Free Republic

WASHINGTON — For the first time in more than three decades, Social Security recipients will not get any increase in their benefits next year, federal forecasts show. The absence of a cost-of-living adjustment, calculated under a formula set by law, will be a shock to older Americans already hit by plummeting home values, investment losses and rising health costs. More than 50 million people receive Social Security. “Most seniors have never been through a year in which there was no Social Security COLA,” said David M. Certner, legislative counsel at AARP, the lobby for older Americans. Beneficiaries have received automatic...

Pepsi, Coke rivalry becomes physical Fri Oct 12, 9:46 PM ET The long-standing rivalry between Coke and Pepsi took a physical turn Friday when a Pepsi deliveryman allegedly punched his Coke counterpart in the face at a western Pennsylvania Wal-Mart, state police said. The two deliverymen were "apparently bickering back and forth" while unloading their wares at the Indiana County store, police said. When the Coke deliveryman left the store, his counterpart allegedly punched him in the face three times, breaking his nose and giving him a black eye, police said. No charges have been filed, but police characterized the...

Cola Raises Women's Osteoporosis Risk 10.06.06, 12:00 AM ET FRIDAY, Oct. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Cola may not be so sweet for women's bones, according to new research that suggests the beverage boosts osteoporosis risk. "Among women, cola beverages were associated with lower bone mineral density," said lead researcher Katherine Tucker, director of the Epidemiology and Dietary Assessment Program at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. There was a pretty clear dose-response, Tucker added. "Women who drink cola daily had lower bone mineral density than those who drink it only once a week,"...

An Indian state has banned the sale of soft drinks as the country's highest court told the US beverage giants Pepsico and Coca-Cola to reveal the ingredients of their products."The ban will be in force in all educational institutes, including medical and technical colleges and universities and offenders will be punished," a spokesman from the administration of northern Rajasthan state announced Friday.

Cola rocket goes Mento Fizzy fountain ... the conventional method      By PETE BELL Sun OnlineTHE latest internet craze to sweep the nation involves a packet of mints, a two-litre bottle of diet cola and a lot of stupidity.Drop the sweets into the drink and you can create an instant 20ft fizzy fountain.  Scientists are divided on the cause of the phenomenon. Some say it is a reaction between the surface of the mints (we found American brand Mentos worked the best) and the carbon dioxide in the drink.Others say an ingredient in the cola is agitated by something in...

While it might seem strange scientists would think to develop dipsticks to measure caffeine, how they're making them is even weirder. How about three llamas and two camels. The animals, both called camelids by scientists, are among the few whose immune systems produce antibodies that are not destroyed by hot coffee. We did not look into who figured that out or why. Anyway, the researchers injected proteins linked to caffeine into the five beasts to elicit an immune response. The animals produced antibodies in their blood that were reactive to caffeine. Then in the lab, these antibodies were found to...

Pepsi emerges Wall Street's favourite beverage stock after 112 years. PepsiCo has overtaken Coca-Cola in market capitalisation for the first time in 112 years of fierce competition. The milestone reached yesterday highlighted the contrasting fortunes of the two cola giants over recent years, as PepsiCo has replaced Coca-Cola as Wall Street’s favourite beverage stock. PepsiCo shares have risen 14 per cent this year, pushing the company’s stock value to a record high of $98.4bn yesterday. Coca-Cola shares have declined 1.2 per cent, depressing the company’s worth to $97.9bn. PepsiCo’s surging value reflects its successful diversification beyond sugary soft drinks as...

While some people express anti-U.S. sentiment through terrorist attacks or noisy demonstrations, a Tunisian-born French businessman has created a soft-drink company whose aim is to protest America's foreign policy. Tawfiq Mathlouti launched his company, the Mecca Cola Beverage Company, last November in Paris. He touts his soft drink as an alternative to Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola and says it's primarily a "political product." To date, Mathlouti has sold 14 million 1.5-liter bottles in supermarkets and grocery stores in Europe, the Middle East and even some African nations, and he said he has orders for 600 million liters through the...

Muslims throughout the Islamic world are now being advised not to consume Pepsi Cola because it contains the parts of pigs used it it's production ~ Begin my translation ~ Al-Irsyad – the Islamic Agency for Research in Egypt has now recommended that Muslims are not to consume Pepsi Cola because it is being suspected of containing material that has been made from the intestines of pigs. Dr. Mustofa Asyak'ah an agency member has asked for the other members of the agency to gather to discuss this problem, so that the Muslim community can receive clarity as to whether the...

A message from PepsiCo’s President & CFO, Indra Nooyi I recently had the privilege of speaking to the 2005 graduating class of Columbia University’s Business School in New York City. Recognizing that these talented new leaders will influence both America and the world, I tried to provide some advice as they embark on their careers. I chose to speak about the powerful role that America, and we as Americans, hold in the world today. I hoped to encourage these graduates to be sure they make a positive and personal difference as representatives of our great country. In my comments, I...

Maureen Spillane, an executive at a shoe and handbag maker in New York, always thought a $100,000 salary equaled serious success. Like many professional people, however, when she finally broke the barrier, she was a bit deflated to learn that it was hardly salvation. It still took her several years of "hoarding away" and avoiding standard Manhattan indulgences - fancy food, fancy clothing - in order to afford a down payment on a one-bedroom fixer-upper on the Upper West Side. "It's not the big shiny number that you think about when you first get out of college," said Ms. Spillane,...

Low-cal Coke in testing stageBeverage would be a diet version of Coke Classic, targeting those who shun Diet Coke. By SCOTT LEITHThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 02/19/05You might think Diet Coke is an artificially sweetened cousin of Coke Classic.Fact is, Diet Coke has always had a whole different formula. A BEVERAGE SCORECARD This year, Coca-Cola and Pepsi are fighting to grab U.S. consumers with a flurry of new drinks. Some highlights:Already out: • Full Throttle energy drink (from Coca-Cola) • Flavored Dasani bottled water (from Coca-Cola)* • Coca-Cola with Lime** On the way: • Pepsi Lime • Pepsi One (reformulated with Splenda) • Diet Coke Sweetened...

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R.-Fla.) introduced the Deficit Accountability Act of 2005 (H.R. 223) “To provide that NO AUTOMATIC automatic pay adjustment for Members of Congress shall be made in the year following a fiscal year in which there is a Federal budget deficit.” Write to your representative to cosponsor and vote for H.R. 223. Deficit Accountability Act of 2005 (Introduced in House) HR 223 IH 109th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 223 To provide that no automatic pay adjustment for Members of Congress shall be made in the year following a fiscal year in which there is a Federal budget...

I missed 5 out of 20........!! not such a hot score! .....but it's a fun test to take......."back down Memory Lane!"History Exam... Everyone over 50 should have a pretty easy time at this exam. If you are under 50 you can claim a handicap. This is a History Exam for those who don't mind seeing how much they really remember about what went on in their life. Get paper and pencil and number from 1 to 20. Write the letter of each answer and score at the end. Then, best of all, before you pass this test on, put your...

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush spelled out in greater detail Thursday the pay raise that takes effect Jan. 1 for federal workers, members of Congress, judges - even Vice President Dick Cheney. Congress passed the pay raises earlier this year, but Bush was required to sign an executive order detailing the pay hikes before the end of the year. He did so Thursday. The president's annual salary of $400,000 is not affected by the legislation. The cost-of-living raise lifts salaries for members of the House and Senate from $158,000 this year to $162,100 in 2005. The measure provides civil servants...

We're getting close to Election Day 2004 and the Kerry campaign is feeling the stress. Even with 90% of the media acting like an arm of the Kerry campaign, Kerry is still losing. Of course, Kerry's neighbor (at one of his mansions), a fellow named George Soros, got himself into the act by contributing about $18-million to the socialist committees of darkness in the background. The dark side thought they could use the money to defeat Bush this year by being extremely negative. Silly Soros, all he did was make a few political pikers rich. Oh, and it went far...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With little debate, House lawmakers on Tuesday included themselves as part of a pay raise that all federal employees will receive next year. The cost-of-living raise would be the sixth straight for members of the House and Senate, boosting the salaries of lawmakers, now $158,100, by about $4,000 in the new calendar year. The civil servant COLA is part of an $89.9 billion Transportation and Treasury Department spending bill that the House is expected to pass Wednesday. The Senate has yet to take up the legislation. The measure stipulates that civil servants get raises of 3.5 percent,...

Virgin Cola is giving it a go in America once again. But this time, the British brand's invasion wasn't led by an army tank. Virgin Cola just became available in limited distribution in Southern California. A national rollout is planned for next year. Some people still remember the first time Virgin Cola reached American stores. It was six years ago, heralded by publicity-seeking British billionaire Richard Branson of Virgin Group. For the launch, he rode into New York's Times Square atop a tank, promising a battle with Coke and Pepsi. Virgin Cola was a flop and disappeared from the U.S....

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - McDonald's Corp., the No .1 fast-food chain that's been on a mission to its revamp its image, said it will offer Coca-Cola's new low-carb "C2" cola in a limited number of its restaurants. Oak Brook- Ill.-based McDonald's (MCD: Research, Estimates), announced late Thursday that the company is sampling C2 in about 27 restaurants in five markets, including Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Orlando. "We're responding again to what our consumers are telling us they want," Don Knauss, McDonald's chief operating officer of its North America division, said in a statement.

Suspicious device found on America West plane in Phoenix (Phoenix-AP) -- An America West Airlines flight from Phoenix to Reagan National in Washington was aborted today after a passenger spotted a suspicious device in a seat-back. Sky Harbor airport spokeswoman Deborah Ostreicher says it turns out it was an M-P-Three player, used to play music, and it had been wrapped around a soda can. It was found in a seat-back by a passenger as Flight 44 was taxiing out to the runway for takeoff. But before it was determined what had been found, the pilot taxied to the airport's cargo...