Free Republic

NEW YORK — A man who once swam for the U.S. Naval Academy's water-polo team has survived a terrifying leap from the George Washington Bridge. Authorities say 28-year-old Adrian Rawn stopped his car on the lower level of the bridge connecting Manhattan to New Jersey at about 11:30 a.m. on Friday, then walked to the rail and jumped.

U.S. Islamic street preachers declare slaughtered soldiers got just desertsA radical Muslim group was videotaped condoning the massacre at Fort Hood by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan because it was a military target. "America's chickens have come home to roost," shouted a representative of the group. A website run by Revolution Muslim is also honoring Hasan, the man accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas, as an "Officer and a Gentleman," saying his actions should not be denounced...

A year on from its meltdown in the Obama landslide, the Republican Party has cause to celebrate. As predicted, it won two state governorships this week – and that was predicted because of the disillusionment with the image machine that is President Obama and his chums. Those victories, in states Mr Obama won last year, Virginia and New Jersey, have caused not just many Republicans, but also their acolytes in the press, to proclaim they are on the road back, and that the spectre of George W Bush no longer hangs over them. Perhaps they are right: but things don’t...

And so a personnel file already teeming with red flags gets another giant one. If you’re wondering how a British newspaper managed to track down this information when the U.S. military apparently couldn’t, you’re not alone. There’s no question now that we need congressional hearings into how the army missed the warning signs on Hasan, especially given the suspicions as to why they might have looked the other way. Chop chop, Messrs. Boehner and Cantor. Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in...

If all the adults worldwide who Gallup surveys show would like to migrate actually picked up and moved where they wanted, Gallup's Potential Net Migration Index (PNMI) suggests many developed countries could be overwhelmed and many developing countries could sit relatively empty. The Potential Net Migration Index is the estimated number of adults who would like to move permanently out of a country subtracted from the estimated number who would like to move into it, as a proportion of the total adult population. The results are based on nationally representative surveys of more than 260,000 adults worldwide. The higher the...

A popular saying among those who considered themselves part of the '60s counterculture went something like, "Never trust anyone over 30." In that context, it's interesting that quite a few of that era's iconic figures celebrated the applicable birthday before the calendar turned to 1970. One of them was Grace Slick, who rose to fame singing two hit singles by the San Francisco band Jefferson Airplane, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit." She turned 30 on Oct. 30, 1969, which of course makes her 70 today

In the dense forests of the idyllic Danube island of Persin, home to the endangered sea eagle and the pygmy cormorant, lie the ghastly remains of a communist-era death camp. Hundreds "enemies of the regime" perished from beatings, malnutrition and exhaustion in 1949-59 in Bulgaria's Belene concentration camp, where dead bodies were fed to pigs. Twenty years after the fall of communism, Belene is largely forgotten -- only a small marble plaque tells its horrific story. And nostalgia for the past is growing in the small Balkan country and across the former Soviet bloc. Capitalism's failure to lift living standards,...

After trying out Pasadena, Atlanta and Miami, Lilian Junco decided this was the place to retire. Being near her son was the first attraction, but soon she was drawn in by the same combination of features that has lured tens of thousands of others from out of state: Gulf Coast living and super-low costs. With some of the country's lowest prices for housing, gas and food, no state income tax and one of the most resilient economies in the nation, Galveston and other parts of the Lone Star State are emerging as the new Florida. This week, Florida disclosed population...

Mark Ndesandjo in his first in-depth interview on allegations of abuse by their father. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just might be near the end, but there will be a transcript.

Blue Dog Democrats Hold Key PATRICK YOEST WASHINGTON — A group of fiscally conservative House Democrats is set to vote on a health-care bill that virtually all of its members think does too little to rein in health costs and keep the federal budget deficit under control. But by all indications, the 52-member group -- known as the Blue Dog Coalition -- will split in the voting. The lawmakers, some of whom played an instrumental role in passing a version of the bill approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, have met continually to discuss health-care issues but haven't...

The grieving mother of a heroic Sergeant-Major gunned down by a rogue Afghan policeman has accused Labour of treating British troops like 'peasants'. Heartbroken Elizabeth Chant, whose son Darren was killed last week, is calling on the Government to invest in better accommodation. Warrant Officer Class 1 'Daz' Chant, 40, of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was one of five off-duty British soldiers shot dead last Tuesday by a man dressed in an Afghan police uniform who opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle at a police station in southern Afghanistan. Mrs Chant, 59, said: 'Every day now we are hearing...

POLITICO reports: Hours before an expected vote on a sweeping health care bill, House Democrats believe they've secured the 218 votes they need to approve the bill, several party insiders said. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took to the House floor about 6:30 p.m. to say, “Today we will pass the Affordable Health Care for America Act.. . .We will make history. We will also make progress for America's working families." Thirty-two Democrats have publicly declared their opposition to the bill, giving party leaders the narrowest possible margin to push the bill across the finish line. But numerous sources said Democrats...

A 20-year old student at New York University apparently took his own life on Tuesday morning, reviving concerns about the high number of suicides there in recent years. University and police officials said the student, Andrew E. Williamson-Noble, a junior from Irvington, N.Y., jumped from the 10th floor to the lobby at the Bobst Library about 4:30 a.m. John Sexton, the university’s president, said in an e-mail message to students and the faculty that “indications are that he took his own life.” Mr. Williamson-Noble was found on his back; a suicide note was later discovered in his room, according to...

I found it interesting that a letter that states that North Dakota can lead when referring to the cap and tax bill otherwise named as the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act was written by two environmental lobbyists. The question is: Lead in what? While the two lobbyists use President Barack Obama’s words, “Make no mistake – this is a jobs bill,” the reality is that this bill is a job-killer. Why else would the legislation passed by the House include language that provides, should it become law, that people who lose their jobs because of it could get...

Sooner or later, students of abiogenesis will encounter Darwin's 1871 letter to Joseph Hooker with his speculations on the spontaneous generation of life. He was returning some pamphlets which triggered the reaction: "I am always delighted to see a word in favour of Pangenesis, which some day, I believe, will have a resurrection." The next paragraph has his "big if" dream: ...

Ignorance is not bliss.  We have learned that  members of the mosque attended by Nidal Hasan are telling the media that they "have no pity" on the people murdered and wounded by Hasan, and we are finding out that Hasan was listed as a participant in a Homeland Security Policy Institute's presidential transition task force last year.  Now we are finding out that Hasan worshipped under the same radical Yemini imam as 3 of the 9-11 terrorists.  We cannot afford to ignore what is going on in the Muslim world.   There are those who do not understand what I have meant...

And so a personnel file already teeming with red flags gets another giant one. If you’re wondering how a British newspaper managed to track down this information when the U.S. military apparently couldn’t, you’re not alone. There’s no question now that we need congressional hearings into how the army missed the warning signs on Hasan, especially given the suspicions as to why they might have looked the other way. Chop chop, Messrs. Boehner and Cantor. Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in...

WEST ALLIS, Wisc. – Sarah Palin rallied thousands of abortion opponents Friday night with a a stark warning that the same philosophy that allows abortion rights could soon be invoked to allow the government to cut off health care for the elderly or children with special needs. Speaking to a fund-raising banquet of Wisconsin Right to Life, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee asserted that if policy-makers don’t believe a child in the womb is valuable, then “perhaps the same mind-set applies to other persons.” “What may they feel about an elderly person who doesn’t have...

There is a video here of community organizers who are worshiping Obama. There are two video in this article, but the video to check out is down a ways in the article. It shows them worshiping in Obama's name. Brietbart I guess had an audio expert analyze the video and the expert claims that they are saying Obama, not God. Like I said there are two videos, the second one has the analysis included in a statement on the video. I guess the Gamaliel Foundation filed a complaint with the producers of the video. The Gamaliel officials claim that the...

          WHY DO WE STILL HAVE SCARS? One of the greatest truths we can know in life is that God is always able and willing to forgive us for our shortcomings. All we have to do is ask for His forgiveness. And if God is willing, then we too, should forgive ourselves. Yet one of the greatest ironies concerning forgiveness is that the painful memories the scars of our past remain with us. We may wonder, "What's the sense in receiving forgiveness if the scars from the painful memory remain?" Maybe the question should be,...

A parody PSA about Big Government and its plans to take over health care. A spoof of Will Ferrell's ad for MoveOn.org

Rep. Michele Bachmann on House floor with Hawaiian lei

To pass a healthcare reform bill, addressing abortion is necessary in order to get the support of conservative Democrats. Lobbyists for Catholic bishops were part of the negotiation.

MIDI - SHOUT - by Tears for Fears Shout out, laugh and shout out That's what Obama is all about He's in way over his head, his head Shout out, laugh and shout out That's what Obama is all about Ft. Hood, the soldiers are dead, they're dead Just understand...the foolish voted for this man Just understand...their heads were buried in the sand Just understand...it's all part of a greater plan Just understand...the strings pulled by an evil hand The strings pulled by an evil hand Watch him shout out...that's what Obama is all about Come on, he's having...

TUCSON, Ariz.—BASIS charter school in Tucson, Ariz., may be the most unassuming high school ever to receive positive treatment from the national media. Nothing about its location (downtown next to a Bank of America and across from Target) nor its building (a rather dated former daycare center) indicates that it could compete with the monolith, state-of-the-art high schools that surround it. Yet not only does it compete with local schools that have vastly more money and resources, according to analyses by Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report, it bests them and schools all across the country. In 2008, Newsweek...

Note: This is satire designed to show the ludicrous nature of the media coverage on the Ft. Hood issue. It is not designed to trivialize a terrible event but to make people understand better what happened and how the event is being dangerously distorted.] By Barry Rubin When John Wilkes Booth opened fire on President Abraham Lincoln in Ford’s Theatre in April 1865, the media was puzzled. “True, the actor was outspoken in his Confederate sympathies and viewed himself as a Southerner,” said someone who knew him, “but that was no reason he might want Lincoln to be dead.” The...

November 8, 2009 I'm Doing 'God's Work'. Meet Mr Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs [Pic in URL] Number 85 Broad Street, a dull, rust-coloured office block in lower Manhattan, doesn’t look like a place to stop and stare, and that’s just the way the people who work there like it. The men and women who arrive in the watery dawn sunshine, dressed in Wall Street black, clutching black briefcases and BlackBerrys, are very, very private. They walk quickly from their black Lincoln town cars to the lobby, past, well, nothing, really. There’s no name plate on the building, no sign on...

As word spread that a gunman had opened fire at Fort Hood leaving a trail of carnage, a chilling realization swept across the U.S. Muslim community: He has an Islamic name. From a professor who just testified in Congress, to a White House adviser appearing before a Jewish group and a former Marine driving home from work, Muslims across the country were shocked, angry and afraid that the attack would erode efforts to erase anti-Islamic stereotypes. Many Islamic leaders said the Fort Hood tragedy that left 13 dead and 30 wounded including the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, could...

FORT HOOD, Texas -- There was the classroom presentation that justified suicide bombings. Comments to colleagues about a climate of persecution faced by Muslims in the military. Conversations with a mosque leader that became incoherent. As a student, some who knew Nidal Malik Hasan said they saw clear signs the young Army psychiatrist - who authorities say went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood that left 13 dead and 29 others wounded - had no place in the military. After arriving at Fort Hood, he was conflicted about what to tell fellow Muslim soldiers about the fighting in Iraq...

Spat Over 'Muslim Terrorists' Halts 9/11 Marker Dad of one victim wants those words on it; town says not on public property Ruth Epstein, a first selectman in Kent, Conn., says that to add "Muslim terrorists" to a planned 9/11 memorial would be disparaging towards Muslims. Nov . 7, 2009 HARTFORD, Conn. - A memorial to honor a Sept. 11 victim from a small northwestern Connecticut town has been halted by the unexpected conflict arising from his father's insistence it say his son was murdered by "Muslim terrorists." Town officials in Kent are balking, saying it would be inappropriate to...

'They are so familiar we take them for granted, but a new book reveals the full glory of our Great War memorials'

PINELLAS PARK - As Xuan-Nuong Lam Tran pulled her Mercedes ML 350 into a parking spot at a post office, another customer flung open her own car door, causing minor damage. Tran, a travel agent, might have received a ticket for careless driving that day in July and gone on her way. But she was handcuffed, humiliated and taken to the Pinellas County Jail. Her crime? Ten days earlier, according to court records, she failed to answer a charge she had watered her lawn on the wrong day. At the jail, Tran rolled her fingers in black ink, and her...

*snip* Yes, and a resounding, fervent promise by the newly elected President Obama: "My administration will bring a new transparency in our governance." That sounded so good, didn't it? *snip* Our president informed the Muslim world that "America is no longer a Christian nation," and that because of the number of Muslims in our borders that we might be considered "a Muslim nation." These and other similar comments amazed the over 80 percent of Americans who still identify themselves as Christian. *snip* But the issue that makes his notorious promise of "transparency" seem so hollow – and false – is...

With her head held high, applauding and with a beaming grin, Christina Schmid did not look like a typical war widow as she watched her husband's coffin parade through the streets of Wootton Bassett this week. The brave wife of Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, who died dismantling a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, even managed a thumbs-up as she watched her husband of two years return home. Yesterday she revealed that after the homecoming parade of 30-year-old Sgt Schmid, known as Oz, she cried so much that she did not have an ounce of make-up left. But she said he had...

From Cantor's office: Below is a list of 31 Democrats, from coast-to-coast & north to south, who have listened to their constituents and joined Republicans in a bipartisan fashion to oppose Speaker Pelosi’s trillion dollar plus overhaul of the nation’s health care system (Updated is bold): 1. Rep. John Adler (NJ) 2. Rep. Brian Baird (WA) 3. Rep. John Barrow (GA) 4. Rep. Dan Boren (OK) 5. Rep. Rick Boucher (VA) 6. Rep. Allen Boyd (FL) 7. Rep. Bobby Bright (AL) 8. Rep. Travis Childers (MS) 9. Rep. Artur Davis (AL) 10. Rep. Chet Edwards (TX) 11. Rep. Bart Gordon...

Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in 2001 at the same time as two of the September 11 terrorists, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. His mother's funeral was held there in May that year. The preacher at the time was Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Yemeni scholar who was banned from addressing a meeting in London by video link in August because he is accused of supporting attacks on British troops and backing terrorist organisations.

A Glimpse into the Future By Norma Zager “Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parent, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers” Socrates(470-399 B.C.) Despite the constant egregious flow of rhetoric from our obnoxious politicians, the voice of reason occasionally emerges like a small flower through the weeds in surprising places. Last evening in my university classroom, I was taken by the fresh bloom emerging through the dense grass of our all-too-common uncivil social discourse. Although narcissistic politicians would have us all believe the American people condone their vision for future generations, I was quite hopeful to hear the...

A senior police chief spoke out tonight about the worrying rise in gang rapes, as disturbing figures showed almost 100 attacks in the capital within the last year. Meanwhile the age of victims has fallen, with 64 per cent aged 19 or younger in the last financial year compared with 48 per cent in 1998-9. The Metropolitan Police has commissioned research from Dr Miranda Horvath, a lecturer in forensic psychology at the University of Surrey. She is focusing on the 'cultural context' of gang rape and speaking to officers from forces across Britain and the United States. Jennette Arnold, who...

> "That is one of the great advantages of the British health system," said Dr. Steve Field, president of the Royal College of General Physicians. "We have a list of all the names of patients who qualify to be vaccinated." >

"The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it." -Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood"[Our goal is] to be ready as educators and parents to help young people obtain sex satisfaction before marriage." -Dr. Lena Levine, colleague of Margaret Sanger and medical secretary of the International Planned Parenthood Federation in the 1930s"We are not going to be an organization promoting celibacy or chastity." -Faye Wattleton, President of Planned Parenthood from 1978-1992This summer, one of America's largest community organization networks was "busted" thanks to the efforts of two college kids...

Thirteen dead and 28 wounded would be a bad day for the U.S. military in Afghanistan and a great victory for the Taliban. Brave soldiers trained to kill America's enemy abroad were killed in the safety and security of home by a man who believes in and supports everything the enemy does. And he's a U.S. Army major. And his superior officers knew about his beliefs but seemed to think this was just a bit of harmless multicultural diversity - as if believing that "the Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressor" (i.e. his fellow American soldiers) and...

Lost Charlie Chaplin film bought on eBay for $5 A lost Charlie Chaplin film has been discovered in a can of nitrate film bought on eBay for £3.20 ($5). Morale Park from Henham, Essex, purchased the tin simply because he liked the look of it. He was amazed to discover its fragile contents: a previously unknown seven-minute film Chaplin film called Zepped. His interest was piqued, he said, when he could not find any mention of it on the internet. The film features footage of Zeppelin airships flying over England during the First World War, and out-takes from three pictures...

Energy-efficiency investments Tangible gains still ahead for $25 billion initiative In Baltimore, the 300 block of East 23 1/2 Street is getting patched up in time for winter. One economic stimulus program is paying to insulate 11 rental rowhouses, another is paying for furnaces and a third is covering the cost for reflective roofs to be installed by prison inmates in a job-training program. The block is part of one of the biggest initiatives ever undertaken by the federal government, a nationwide push to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. But as the national unemployment rate crosses into the double...

I don’t claim to be knowledgeable about US Immigration law, but I do know the process, the legal one that is. I met my wife while she was attending a medical convention on Down syndrome in New York. She is from Brasil and was here on a visitor visa. As they say, the rest is history. What I know about the legal immigration process came from personal experience that eventually saw my wife become a naturalized American citizen after nearly nine years of filing forms and jumping through hoops. One form in particular caught my attention. I don’t recall the...

A manager at a Massachusetts retail store claims he was unjustly fired after he told a colleague he thought her impending marriage to another woman was wrong.

<p>Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama Saturday said members of the House of Representatives face the chance of a lifetime as they consider legislation on health care reform.</p> <p>In a meeting with the House Democratic leadership, the president said he told lawmakers "that opportunities like this come around maybe once in a generation.</p>

Barack Obama's reaction to bad news is to play it so cool that Americans yearn for a bit more drama - and some even for his predecessor, writes Toby Harnden in Washington. During the election campaign, Barack Obama's cool detachment was a winning quality, the "No Drama Obama" a welcome contrast with the "Mr Angry" John McCain, never mind the hot-headed "I'm the decider" President George W Bush. A year into his presidency, however, Mr Obama seems a curiously bloodless president. If he experiences passion, he seldom shows it. It is often anyone's guess as to whether an event or...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi all-but-predicted passage of a House health reform bill Saturday, following an emotional appeal from President Barack Obama to fellow Democrats, urging them to “answer the call of history” and vote yes. “Now’s the time to finish the job,” Obama said in the Rose Garden, following a 45-minute closed-door meeting with the House Democratic caucus on Capitol Hill. “I reminded them that opportunities like this come around maybe once in a generation,” Obama said. “This is their moment, this is our moment, to live up to the trust the American people have pledged in us.” Obama left...

Barack Obama has tried to calm racial tensions in the US after the Muslim community voiced fears it would face a backlash from the Fort Hood killings. The president's intervention follows two days after Muslim army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on colleagues at the military base in Texas, killing 13 and wounding 30. Hundreds attended a candlelit vigil last night at Ford Hood, the country's largest army camp, while the investigation into the incident is continuing. Major Hasan, 39, whose spree was stopped when he was shot four times by Police Sergeant Kimberley Munley, remains in a...

When the US Constitution was first adopted there was no Federal Income Tax. The Federal government was fortunately limited in the amount of taxes it could take in. One form of taxation was a tax on goods called an excise tax which is still in existence. Another was the Poll tax which is a direct tax on individuals. The Federal Income Tax was added to the US Constitution in 1913. Everyone reading this who has ever had a job knows how it works so I won’t elaborate. For you younger readers, it basically works this way. The Federal government lets...