Free Republic

Well they did it. Not out in the open, of course. Under cover of a Saturday night "procedural vote." After the $100 million according to the press, $300 million according to her ("I am not going to be defensive. And it's not a $100 million fix. It is a $300 million fix,") Louisiana Purchase of Senator Mary Landrieu. Hundreds of millions of OUR dollars used to pay off the wavering Louisiana Senator in order to secure her vote. I don't have words for this. None that won't get me in trouble. I worked with a guy who once said to...

We were invited to a church group picnic today to meet friends of our son and his wife. Amidst the fun and food, the D.I.L. trots out baby pics of my son that she had gleefully pounced on as we were still unpacking at the house. Paul's friends were amazed to see proof of his wittle, cute wittle, vulnerable self as a mere babe and toddler. One young dad said to me, "It's really something to see pics of him so little and cute, because anyone will tell you that when Paul walks into a room, the testosterone level jumps...

One of the most powerful figures in the Anglican Church believes that Africa is under attack from Islam and that Muslims are “mass-producing” children to take over communities on the continent. Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, 56, was elected Primate of Nigeria last week and his elevation could exacerbate tensions at a time when Anglicans are working to build bridges with Muslims. Dr Michael Nazir-Ali resigned as Bishop of Rochester earlier this year to work in countries where Islam is the majority religion. Nigeria is split almost half and half between Christianity and Islam. There are about 17 million practising Anglicans in...

CTIRUS [sic] HEIGHTS (CBS13) Three Citrus Heights families are without a home after an explosion rocked their apartment complex apparently because one of the tenants was tired of cockroaches. The Sacramento Metro Fire Department says nearly a million dollars in damage was caused when Tone Pene set off a number of bug bombs in his apartment. Pene says he used 8 to 10 foggers, but Sacramento Metro Fire says they found evidence of up to 18 bug bombs. The foggers somehow found an ignition source, possibly the refrigerator, causing an explosion that left the building with serious structural damage. Sac...

An infestation of the Turkistan cockroach, which can carry diseases such as typhoid and dysentery, can be blamed on a handful of the insects hitching a ride with soldiers returning from the war zone, experts say. Now the fast-breeding cockroaches, which are adept at dodging pesticides, have spread from California to New Mexico, threatening mayhem further afield as they seek new territory.

WASHINGTON - Tiny robots programmed to act like roaches were able to blend into cockroach society, according to researchers studying the collective behavior of insects. Cockroaches tend to self-organize into leaderless groups, seeming to reach consensus on where to rest together. For example, when provided two similar shelters, most of the group tended to gather under the same one. Hoping to learn more about this behavior, researchers led by Jose Halloy at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, designed small robots programmed to act like a cockroach. The robots didn't look like the insects and at first the roaches fled...

'Cockroaches on operating tables during surgery' at RNS A parliamentary inquiry into Sydney's Royal North Shore (RNS) hospital has heard a claim of live cockroaches being killed on operating theatre tables during surgeries. A submission from retired RNS doctor Henry Sleye Hughes also claims some of the hospital's operating tables are so old, one broke in two while a patient was anaesthetised. New South Wales Health Minister Reba Meagher was the first witness to front the inquiry, set up after 32-year-old Jana Horska miscarried in the hospital's emergency room toilets after waiting two hours for treatment. Ms Meagher has told...

This has got to be the grossest, creepiest, crawliest cartoon Michael Ramirez has ever done. Eeeeuw! See it here.

Palestinians in the capital, Baghdad, have long been threatened by armed groups and harassed by authorities but threats to them in other provinces are a new development, aid workers say. Sunni-dominated Anbar used to protect Palestinians, who are predominantly Sunni too, but times have changed. “Palestinians had been looking for safety and had found it in Anbar province but now they are being targeted [there also]. The threats they have received are an effrontery against the feelings of Muslim Arabs. They have nowhere to go and might be killed if they try to go to another place,” Mahmoud Aydan, a...

A new textbook is teaching Palestinian kids to hate Israel and think of fighting Israelis as a holy Islamic duty, according to an Israeli media monitoring group. The textbooks, published in December and distributed in the West Bank and Gaza to Palestinian students, deny Israel's existence and teach kids — many as young as 11 — that Palestinians are in the midst of a holy war between Muslims and their enemies, according to a Palestinian Media Watch report entitled "From nationalist battle to religious conflict."

In the wake of the Dem victory of November, Paul Krugman isn't merely doing a victory dance. He reminds me more of one of those ardent football fans up in the stands after his team scores the winning touchdown. Stripped to the waist, painted in team colors, getting up in the face of an opposing fan to taunt "na-na-na-na, goodbye" followed by a rousing chorus of "start the bus." In his pay-per-view opus of this morning, "A Failed Revolution," Krugman proclaims that not merely has the Republican revolution of 1994 failed, but that it "was always based on a lie."...

Article Launched: 12/22/2006 04:38:28 PM MST WASHINGTON -- Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi cited the need to preserve the ''dignity and decorum'' of the House as she rejected a request Friday that C-SPAN operate its own cameras in covering the chamber. The public service network has provided gavel-to-gavel television coverage of House proceedings since 1979. But the House leader has kept control of the cameras, with coverage generally limited to tight shots of the speaker or the podium. The situation is similar in the Senate, which C-SPAN has televised since 1986. C-SPAN's chairman and chief executive told Pelosi, D-Calif., that under this...

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is protesting Six Flags Great America’s plan to allow unlimited line-jumping privileges to anyone who eats a live Madagascar hissing cockroach. Amy Nutt, a spokeswoman for the animal rights organization said the contest at the amusement park is “gratuitously cruel.” “Cockroaches are gentle, complex animals,” said Nutt. “It’s a sad day for America when a small creature can be abused for sport.” Nutt suggested that Six Flags should allow line-jumping for those who have had an abortion. “People are the problem,” said Nutt. “We should be rewarding those who are taking steps to...

Pelosi: ABC Must Correct the Factual Inaccuracies in 9/11 Movie 9/7/2006 7:35:00 PM To: National Desk Contact: Brendan Daly or Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616; both of the Office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement this evening calling on ABC to correct factual errors in their movie, "The Path to 9-11": "According to all credible reports, ABC and Disney have seriously overstepped the bounds of dramatic license with their so-called docudrama, 'The Path to 9/11,' with an egregious abuse of the facts. "September 11 is hallowed ground....

(WSB Radio) -- The State of Georgia has begun enforcing federal guidelines dealing with medicaid payments for the treatment of chronic conditions which began as emergency care. As a result, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta expects to incur losses in the millions of dollars for the care of children illegally in the U.S. The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports the hospital currently treats 172 undocumented children many of whom will not qualify for extended care. David Tatum, vice president of government affairs for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, tells WSB News, "We don't turn children away here at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta but...

The Hamas-led government faced a financial crisis on its first day in office Thursday, as Western nations threatened to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority if the militant group does not soften its stance on Israel. Hamas leaders said the aid cuts violate the Palestinians' democratic rights, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared: "The principle is very clear. We're not going to fund a Hamas-led government." Hamas has rejected Western demands to renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. The United States and European Union list Hamas as a terror group, as...

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Somali militiamen who skirmished with U.S. Navy vessels claimed Sunday they did not fire the first shot and that they had been patrolling Somali waters to stop illegal fishing vessels. On Saturday, two U.S. Navy ships exchanged gunfire with suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia, killing one suspect and wounding five others. (Full story) It said that the incident took place on international waters and the Navy had taken 12 suspects, including the wounded, into custody after the gunbattle. Saleban Aadan Barqad, a spokesman for the militias, confirmed the casualties Sunday to The Associated Press....

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and a leader of Hamas today both called for a continuation of foreign aid, but European leaders responded that Hamas must renounce violence and accept Israel's right to exist. .............."We call on you to continue moral and financial support, and to direct all aid to the Palestinian treasury so it can be used in keeping with the priorities of the Palestinian people," Ismail Haniyah said at a news conference.

JERUSALEM – Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip are watching the news regarding Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's deteriorating health carefully and will celebrate with Qassam rocket firings at Jewish towns if Sharon dies, terror leaders told WorldNetDaily. One militant leader threatened the life of Sharon's temporary replacement, Deputy Minister Ehud Olmert, who was installed as prime minister just hours ago. "I am ready with my candies and my rockets and praying to Allah that Sharon dies. We have prepared a celebratory barrage of rockets ready to fire into Israel on the occasion of the death of our enemy," said...

PALESTINIAN society disintegrated further yesterday as gunmen from the ruling Fatah movement tried to kidnap the parents of an American activist who died trying to halt the demolition of Gaza homes, while other militants destroyed part of Gaza's border wall with Egypt - killing two guards. Both actions, and the takeover of seven government offices in the town of Rafah, were undertaken by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in order to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority to release a militant arrested on Tuesday for alleged involvement in the kidnapping last week of the British human rights worker Kate Burton and...

Palestinian Legislative Council Candidate and Mother of Three Hamas Terrorists Umm Nidal Farhat: Israelis are Not Civilians and There are No Prohibitions on Killing Them; I Am Willing to Sacrifice My Ten Sons The following are excerpts from an interview with Umm Nidal [1], Palestinian Legislative Council Candidate and the mother of three Hamas terrorists who were killed while taking part in "martyrdom" operations. Dream2 TV aired this interview on December 21, 2005.TO VIEW THIS CLIP, VISIT: http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=980 . Interviewer: "Umm Nidal is a woman who voluntarily sacrificed her sons for the sake of resisting the occupiers. This woman...

Damascus, Dec 31 - Palestinians share Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's view that Zionist regime cannot co-exist with other nations in the region, said a senior Palestinian official Friday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's view is based on historical realities, the representative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Mahir al-Tahir, added. At an international conference held in Tehran in late October, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." The conference was titled `world without Zionism'. The president, who said in his speech that Israel was an illegitimate regime and, therefore, had no...

RAMALLAH, December 31, 2005, (WAFA)- Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) revealed Saturday that the estimated number of Palestinians all over World by the end of 2005 is 10.1 million. According to a report issued Wednesday the PCBS said that the 10.1 million are distributed as follows: 3.8 million in the Palestinian Territory (37.9%) of the total Palestinians all over World, 1.1 million (11.2%) live in Israel, 3.0 million (29.4%) in Jordan, on the other hand, 462 thousands Palestinians (4.6%) live in Syria. In The light of all given data its probably expected to doubling in number of Palestinian Population...

Since Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians have basically been left to their own devices. The world has gotten an eyeful of just what a much-anticipated Palestinian state might look like, and it's not a pretty picture. The dust hadn't even settled after the last of the Jews had been removed from Gaza when Palestinians resorted to form. Looting and demolishing buildings they might otherwise have been able to reside in, the Palestinians displayed the sort of destructive and dysfunctional behavior they've become known for. They soon graduated to burning down synagogues, a time-honored tradition from the...

LONDON -- Leaders of a key Muslim organization in Britain, angered by the deadly terror attacks in London, yesterday told tens of thousands of followers that "enough is enough" and urged all Muslims to turn away from "harbingers of hate." "The word 'Islam' means peace," said Rafiq Hayat, national president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association U.K., "but we have to live by it in order to grow." Mr. Hayat's call for Muslims to quit listening to fanatics who stir terrorists to action came in the wake of a new opinion survey showing that one in four Muslims in Britain sympathizes...

An attempt to erect a 16-tonne ice pop in a New York square [Union Square] froze traffic and created a sticky situation for the company behind the stunt. The soft-drink maker Snapple tried to get into the Guinness World Records book by installing the 7½-metre confection in downtown Manhattan on Tuesday. As a construction crane began to haul it upright, a pink tide of kiwi-strawberry-flavoured fluid spread across Union Square. The slush forced pedestrians to flee for higher ground. Firefighters closed off several roads, fearing that vehicles and bicycles could slip. "What was unsettling was that the fluid just kept...

SPRINGFIELD -- Black lawmakers lashed out Thursday against a deal struck earlier this week that would limit jury awards in medical malpractice cases, and warned Gov. Blagojevich not to count on their political support if he goes along with it. "Sooner or later, the black community is going to rise, and they're going to have to respond to us," said Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago). "I hope the governor thinks about that before signing this legislation. We've got an election next year, so the Black Caucus can be effective in that regard." A House committee approved the deal Thursday, and the...

(CNSNews.com) - The family of Terri Schindler Schiavo says the judge who ordered her starvation and dehydration -- a process that will begin on March 18 unless a higher court intervenes -- is "afraid of the truth," and is denying Terri's due process rights under state and federal law. "Never in my life have I seen a judge so afraid of the truth," said Pamela Hennessy, media representative for the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation in a statement Tuesday morning. "Why is it that admitted criminals are protected to every reasonable measure of the law," Hennessy asked, "while our disabled and...

WASHINGTON - Scientists have identified the "come hither" scent that female German cockroaches use to lure males, a discovery that may help control one of the world's most troublesome and resistant household pests. Female cockroaches emit a pheromone, or chemical attractant, to let males know they are ready to mate. Researchers earlier identified the courtship chemicals used by other cockroach species, but the romance scent of the German cockroach remained elusive. "The German cockroach is the one we wanted because it is a worldwide pest that gives all the other cockroaches a bad name," said Wendell L. Roelofs, a Cornell...

By J. Matt Barber You were hard-pressed to find the story or to see the images anywhere in the mainstream media - three unarmed Iraqi election officials recently murdered in cold blood on their way to work - dragged from their car and shot in the head, execution style, by spineless terrorists - the entire massacre caught on film. Their crime? - Helping to further the cause of a free and democratic Iraq. Since the end of major combat operations, hundreds upon hundreds of innocent Iraqi men women and children have been deliberately targeted and blown limb from limb by...

SDEROT, Israel -- At the Panic gift shop, the checkout counter chatter is dominated by Qassams, the crude rockets that Palestinians frequently fire at this ragged industrial town of nearly 20,000 two miles from Gaza's northeast corner.

The next time you see rats roaming around public housing units in New York City, think of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. He and a handful of his colleagues in other states are working hard to make the city's public housing safe — for rats, mice, cockroaches and other city "wildlife." Working with a collection of green activists, Spitzer and five other state attorneys general recently announced that they might sue the feds for using pesticides in public housing — poor, minority families living in vermin-infested buildings not withstanding. The AGs claim they want to promote "integrated pest management," which just...

According to the Associated Press, a Russian foreign minister says Moscow respects Lebanese sovereignty. In a veiled swipe at the United States and its United States allies such as Israel, Russia's foreign minister said Sunday his country opposed a Security Council resolution demanding free presidential elections here and a Syrian troop withdrawal out of Moscow's respect for Lebanese sovereignty. Sergey Lavrov made his comments after meeting Lebanese President Emile Lahoud in Beirut, marking his latest high level meeting during a Middle East tour that has included talks with the leaders of Egypt and Syria. He is expected to arrive in...

"The Russians are coming...The Russians are coming..." Well, that could have been the headlines in Israeli newspapers until a few days ago, before Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov came to Israel. Now, after meeting with Israeli officials, the headlines could be, "Russian FM: Chechen Muslim terror evil, but justifies support for PLO Terror State and help for Iranian Nukes." The day before the Russian Foreign Minister came to Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin, to express his shock at the seizure of the Russian school in Beslan. Sharon told Putin that, "We must concentrate political and...

Police were alerted in China after a lonely widower was found to be keeping 200,000 cockroaches as pets. A horrified neighbour saw the insects swarming across the floor of the man's house in Beijing. The pensioner told police he had begun breeding the cockroaches as a hobby after his wife died. It took health officials two hours to kill the insects and disinfect the man's home, according to the Beijing Morning Post.

US President George W Bush may be the darling of big business, but not necessarily of big business's children. Which is why Jonathan Soros, the son of billionaire George Soros, has joined electronic pop star Moby in launching an internet competition for a TV commercial attacking Bush. AFP reports that the contest, called Bush in 30 Seconds, is open to the general public and will be judged by a celebrity panel including actors Jack Black and Janeane Garafalo, REM frontman Michael Stipe and documentary film maker Michael Moore. "Bush's policies have ransacked the environment, put our national security at risk,...

On Dec. 4, 2002, the Associated Press (AP) reported how Fidel Castro has given up smoking his beloved cigars, despite the Caribbean Island fame and investment in that tobacco product. Now Castro is critical of rum drinking as well, in the name of advocating for the well-being and public health of his people. Speaking to a group of medical students the previous evening, the Maximum Leader, who the AP cited as the Cuban "President" Castro, rhetorically asked the question, "How much damage has rum caused any society? … How many deaths from the irresponsibility of accidents and alcoholic drinks?" The...

An embarrassing pest problem has come to light in the water park of world's largest mall. It seems Australian cockroaches have taken a liking to the tropical air of the West Edmonton Mall attraction and they are grossing patrons out. "It was icky," said Denise Lockhart, who said she and her kids found at least a dozen of the creepy critters when she turned on the lights in their rented poolside hut. "They were in the cabana, the washroom, the garbage bin . . . they were on the food, they were on the knapsacks, they were on the clothes."...