Free Republic

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Retirees have something else to look forward to besides playing golf -- much better sleep -- particularly if they have decent retirement benefits and retire relatively early. That's what Dr. Jussi Vahtera of the University of Turku in Finland and colleagues found in a study of 14,714 people who had retired from the French national gas and electric company. But because the workers in the study had excellent retirement benefits, including generous pensions, the findings don't apply to everyone, Vahtera noted in a prepared statement. "In countries and positions where there is no proper pension...

RICHMOND, Va. - Last year, 23-year-old Rashida Hill watched the presidential debates, visited the college political party meetings and put a Barack Obama bumper sticker on her townhouse door. She voted for Obama because she felt like the election was about "being a part of something." But on Tuesday, the Virginia Commonwealth University student didn't bother voting in the governor's race because, she said, the candidates didn't give her anything to get excited about. "The simple fact is, unless you put it in front of somebody, they're really not going to seek it out," Hill said. Many of the young,...

The GOP victories reveal fissures in the coalition that elected Barack Obama. If you were watching television on Tuesday night as the election returns came in showing Republicans capturing the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey, you probably missed seeing the biggest losers of the evening. You may have caught the concession speech of Creigh Deeds, who ran 12% behind Barack Obama's winning percentage of the vote in Virginia, and that of Jon Corzine who, after spending over $100 million of his own money on three... --snip-- Instead, support evaporated as Democrats from places as dissimilar as Arkansas and California...

If the insurance industry thought its early support for health care reform would earn it some points with Democrats, it recently got a rude awakening. After America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry association representing health insurers, released a study showing that premiums would rise 18% under the Senate Finance Committee's reform proposal, President Obama accused the industry of waging "deceptive and dishonest" attacks to derail reform legislation. To retaliate, the president and other top Democrats are now moving to strip the industry of its long-standing exemption from federal antitrust laws. Democrats, eager to do whatever it takes to win, are...

How RINO is too RINO for Graham? It’s unclear. Even he’s sour on Scozzafava, but apparently only because she was too far left for the “mainstream” in NY-23, not because she was too far left, period. Like Ace, I’m happy to help build a bridge between centrists and conservatives, but a bridge has to end somewhere. Where does this one end? Or should we simply ask all Democrats to declare themselves Republicans and have a one-party system that encompasses everyone from DeMint to Pelosi according to whatever’s “mainstream” in their district? “To those people who are pursuing purity, you’ll become...

The second part of the video is just as creepy as the first. (maybe creepier)

Stunned and angry, national gay rights leaders Wednesday blamed scare-mongering ads - and President Barack Obama's lack of engagement - for a bitter election setback in Maine that could alter the dynamics for both sides in the gay-marriage debate. Conservatives, in contrast, celebrated Maine voters' rejection of a law that would have allowed gay couples to wed, depicting it as a warning shot that should deter politicians in other states from pushing for same-sex marriage. "Every time the citizens have voted on marriage, they have always sided with natural marriage," said Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Christian...

Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky Vintage; Reissue edition (October 23, 1989) Buy It An inspiration to anyone contemplating action in their community! And to every organizer! Saul Alinsky wrote the book on American radicalism - two books, in fact: a 1945 best-seller, "Reveille for Radicals" and "Rules for Radicals" in 1971. The "Reveille" title page quotes Thomas Paine... "Let them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul." Saul Alinsky, who was a labor and civil-rights activist from the...

TAU's man/machine interface is essential link in groundbreaking prosthetic handIn one sense, our hands define our humanity. Our opposable thumbs and our hands' unique structure allow us to write, paint, and play the piano. Those who lose their hands as a result of accident, conflict or disease often feel they've lost more than mere utility. A new invention from Tel Aviv University researchers may change that. Prof. Yosi Shacham-Diamand of TAU's Department of Engineering, working with a team of European Union scientists, has successfully wired a state-of-the-art artificial hand to existing nerve endings in the stump of a severed arm....

JESSE LEE PETERSON RADIO SHOW...everybody and their mama listen in! Listen Live Mon-Fri 6-9 a.m. PST / 9-12 a.m. EST. LISTEN HERE

November 04, 2009 Joe Wilson Proposes Forcing Congress Onto Government Health Insurance Plan Though Republicans oppose the so-called "public option," Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., is proposing the requirement to draw attention to the plan's alleged flaws. Republican Rep. Joe Wilson proposed an amendment Wednesday that would force all members of Congress to receive health insurance coverage through the government-run plan proposed in the House's reform bill. Though Republicans oppose the so-called "public option," the South Carolina gadfly -- who gained notoriety for shouting "you lie" at President Obama during his address to Congress two months ago -- is proposing the...

    At the FReeper Canteen! C'mon and take a break ! Walk on over to the water cooler and lets chat. Post your thoughts, opinions, news of the day, rantings, ravings, pontificates, hypothesis, hyperboles, your soap box cause, your mantra, your baggage, your garbage, your blogging, your secrets, whatever you feel would make talk around the water cooler real interesting! Please remember that The Canteen is here to support and entertain our troops and veterans and their families, and is family friendly.       A little humor.... Gifts For A Teacher It was at the end of...

A senior Republican who has supported President Obama's goal of closing the Guantanamo Bay prison by January now says the president has botched the plan. With less than two weeks before the Obama administration announces where the conspirators of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will be prosecuted, Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox News that there is a war within the White House on what to do. "And let me just say, the president, quite frankly, has screwed this up," he said. "You know, he announces on the first day of his being inaugurated that he's going to close Guantanamo Bay...

10-year-old girl is brought to tears by surprise homecoming of her father. She thinks he is in Iraq! This short, 40 sec., video comes with a big time tissue alert!!

Want to save the planet? Kill your pets. Or better yet, eat them. This radical new suggestion comes from New Zealand professors Brenda and Robert Vale, architects who specialize in sustainable living. Their research has found that pets create tremendous strains on the environment and that a truly green world would have no place for these carbon-emitting parasites.

The November 3rd elections were a turning point, swiftly reached. The inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama was followed by Tea Parties around the nation that aggregated into the huge September 12 rally in Washington, D.C. And barely two months later, the election of Republican governors in Virginia and New Jersey. In Maine, the voters repealed the authorization of same-sex marriage, an anathema as morally debased as abortion. My mind went back to Barry Goldwater's acceptance speech at the Republican convention in 1964. "I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind...

Republicans still believe the President is visiting Wisconsin for one reason only. Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Reince Preibus says both President Barack Obama and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle realize how important it is to help convince the undecided Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to jump into the state gubernatorial race. “In my view this is nothing more than an attempt to get Mayor Barrett into this governor’s race while the Democrats in Wisconsin are sucking for air. They’ve just got beat out east, they don’t have a governor candidate in the state of Wisconsin, they don’t have many legislative candidates...

FORT WORTH — A task force formed in the wake of the arrests at the Rainbow Lounge recommended a series of reforms Tuesday designed to give gay and lesbian residents equal treatment at City Hall. The City Council could vote on one recommendation next week, but it may take time to research the legal and financial aspects of others. Police and state liquor agents arrested five people in June at the Rainbow Lounge; one man was seriously injured while in custody. Many patrons said the police used excessive force and targeted the bar because it caters to gays. The results...

The State Supreme Court has declined to hear a constitutional challenge to a law creating a domestic partner registry for gay couples. The high court denied a petition for original action from Wisconsin Family Action, which claims the registry violates a state Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage or any similar status. Lester Pines, the attorney representing the state in the case, says it’s not the end of the road for the challenge. He says the lawsuit will just have to start at the Circuit Court level instead. In a statement, Wisconsin Family Action says it plans to take its challenge...

I haven't heard this argument before by homosexuals but here it is: "Taxes have everything to do with "no taxation without representation." Why should homosexuals have to pay taxes if they are going to be treated as second class citizens? Why should their tax dollars go to the govt? But if you and I can have our benefits left to our spouses and get tax breaks for filing, then everyone in a domestic partnership should have that right. The govt should support all marriage or no marriage. It should represent all it's constituents. We can't just apply the ideals of...

The ongoing campaign against triads, or Chinese-style mafias, in the west-China metropolis of Chongqing is the largest such operation since 1949. Yet what renders this so-called “anti-triad tornado” (fanhei fengbao) so disturbing is not simply that close to 3,000 big-time criminals have been nabbed by authorities, the Chongqing disaster has laid bare the full extent of the collusion between organized crime on the one hand, and senior officers in the police and judiciary on the other. Even more shocking is the fact that what the local media calls “dark and evil forces” have become so entrenched and prevalent in this...

This is the seventh installment of a nine-part series excerpting the chapter on medical care from the new edition of economist Thomas Sowell's "Applied Economics." All parts of the series can be seen at IBDeditorials.com.It is illegal for a pharmaceutical company to begin selling a drug without prior approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The drug-approval process tries to reduce the risks of new and untried medicines before they are made available to the general public. In addition to being reasonably safe for most people, pharmaceutical drugs must also be shown to be effective for whatever medical conditions they...

WASHINGTON -- Americans' opinion of the health care proposals now before Congress is eerily similar to public opinion of the Clinton health reform initiatives in 1994, according to an analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine today -- and that may not bode well for Democrats.

The peoples' Genie spoke yesterday. But will they keep speaking, or will the Genie ease back into the bottle? After watching the cram-down of astronomically expensive legislation and the accompanying explosion in national debt, the people's Genie tipped over the bottle and came out. Then the Genie's people spoke with bold passion at the August town hall meetings. As the fall approached, they kept speaking. They gathered at T.E.A. Party events along nationwide bus tours. They formed a huge crowd in Washington, D.C. on 9/12. They carried homemade signs in civil demonstrations in cities of all sizes across the land....

More than one-third of Americans ages 17-24 are unqualified for military service because of physical and medical issues, U.S. military officials said. Curt Gilroy, the Pentagon's director of accessions, said the United States has "an obesity crisis." "There's no question about it," Gilroy told the Navy Times. "Kids are just not able to do push-ups, and they can't do pull-ups. And they can't run." The Pentagon figures -- 35 percent of the roughly 31.2 million Americans ages 17-24 are ineligible for military service -- are drawn from data from the Centers for Disease Control. In a study scheduled to be...

Even as the Chinese economy under the Hu-Wen administration is set to wean through the global financial crisis with a remarkable eight percent growth rate this year, senior officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs under the jurisdiction of the State Council, which is responsible for social and administrative affairs, revealed that China's aging population—people older than 60 years old—reached 12.79 percent (169 million) of the total population at the end of 2008 (Xinhua News Agency, October 26). Amid a slowdown in its working-age population growth and surplus labor depletion, China's rapidly aging population is placing a serious strain on...

TEL AVIV – President Barack Obama's father was abusive and hit at least one of his American wives, Obama's half-brother disclosed at a press conference in China today. The relationship that Barack Obama Sr. had with his third wife might shed some light into the mysterious relationship between Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, and Barack Obama Sr. It also may provide some background into why Dunham sought a divorce from Obama Sr., although there is actually no record of their marriage. Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo – who had the same, late, father as the U.S. president – spoke to reporters as...

When it comes to climate change, just have a little faith!In an unusual case in the United Kingdom, it has been ruled that climate change beliefs should be afforded the same legal protections as religious freedoms. The bizarre ruling sets a landmark legal precedent and could have broad implications both in Britain and abroad. The case began when Tim Nicholson, former head of sustainability at property firm Grainger PLC was laid off in July 2008 for his criticism of management on the basis of climate change beliefs. Mr. Nicholson, who renovated his house to be greener and refuses to fly...

Leaked copies of two speeches Sarah Palin prepared for last year's US election night have revealed she planned to salute her husband Todd as the nation's "first ever Second Dude" in the event of victory. In defeat, which she suffered with Senator John McCain at the hands of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the Republican vice-presidential candidate wanted to tell Todd to "get ready for the Iron Dog snow machine race!". A new book, Sarah from Alaska, details how the then state governor fought tooth and nail to introduce Sen McCain on stage in his home town of Phoenix, Arizona,...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, Nov. 4, 2009 – The game is dominoes on this autumnal night on Camp Savage. Army Maj. Joan Carrick shuffles the small spotted tiles, then sends them skidding around the card table. Across the table sits Carrick’s dominoes partner, Army Staff Sgt. Larry Saunders. To her left and right sit her opponents for the night, Army Capt. Timothy Vandewalle and an Iraqi interpreter known as Denzel. Army Maj. Joan Carrick, Army Capt. Timothy Vandewalle, Army Staff Sgt. Larry Saunders, and an Iraqi interpreter known only as Denzel play dominoes on Camp Savage, Iraq, Oct. 14,...

LifeNews.com Note: Colleen Raezler is a research assistant at the Culture and Media Institute. This article originally appeared in NewsBusters, the blog of the Media Research Center.   Profits, not the killing of unborn children, are the "real immorality" of abortion, according to "View" panelist Joy Behar. Behar expressed her unique view of morality during the Nov. 3 "Hot Topics" discussion about Abby Johnson, a Texas Planned Parenthood director who resigned from her post last month after seeing an abortion on an ultrasound. Johnson explained to the local Texas CBS affiliate that Planned Parenthood had been pressuring her to focus...

NORFOLK, Va., Nov. 4, 2009 – Army Staff Sgt. Megan Krause’s words come out in a rush, as if she wants everyone to hear and learn from her story. Staff Sgt. Megan Krause, an Army Reserve medic who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, hopes to help other servicemembers by telling her story of seeking help when post-traumatic stress had her spiraling out of control. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Krause, an Army reservist with the 365th Engineer Battalion in Pennsylvania, does want people to hear her story, and she wants to connect with servicemembers so they...

Imagine launching a new restaurant and incurring the scrutiny of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Organization for Women before it even opens. That’s what happened to the owners of Stoddard’s Fine Food & Ale, a “gastropub” opening this month in Downtown Crossing. Controversy erupted after Stoddard’s sent out a press release last month about its opening that included news of a private, membership-based “gentlemen-only Friday Club” on its lower level. After the plans came under criticism for excluding women - and possibly violating a state law that prohibits discrimination in public places - Stoddard’s “clarified” its policy...

For Immediate Release November 4, 2009 Health Care Reform Bills will Hurt Oklahoma’s Seniors and Families by U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. Over the past few months I've visited with thousands of Oklahomans who are concerned about how the health care reform bills moving through Congress will affect their lives and their families' lives. Politicians in Washington have talked a good game about pursuing common reform goals, such as reducing costs and improving access and quality. Unfortunately, the plan backed by congressional leaders not only falls far short of the goals of reform, but will place new burdens on families,...

Stunned and angry, national gay rights leaders Wednesday blamed scare-mongering ads — and President Barack Obama's lack of engagement — for a bitter election setback in Maine that could alter the dynamics for both sides in the gay-marriage debate. Conservatives, in contrast, celebrated Maine voters' rejection of a law that would have allowed gay couples to wed, depicting it as a warning shot that should deter politicians in other states from pushing for same-sex marriage. "Every time the citizens have voted on marriage, they have always sided with natural marriage," said Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Christian...

Rome, Italy, Nov 4, 2009 / 10:21 am (CNA).- Italy’s Minister of Education, Mariastella Gelmini, has rejected the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in favor of removing crucifixes from public schools.  She stated, “Nobody, much less a European court that is steeped in ideology, will be allowed to strip our identity away.” The court ruled the presence of crucifixes in classrooms could be a “bother” to students who practice other faiths or who are atheists and that the State should abstain from imposing beliefs in public places. “Religious neutrality should be observed in the context of public...

.SNIPARTnews has reported that the White House has quietly de-listed a painting by Alma W. Thomas that it chose last month, among some 45 pieces borrowed from several Washington museums, to decorate the private White House residence and the West and East Wings. Titled, “Watusi (Hard Edge)” from 1963, the work takes a Matisse collage and, as Holland Cotter wrote in The New York Times, praising the selection, “shifts the pieces around, cools the colors down, and adds a title that refers to a Chubby Checker song.” “But through copying Matisse,” Mr. Cotter added, “she began to work out a...

Republican Rep. Joe Wilson proposed an amendment Wednesday that would force all members of Congress to receive health insurance coverage through the government-run plan proposed in the House's reform bill.

Bryan, TX (LifeNews.com) -- Planned Parenthood is attempting to silence a former abortion center director who quit working for the abortion business after seeing an ultrasound of an abortion procedure. Officials with the group are pushing a request for a restraining order on Abby Johnson and a pro-life group that helped her conversion.Johnson had been the director of the Planned Parenthood center in this southeast Texas city that is home to Texas A&M University.She turned in her resignation on October 6 after years of a local pro-life group helping her see the problem with abortion. After the ultrasound, she decided...

The economic situation is proving challenging to “root cause” theorists—those who argue that social pathologies like crime arise from economic inequality and racism, not cultural dysfunction. The regular predictions that crime will go up as self-disciplined burghers lose their jobs continue to be dashed. To be sure, in some cities, youth violence has been bobbing up and down. Chicago, for example, saw a 38 percent spike in homicide victims aged 17 and younger in 2008—to a total of 50 victims—but this year, those youth homicides were down 19 percent by the end of September. Inner-city gangbangers never had jobs to...

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards Washington D.C., Nov 4, 2009 / 03:44 pm (CNA).- Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, sent an urgent message this week to the group's base asking for pro-abortion Catholics to defy the U.S. bishops, who are campaigning against the current versions of health care legislation on Capitol Hill because they fund abortion.In the email, Richards says that “as I write this, the bishops have asked all the Catholics in the country to contact their legislators, asking them to alter current health care legislation to include anti-choice amendments.” “The bishops have inserted...

Another clip from Hengler, this time catching Axelrod phoning it in. Watch to the end or you’ll miss the requisite flattery from Andrea Mitchell. Consider this a continuation of the last post: If, as Ax lamely insists, NY-23 is a big deal while Virginia and Jersey are mere local races portending nothing for The One’s agenda, why do Blue Dogs seem more fidgety than usual? Ed linked Politico’s piece about center-left anxiety a few hours ago, but this one from The Hill is fun too: Vulnerable House and Senate Democrats want their leaders to skip the party’s controversial legislative agenda...

Heh. No doubt the RNC response was to insist that they were merely local races signifying nothing about the national mood. But Rahm was right that time, wasn’t he? [L]ooking back at First Read’s coverage the day after the 2005 New Jersey and Virginia contests, we had forgotten that Rahm Emanuel — then chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and now White House chief of staff — had called us to argue the very point Republicans are now making: that the two gubernatorial contests say something about the upcoming midterms. Here’s what we wrote then: Democratic House campaign committee...

IT was one of those excruciating moments in Australian politics. Defence Minister John Faulkner last night gave US General David Petraeus one of Australia's highest honours, the Order of Australia, for his distinguished service against terrorism in the Iraq war. Only six years ago, Senator Faulkner had opposed the war and challenged claims that Iraq posed a terrorist threat. During a censure motion in parliament against the Howard government, he described the decision to send 2000 troops as "unilateral adventurism" and a "confidence trick". It was a different story at the Australian ambassador's residence in Washington last night. As a...

A MELBOURNE baby given no chance of survival has amazed doctors after being saved with one of the biggest long shots in medical history. "Baby Z's" brain started virtually dissolving soon after she was born 18 months ago because she had too much toxic sulphite in her system. But her parents and doctors refused to give in to the one-in-a-million genetic condition and stumbled on a highly experimental drug. The Herald Sun can reveal treatment began a month after she was born and within days Baby Z "woke up". "It was really like awakening - it was just bang, and...

A letter appealing for the support of the Goldstone report's findings was articulated by the leftist Jewish organization "Jews say no!" and signed by hundreds of Jews worldwide on Wednesday. "When it comes to Israel, hard-core censorship and intimidation by those claiming to speak in the name of the Jewish people have been the order of the day," the letter said regarding Israel's response to the Goldstone report findings. The letter also accused the worldwide Jewish community of unsuitably attacking Justice Goldstone and said "when those within a community try to "excommunicate" and dishonor truth-tellers, it is our obligation and...

Four Republican Senators — South Carolina’s Lindsay Graham, New Hampshire’s Judd Gregg and Maine’s Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins — sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson today, asking her to provide critical data requested by Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) during Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearings on climate change Oct. 27.

All young Americans need to wake up and pay attention. You are being sold out by the federal government. Your future will be bleak indeed if you do not heed my warning. You are being sold down the river on so many fronts that I cannot list them all in this short article, but I will attempt to give you a small glimpse of what your future holds if you do not stand up. You need to get informed NOW. You need to speak up and let your voices be heard....or become a working slave to support the federal addiction...

One of two women accused of scrapping with an anti-abortion protester in front of Flagstaff City Hall has decided to accept six months of unsupervised probation to make the charges go away. Denise Redsteer, 48, accepted a "deferred prosecution" Friday in Flagstaff Municipal Court, said City Prosecutor Lisa Stankovich. Deferred prosecution does not admit guilt, and if Redsteer successfully completes the terms of her probation, the charges against her will be dismissed. Stankovich said that Redsteer has also agreed to pay a $150 prosecution fee and not commit any criminal offenses during the probationary period. Flagstaff attorney, Mik Jordhal, who...

L.A. Doctor Accused of Faking Medical Exams for Immigrants November 4, 2009 A 72-year-old Los Angeles doctor was accused by state and federal authorities of faking medical exams for immigrants applying for U.S. visas, officials said. According to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, Levon Tebelekian allegedly charged immigrants $150 to give them medical clearance papers without giving them medical exams. Such exams are required by the federal government to make sure immigrants don't have any diseases. It is unclear whether any of the immigrants involved in the alleged scam had any health problems.