Free Republic

This is a parody of "You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille" by Kenny Rogers. Written and sung by Jonathan McWhite. Guitar accompaniment by David McWhite

It is Canada’s annual seal cull again, and the animal rights protesters are preparing their traditional response. Yet they are strangely silent about the rat genocide in South Georgia, where millions of non-indigenous rodents will be killed over the next five years. If you prick a rat, does it not bleed? The EU has banned the import of seal produce, much to the fury of some Canadians. Why ban seal skins and not fur? How can the home of foie gras and veal crates complain about smoked seal loin? Our relationship with animals and food in this era of plenty...

WASHINGTON -- Google plans to build experimental, ultra-fast Internet networks in a handful of communities around the country. The search company said Wednesday that its fiber-optic broadband networks will deliver speeds of 1 gigabit per second to as many as 500,000 Americans. Google Inc. says those systems will be more than 100 times faster than the networks that most Americans have access to today. In a blog post, the company said the networks will let consumers download a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes and allow rural health clinics to send 3-D medical images over the Web.

Sarah Palin will be speaking tomorrow at the Sierra-Cascade Logging Conference. The schedule says Monday, February 8 3p.m. and 7 p.m. Governor Sarah Palin Redding Convention Center Are any freepers planing on going?

Among states, California arguably has the most to gain from an overhaul of its health care system: it has the greatest number of uninsured residents in the country and the largest public insurance program for the poor, which struggles to serve 6.5 million people while reimbursing doctors at one of the nation's lowest rates. Stuck between the increasingly uncertain future of national reform, a looming $20 billion state budget deficit, and a health care system that is limping along and likely to face even greater demand in the coming years, Californians are frustrated. Doctors, patients, politicians and researchers all agree...

Just felt here ih Willow Creek 6.0 http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/nc71348851.php

From the BNO Newsroom. ORLANDO, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) -- White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Sunday released the following statement after Iran's cabinet passed a legislation to build ten more uranium enrichment plants. "If true, this would be yet another serious violation of Iran's clear obligations under multiple UN security council resolutions, and another example of Iran choosing to isolate itself. The international community has made clear that Iran has rights, but with those rights come responsibilities. As the overwhelming IAEA board of governors vote made clear, time is running out for Iran to address the international community's growing...

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, DC, November 30, 2009 DEAR COLLEAGUE: This report by the Committee majority staff is part of our continuing examination of the conflict in Afghanistan. When we went to war less than a month after the attacks of September 11, the objective was to destroy Al Qaeda and kill or capture its leader, Osama bin Laden, and other senior figures in the terrorist group and the Taliban, which had hosted them. Today, more than eight years later, we find ourselves fighting an increasingly lethal insurgency in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan...

Feast and football. That’s what many of us think about at Thanksgiving. Most people identify the origin of the holiday with the Pilgrims’ first bountiful harvest. But few understand how the Pilgrims actually solved their chronic food shortages. Many people believe that after suffering through a severe winter, the Pilgrims’ food shortages were resolved the following spring when the Native Americans taught them to plant corn and a Thanksgiving celebration resulted. In fact, the pilgrims continued to face chronic food shortages for three years until the harvest of 1623. Bad weather or lack of farming knowledge did not cause the...

Four people have been arrested in Peru on suspicion of killing around 60 people to sell their fat on the blackmarket for cosmetic use in Europe, authorities say. Three suspects who were arrested in central Peru this month have confessed to killing five people for their fat, according to Colonel Jorge Mejia, chief of Peru's anti-kidnapping police. A search is now underway for seven others, including two Italians, lead prosecutor Jorge Sans Quiroz said. The fat was purchased "to be commercialised in European [cosmetic medicine] laboratories," he said. The prosecutor's indictment said that the gang allegedly targeted farmers and indigenous...

WASHINGTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The White House declared Hamid Karzai the legitimate president of Afghanistan on Monday and said President Barack Obama's decision on whether to send more U.S. troops there is still weeks away.

Eight American servicemen were killed in a series of explosions today, making October the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion. An Afghan civilian working with the military was also killed. Officials said that several soldiers were injured in “multiple, complex” bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, just a day after 14 Americans were killed in two separate helicopter crashes in the south and west of the country. The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said that the troops were hit by a series of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), or homemade bombs.

In case you missed it, here is the "Pot City, USA" television show recently shown on the A&E Network. It's pretty interesting and well worth your time to watch.

A Del Norte County man accused of threatening the life of President Barack Obama and his family pleaded not guilty to three charges in U.S. District Court in Eureka Monday. Appearing in an orange jumpsuit and shackles, John Howard Gimbel, 59, of Crescent City, was asked by U.S. Magistrate Judge Nandor Vadas if he understood the charges against him. ”Yes, I understand,” Gimbel said. “Not guilty to all of them.” Gimbel was arrested at his home on Oct. 6 for allegedly writing threatening and profanity-laden e-mails to Obama and his family. He was indicted by a grand jury in U.S....

Has Affordable, Efficient Rooftop Wind Power Arrived? Of the 10,500 small wind turbines installed last year, 99 percent were attached to giant constructed towers in rural areas. Rooftop wind turbines—constituting 1 percent of the market—have a huge potential in urban and suburban areas. But the products, which are heavy, noisy and require permanently attaching wind-catching blades to homes, have not yet caught on. One inventor thinks his unique turbine is just what the market is looking for. Are rooftop turbines set to take off?

Obama fails to win Nobel prize in economics Commentary: Michael Moore, Timothy Geithner also passed over While few observers think Obama has done anything for world peace in the nearly nine months he's been in office, the same clearly can't be said for economics. The president has worked tirelessly since even before his inauguration to wrest control of the U.S. economy from failed free markets, and the evil CEOs who profit from them, and to turn it over to wise, fair and benevolent bureaucrats.

I just logged on and see the latest posts are crazy Obama wins "Best Bloke in the Universe" - Soundly defeats Ace Rimmer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2358648/posts Breaking.....Obama named "Pimp of the Year" http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2358624/posts BREAKING NEWS: Barack Obama Gets to Tootsie Pop Center w/o Biting! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2358631/posts Obama Receives Academy Award (realistic performance of a US president) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2358599/posts Obama is surprise winner of Nobel Peace Prize http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2358608/posts And it goeson and on like this. Cy Young,Heisman,you name it. All accolades go to Obama

(CBS) The former U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Anthony Zinni, warned that the deliberations over whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan - as many as 40,000, as suggested by General Stanley McChrystal - should not go on too much longer, lest the debate be viewed as indecision or weakness. On CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, Zinni said it was positive to have a strategic debate and to take all opinions into account. "But I think we have to be careful how long this goes on," he told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer. "It could be seen not...

Newsom wants to charge stores that sell sodas (09-17) 20:36 PDT -- Calling soda the new tobacco, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will introduce legislation this fall that would charge a fee to retailers that sell sugary beverages. Newsom would need voter approval to tax individual cans of soda and sugary juice, but only needs approval from the Board of Supervisors to levy a fee on retailers. His legislation would charge grocery stores like Safeway and big-box stores, but would not affect restaurants that serve sodas. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/17/MNF619OSF4.DTL#ixzz0RfEhGzU6

This is footage of Dan Rostenkowski when trying to pass the "Catastrophic Health Act of 1989". I don't know if these people were called any of the names that we are being called now but these old folks were definatly upset. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qre7DzEtxyc&feature=fvw