Free Republic

The latest object to shoot high-def video from the edge of space is…an arm chair. To promote its REGZA SV LCD TVs (LED backlight, local dimming), Toshiba trekked into the Black Rock Desert with a helium balloon. Watch the result: Click here to go to page with video. This is the first part of the ad. The second half for their Satellite T Series ULV laptops will come out next year. [Toshiba UK via Engadget] Facts about the shoot: • The shots were taken at a staggering 98,268 feet above the earth using Toshiba's own cameras • To reach the...

DULUTH, Minn. – Operating a motorized recliner while drunk apparently drives up the chair's value. Police in northern Minnesota listed the "DWI chair" on eBay after the owner was arrested for driving it into a parked car last year. It sold Thursday for $10,099.99.

DULUTH, Minn. - A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving his motorized La-Z-Boy chair while drunk. A criminal complaint said 62-year-old Dennis LeRoy Anderson told police he left a bar in the northern Minnesota town of Proctor on his chair after drinking eight or nine beers. Prosecutors say Anderson's blood alcohol content was 0.29, more than three times the legal limit, when he crashed into a parked vehicle in August 2008. He was not seriously injured.

The 30-year-old electrician, identified only as Dmitry K, lured victims to his house by posting adverts for computer equipment on the internet. Police in Yekaterinburg, a city in Russia's Urals region, tracked the suspect down after finding the charred body of a law student in a roadside ditch. Dmitry K admitted murdering the student, investigators said, before claiming that he had also killed several other victims as he conducted experiments on an improvised electric chair that he had invented. The suspect, who worked at a local power plant, told detectives he would confess to the other murders if they found...

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over federal tax law, is seeking a vote this year on legislation that would increase the income tax rates on some Americans who earn as little as $104,425 per year.

Boy Killed Anally When Office Chair Explodes By Adam Frucci, 2:44 PM on Fri Feb 20 2009, 334,213 views Well, stories don't get much worse than this. A 14-year-old boy in China was killed when his chair exploded, sending chunks of metal into his rectum. The bleeding this caused killed him. The alleged explosion came from the gas cylinder that was in the base of the chair, the part that allowed the user to adjust the seat up and down. The canister gets compressed when you sit on it, but can it actually create enough energy to make the seat...

IN China, a fourteen-year-old boy was killed when chair he was sitting on exploded.Parts of the chair entered the boy’s rectum. The result was extensive bleeding. And it killed him.The killer chair is a gas cylinder type, of the type seen at computer work stations. In blue.The height is altered by an adjustable cylinder containing highly pressurised gas. It is this that exploded.In 2007 another chair exploded, propelling a 20cm part into the backside of a 68-year-old man. He lived.Made in China. Buyer beware… Source

It's ragged, ripped and unsteady, but you can call it the city's $4.5 million chair.  Former New York City Detective Anderson Alexander was sitting in it in Brooklyn's 73rd Precinct on Jan. 1, 2002, when his partner handed him his gun so the partner could interview a suspect.   Alexander leaned back to put the gun in his waistband, but the back of the chair gave way, his finger slipped and the 9-mm. Smith & Wesson fired a bullet into his left knee.   Now, despite the best efforts of city lawyers to portray the 11-year veteran as a klutz, a...

A city cop shot and killed a man in a Brooklyn church parking lot Thursday after he threatened to bash her with a folding chair. "Drop the chair! Drop the chair!" Officer Dawn Ortiz yelled in English and then in Spanish. "Stop!" But he wouldn't drop the chair or stop, police and witnesses said. And when he was practically on her, the officer fired once - hitting him in the chest, said NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne.

Great new ad. Ed Morrissey thinks this is the best ad of the cycle. The lack of experience is a great argument, but Hillary lost on that one. The ad is pretty good because it shows the scary downside of no experience. Converting lack of experience into fear will maximize the issue for Mac.

First the tainted milk, now toxic chairs? Recliners made by the Dongguan-based company Linkwise are causing cases of eczema, stinging allergic rashes and infections among French customers who bought them. The problems were traced to the use of the chemical, dimethyl fumarate, which is used to prevent mould and fungus on the chairs. The French distributor Conforama has since severed its business ties with Linkwise and told its suppliers to stop all use of the chemical. Out of the 38,000 Linkwise chairs it sold, it says customers have returned about 800 so far. A rash of cases has also cropped...

NEW YORK - Two men wheeled a dead man through the streets in an office chair to a check-cashing store Tuesday and tried to cash his Social Security check before being arrested on fraud charges, police said. David J. Dalaia and James O'Hare pushed Virgilio Cintron's body from the Manhattan apartment that O'Hare and Cintron shared to Pay-O-Matic, about a block away, spokesman Paul Browne said witnesses told police. "The witnesses saw the two pushing the chair with Cintron flopping from side to side and the two individuals propping him up and keeping him from flopping from side to side,"...

Tennessee's electric chair is to be used to execute a prisoner despite warnings from the chair's designer the voltage is too low. Daryl Keith Holton, 45, is scheduled to die at 1 a.m. Wednesday in Nashville for the 1997 killings of his three young sons and his ex-wife's 4-year-old daughter, USA Today reported Tuesday. It would be Tennesse's first execution by electric chair in 47 years. Holton chose the chair rather than lethal injection, as was his right under state law, despite warnings the chair's voltage is too low from modifications made in the 1990s, the newspaper said. Fred Leuchter,...

For all the media discussion, blogging boom, and enthusiasm for Michael Steele as Republican National Chairman among RNC members, no one in the Bush White House ever offered or even suggested the party post to the former Maryland lieutenant governor and 2006 U.S. Senate nominee. That’s what Steele himself told me this morning, as he arrived at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C. “No, we never had any offer,” said Steele, who was the nation’s highest-elected black Republican while serving in Maryland’s second-highest office from 2002-06. “The [talk of me as a possible...

TOPEKA, Kan. - The former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party jumped ship in a big way Tuesday, switching his affiliation to Democrat amid speculation that he would become Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' running mate. Johnson County Elections Commissioner Brian Newby confirmed that Mark Parkinson, the state GOP chairman from 1999 to 2003, came to the office and switched his party affiliation shortly before noon. Parkinson's name has been widely circulated as Sebelius' choice for a running mate as the Democratic governor seeks a second term. Current Lt. Gov. John Moore — another former Republican — is retiring when his term...

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld did not intimidate members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during planning of the Iraq war as some retired generals have charged, a former chairman said Sunday. With Rumsfeld described by his critics as a micromanager who did not listen to military leaders, the Pentagon circulated a one-page memo late last week detailing the defense secretary's frequent contacts with numerous military and civilian advisers. Richard B. Myers, the Air Force general who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 2001 until last fall, dismissed criticism that military leaders failed to stand up to...

LONDON: The deputy head of a large British school was forced to sit in a chair that made flatulent noises every time she moved, an employment tribunal has heard. Sue Storer, 48, claims her requests for a new chair were repeatedly ignored and she was "victimised, harassed and bullied" because she was a woman. Ms Storer told the tribunal her two joint deputy heads, who were both men, were given new "executive" chairs without having to ask, whereas she continually had to apologise to pupils, parents and other teachers for the noises. She has resigned from her £48,000-a-year ($116,700) post...

On Feast of Chair of St. Peter "A Privileged Sign of the Love of God" VATICAN CITY, FEB. 22, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's address at today's general audience, on the feast of the Chair of St. Peter. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters! The Latin liturgy celebrates today the feast of the Chair of Peter. It is a very ancient tradition, witnessed in Rome since the end of the fourth century, which renders thanksgiving to God for the mission entrusted to the Apostle Peter and his successors. "Cathedra" literally means the established seat of...

Recapping the Move From Hell. by: Chairman_December_19th_Society June 25 (M Day-2): Saturday before moving day. The plan was to go through each room in the house and make sure everything that needed to be packed was packed. This day was to be the last big push, and Sunday was to be relatively relaxed. Learned very quickly that Mrs. Chairman had done virtually no packing, so by the end of the day for what was supposed to be packing close-out, we were only halfway through the top floor (main floor and basement remaining) by 10 PM. We stopped, having been...

    click here for reeeeally  large version  

It stood by the river for thousands of years, shaped by wind, water, heat and cold, and was admired by countless visitors easing past in canoes, boats and inner tubes. It became part of a town's identity and a bond across generations. But the Devil's Chair, an ancient natural rock formation on the Minnesota side of the St. Croix River near Taylors Falls, is largely gone -- a heap of broken stone scattered about what was the chair's base.

Man accused of throwing chair during Palace brawl pleads no contest 3/29/2005, 10:48 a.m. ET By SARAH KARUSH The Associated Press PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A fan charged with throwing a chair during one of the worst brawls in U.S. sports history pleaded no contest Tuesday to one count of felony assault and one count of misdemeanor assault and battery. Bryant Jackson was the only one of the 13 Indiana Pacers players and Detroit Pistons fans charged with a felony for their alleged role in the Nov. 19 melee at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Oakland County Circuit Judge Rae...

Members of the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) Black Caucus have become seemingly desensitized to racial slurs. The Caucus did not even blink when the extreme Left’s new champion, Howard Dean, made prejudiced statements right before their very eyes. From Dean’s comments, it seems he believes that a Black person’s place is to be cleaning toilets at a hotel in which whites stay. According to the Washington Times, On Feb. 11, the day before he was elected party chief, Mr. Dean asked, at a meeting of the DNC Black Caucus, "You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people...

Federal Court Finds DNC Chair Howard Dean’s Judicial Appointees Guilty (PRWEB) February 26, 2005 -- In a 1997 Vermont Press Bureau article, Howard Dean expressed his desire to appoint judges that were not so concerned about the Bill of Rights -- or in Howard Dean lingo “legal technicalities”. Howard kept his aim true. Within two months of his proclamation, he appointed Nancy Corsones and Patricia Zimmerman to the Vermont bench. Shortly afterward, Vermont prosecutors set their sites on a local activist. Judge Corsones chose to advance justice in Vermont by violating the activist’s rights against double jeopardy, his right to...

Knight's Chair Toss Still Leaves a Mark By MICHAEL MAROT > AP Sports Writer > BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Those closest to Steve Reid know him as president of a trucking company, a former teammate, and a dad. Some even remember him as a color commentator on Purdue basketball broadcasts. However, most others know Reid as the answer to a trivia question. For 20 years, his life has been defined by one enduring image — Bob Knight hurling a red, plastic chair across the basketball court as the 5-foot-9 Reid stood at the free throw line for Purdue. "There are times...

ST PETER'S CHAIR AT ROME Feast: January 22 [See Phaebeus, de Cathedra in qua St. Petrus Rome sedit, & de antiquitate et praestantia solemnitatis Cathedrae Romanae. Romae 1666, 8vo., also Chatelain, Notes on the Martyrology, p. 326] St Peter having triumphed over the devil in the East, pursued him to Rome in the person of Simon Magus. He who had formerly trembled at the voice of a poor maid now feared not the very throne of idolatry and superstition. The capital of the empire of the world, and the centre of impiety, called for the zeal of the prince...

February 22, 2005Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle Psalm: Tuesday 11 Reading I1 Pt 5:1-4 Beloved:I exhort the presbyters among you,as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christand one who has a share in the glory to be revealed.Tend the flock of God in your midst,overseeing not by constraint but willingly,as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly.Do not lord it over those assigned to you,but be examples to the flock.And when the chief Shepherd is revealed,you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Responsorial PsalmPs 23:1-3a, 4, 5, 6 R (1)...

Former U.S. Rep. Tim Roemer has dropped out of the 'race' for DNC Chair, leaving only Howard Dean...   click here for really large version This is an email-able, copyright-ready graphic you can use in emails, on blogs, in flyers, on posters... anything that's noncommercial.

Anuzis brings a different background to state GOP's top job 2/3/2005, 5:40 p.m. ET By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN The Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Republican Party is on the verge of being led by a Harley-riding former Democrat who barely spoke English until the first grade. Saulius "Saul" Anuzis, who grew up in Detroit in a blue-collar Democratic family that immigrated from Lithuania, is about to become the GOP's next chairman. Anuzis, 45, wasn't initially interested in succeeding Betsy DeVos, a major GOP donor and fund-raiser who's stepping down after leading the party the past two years....

Dean blasts GOP in bid to chair Democratic Party Western states convention hears seven candidates Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer Sunday, January 23, 2005 Sacramento -- Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, aggressively seeking to become the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee, urged his fellow Democrats on Saturday to appeal to voters not as "mini-Republicans,'' but as "the party of centrists" dedicated to bringing "America back to a reasonable central moral position in the world. "We balance budgets; they don't. We stand up for job opportunities,'' said Dean, who received standing ovations from many of the 600 Democrats gathered...

WASHINGTON - White House ally Ken Mehlman assumed control of the Republican Party on Wednesday, crowing over GOP successes in November with a pledge "to cement these victories into a durable Republican majority." Mehlman, a longtime GOP operative who managed President Bush (news - web sites)'s re-election bid, said voters gave the president and his party a sweeping mandate. Addressing the Republican National Committee (news - web sites) on the eve of Bush's inaugural, Mehlman took a thinly veiled shot at former Bush rival John Kerry (news - web sites). "Given the choice between freedom and fear, between paying any...

DNC Chair Candidates Focus on South 1 hour, 15 minutes ago By HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writer COLLEGE PARK, Ga. - Seven candidates for chairman of the Democratic National Committee promised Saturday to address the concerns of Southern voters, saying they had learned the lessons of the past two elections. "You want to know my Southern strategy, show up," said Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who dropped out of the presidential race during last year's Democratic primaries. Dean and the other candidates seeking to replace Terry McAuliffe as the face of the Democratic Party spoke before a Southern...

Senate Republican Conference Chairman Rick Santorum (Pa.) joined his GOP colleagues Wednesday in a unanimous vote of support for liberal Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) to become Judiciary Committee chairman. Ending two months of silence, Santorum told HUMAN EVENTS there was no opposition to Specter at Wednesday's Republican Conference meeting. A day earlier, all 10 Republican members of the Judiciary Committee voted in favor of Specter, whose bid to become the panel's chairman was in doubt a mere two months ago. The controversy stemmed from Specter's comments after winning election to a fifth term in November. When he was asked to...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named the chair of the state's pioneering Air Resources Board as his new Environmental Protection Agency secretary Thursday, sticking with an environmentalist for the top pollution-control post. Alan C. Lloyd replaces Terry Tamminen, a former Santa Monica-based environmental activist who moved up last month to become the governor's Cabinet secretary. Lloyd, 62, has chaired the California Air Resources Board since 1999. The board has repeatedly pushed for the nation's toughest air standards, drawing challenges from the automobile industry and federal government that it is infringing on federal interstate regulations. The latest lawsuit was filed...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Controller Steve Westly on Monday nominated Proposition 71 campaign chairman Robert Klein II to head the oversight committee that will guide the landmark $3 billion stem cell research initiative approved by voters last month. The governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and controller each nominate candidates for chairman and vice chairman of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, with the selection to be made by the committee's 27 members Friday at University of California, San Francisco. Schwarzenegger and Westly's choice for vice chair is former biotech executive Edward Penhoet. Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Treasurer Phil...

I was thinking of getting myself a gift for Christmas in the form of a new leather chair. I saw Rush's chair on his EIB store website a couple of times, but I don't like buying something if I can't try out first--especially office chairs. Actually, the thing that really scares me away from the EIB chair is spending $500+ for a real unknown. I looked at this one and was impressed, but I've got to know: is it really all that comfortable? Could it support a 6'2" 200 lbs. guy for 3-7 hours a day? Could any fans out...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Bush's Top Priority Items scuttled by Republican Leadership Bluebay Mediavannrox 11-17-2004 Bush's Top Priority Items scuttled by Republican Leadership. Less than two weeks after the decisive 2004 election, senior republican senate leaders have openly opposed key policy agenda of the Bush Administration. Questions have arisen concerning whether or not this president has a "Popular Mandidate" to implement his programs. His greatest hurtle is within his own party. Key to the 2004 - 2008 policy programs unveiled by the President include Tax Reform, Judicial Nominations, The War on Terror, and Social Security Reform. At every step in these key policy...

As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Arlen Specter has often justified his voting for or against judicial nominees on grounds that he supports those nominees whose views are in the "mainstream," as distinguished from those whose views are "extremist."Now that he is in line to become chairman of that committee in January, because of seniority, the meaning of these two elusive — and elastic — terms becomes crucial.Senator Specter voted against the confirmation of Judge Robert Bork and for the confirmation of Judge Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court, even though their voting records on the Circuit...

November 09, 2004, 2:43 p.m.Race-Card Arlen For Specter, politics trumps the Constitution on race. Ramesh Ponnuru noted on "The Corner" Monday that Arlen Specter is bad not just on Roe v. Wade, but on another hot-button judicial issue, namely racial preferences. Ramesh points out that Specter wanted the Bush administration to defend racial preferences in university admissions, which is troubling enough, and when Bush declined to do so before the Supreme Court, Specter threatened to push back. "We are assertive when we think the circumstances warrant it, and I think this issue does," Specter said. "There are things we can...

Thomas Sowell: An ominous Specter: Part III QUICK LINKS: HOME | NEWS | OPINION | MEETUP | C-LOG | ISSUES townhall.comPrinter-friendly versionAn ominous Specter: Part III November 11, 2004As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Arlen Specter has often justified his voting for or against judicial nominees on grounds that he supports those nominees whose views are in the "mainstream," as distinguished from those whose views are "extremist."  Now that he is in line to become chairman of that committee in January, because of seniority, the meaning of these two elusive -- and elastic -- terms becomes crucial. Senator...

Right Wing Attack Machine Alert!!! Is Karl Rove behind the "Dean for DNC chair" thing? This is an email-able, copyright-ready graphic you can use in emails, on blogs, in flyers, on posters... anything that's noncommercial.

Former presidential candidate Howard Dean is considering a bid to become chairman of the national Democratic Party. Steve Grossman, himself a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Dean had told him he was thinking about it. Dean was traveling today in New York and unavailable for comment. His spokeswoman, Laura Gross, said ``it was far too early to be speculating on that.'' The 240 members of the Democratic National Convention will elect a new chair early next year. Several names are already being mentioned, including former Clinton aide Harold Ickes; Donna Brazile, who ran Al Gore's presidential campaign,...

Not 24 hours had passed since the stunning election victories for the White House, Senate and House before Arlen Specter, a liberal Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, began dictating terms for confirming judicial nominees to the President of the United States. Specter, next in line to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has a spotty record on judicial confirmations. He joined the left in "Borking" Robert Bork, but was a champion for Clarence Thomas, only to express public regrets for his support of Thomas later. Specter voted for Chief Justice Rehnquist, but stopped Senator Sessions' nomination to the federal...

Specter Recants 'Warning'; Critics Question His Loyalty to BushBush's Endorsement of PA Senator May Come Back to Haunt HimBy Jody Brown, Chad Groening, and Rusty PughNovember 5, 2004(AgapePress) - A powerful Republican leader in the U.S. Senate has stirred controversy by bluntly warning President Bush against nominating pro-life and conservative judges for federal judicial positions. Arlen Specter, who himself just won re-election in Pennsylvania, has since denied he was issuing a warning to the president -- but numerous pro-life advocates across the country are taking the liberal senator to task for essentially turning his back on President Bush.On Tuesday,...

Lift The Specter From Pennsylvania by Ann CoulterPosted Apr 22, 2004Except for the presidential election, the most important election this year will take place on April 27 in Pennsylvania. No, it's not the "American Idol" finals. It's even more important than that. That's the day of the Republican primary pitting a great Republican, Rep. Pat Toomey, against the 74-year-old, Ira Einhorn-defending allegedly "Republican" Sen. Arlen Specter. Thanks to Arlen Specter: States can't prohibit partial-birth abortion. Voluntary prayer is banned at high school football games. Flag-burning is a constitutional right. The government is allowed to engage in race discrimination in college...

Save Roe: Elect Specter by Timothy P. CarneyPosted Oct 19, 2004The liberal Philadelphia Inquirer has endorsed Sen. Arlen Specter on the grounds that a vote for Specter is a vote to save Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that overturned all state bans on abortion. In its endorsement of Specter, the Inquirer writes: Preserving the legality of abortion plays no small part in this decision. Sometime in the next four years, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee will very likely find himself in the pivotal role of scrutinizing at least one new Supreme Court nominee. Assuming that Republicans are...

FLASHBACK: August 18, 2003Will Specter Chair Judiciary? by Timothy P. CarneyPosted Nov 4, 2004[Editor's note: This article originally appeared August 18, 2003] Liberal Sen. Arlen Specter (R.-Pa.) is in line to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2005. This means the confirmation of the next Supreme Court justice could be presided over by a pro-choice senator who holds that Roe v. Wade was correctly decided and who helped sink the Supreme Court nomination of conservative judge Robert Bork. If voters do not oust Specter in next yearâ??s primary or general election, the Judiciary gavel -- and control over confirmations...

Specter-vision gets blurry Posted 11:56 AM This happened so fast, it probably gave the poor guy whiplash. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), fresh off his latest re-election success, probably wanted to demonstrate once again that, despite his GOP party affiliation in a Dem state, he's prepared to fight against Bush's most conservative judicial nominees, especially when it comes to abortion and the Supreme Court. "When you talk about judges who would change the right of a woman to choose, overturn Roe v. Wade, I think that is unlikely... And I would expect the president to be mindful of the considerations which...

Even after Pennsylvania's other senator, Catholic and self-described pro-life senator Rick Santorum, endorsed pro-abortion Arlen Specter in the primary instead of a pro-life challenger -- which Santorum said he did because only Specter could win the actual election, thus ensuring a GOP majority in the Senate and more pro-life judges ... Even after the President used his political capital to get Specter elected -- which Specter repaid by not campaigning at all for Bush and not exactly crying for justice when Kerry/Specter for Working Families signs showed up in SE Pennsylvania ... Even after pro-life workers spent countless hours campaigning...