle and its consequences can be prevented by the more extensive government regulation or by aiming at global governance of the world economy.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101395478&ft=1&f=1004

My wife and I decided that, even though we're going to take a huge financial hit, I should go into the National Guard. I have one problem: a bunion on my right foot. I run every other day with no problems and have had it for years. I understand that this could be an issue in MEPS. The recruiter has never dealt with it before (I thought this was pretty common). Is there something I can do to mitigate the problem *before* going to MEPS?

Obama: Restore America's image In the first presidential debate, John McCain said tonight that another attack like the 9/11 hijackings is "much less likely" now than it was then. Barack Obama said the U.S. is "safer in some ways" but needs to restore its image in the world.

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- The situation is calm but tense this evening in Kosovska Mitrovica following the latest incident there. Ethnic Albanians shot at a group of Serbs this afternoon near the divided town's Brđani neighborhood, Beta news agency said. No one was injured. At this point, between 300 to 400 Serbs and some 20 Albanians are gathered near the spot, but there are no reported clashes. Local Serbs met with KFOR representatives, who guaranteed them safety, Siniša Lazić, who took part in the meeting, told the agency. According to him, in another meeting held at 15:00 CET, the Serbs received...