Free Republic

CAIRO (AFP) – Ramadan tradition dictates that Egypt's fruit-sellers nickname their dates to reflect unofficial popularity ratings, but this year the global recession has forced down the price of the 'Obama'. Named after US President Barack Obama who chose Cairo to deliver a landmark speech to the world's Muslims in June, the popular date was expected to sell for 25 Egyptian pounds (around 4.5 dollars) a kilogram (2.2 pounds). "People can't afford dates this year, we had to bring the price down to 15 pounds (2.7 dollars)," said Mohammed, a fruit vendor in the bustling Sayyeda Zeinab neighbourhood. Emulating the...

From a former Air Force Colonel.... Subject: The Date First, let me say that I've moved three presidents up to now and I've seenincredible waste. But, the "new" guy really takes the cake. I don't havean issue with the President promising his wife dinner and a show or that heeven takes his wife out. But, when I saw the news say that the date cost $24,000, here's what youDON'T know. Three days before "dinner" a C-17 flew Marines and the helicoptermaintenance equipment to JFK Airport . The day before "dinner" I flew the US Secret Service (USSS) and themotorcade to...

Just after midnight and just after noon on July, 8th, it will be.... 12:34:56 7/8/9 Finally something on FR that really is SERIES!

Remember this? Obama scolded corporate executives: "You can't get corporate jets. You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas, or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime." But apparently it's none of our business how much it cost for Obama to move a massive military and security operation to New York for an evening so he could take his wife Michelle out to dinner and a show last Saturday. After bumbling along in his usual style, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Monday refused to answer the question of cost (video)and no one in the...

Here’s an article from the Washington Times that gives us a better estimate of what it takes (costs) the taxpayers to shut down the streets of New York and carry an entourage of wife and aides for a night out on the town...

What's the perfect New York date for President Obama and Michelle? What they chose is perfect - what could be more New York than a Broadway show? A ride on the Staten Island Ferry on a beautiful summer night. A stroll on the boardwalk and hot dogs at Coney Island. A Yankees or a Mets home game is the way to enjoy the real New York. Isn't there anything to do in Washington D.C.?

em>I thought we had a serious financial crisis that required everyone to sacrifice?Yes friends, President Obama and First Lady Michelle had another of their famous "date nights" Saturday. Instead of clogging traffic in Washington, D.C. to visit a restaurant, they hopped on the Marine One helicopter to Andrews Air Force Base, jumped on Air Force One (a Gulfstream 500, not the 747) then flew up to New York City followed by TWO OTHER PLANES for staff and press (the 747 would have been cheaper). Upon landing in New York several more helicopters, limos, vans, police, military and other staff were...

Bronstein Emerges Unscathed After Dowd DateBy Brock Keeling in News on April 27, 2009 2:53 PM Maureen Dowd is kind of an idiot. And we mean that in the nicest way possible, because she seems so smart. But then she goes off and writes this. In her most recent op-ed piece for the New York Times, she attempts to show the world of online writing what's what. How so? Well, she attacks Twitter and other types of newfangled online internet world wide web sites, claims that journalists are "hot" in Hollywood right now ("Russell Crowe, playing a messy and morally...

A student at a fundamentalist Baptist school that forbids dancing, rock music, hand-holding and kissing will be suspended if he takes his girlfriend to her public high school prom, his principal said. Despite the warning, 17-year-old Tyler Frost, who has never been to a dance before, said he plans to attend Findlay High School's prom Saturday. Frost, a senior at Heritage Christian School in northwest Ohio, agreed to the school's rules when he signed a statement of cooperation at the beginning of the year, principal Tim England said.

Redating Caesar’s invasion of Britain TxSt astronomers come to bury long-accepted date, not to praise it Julius Caesar landed an invasion fleet on the shores of Britain in 55 B.C., expanding the boundaries of the so-called “Known World” and inadvertently sparking a dispute between historians and scientists for centuries to come. Now, astronomers from Texas State University have applied their unique brand of forensic astronomy to the enduring controversy surrounding the precise location of Caesar’s landfall, concluding that the historically accepted date for the event--Aug. 26-27, 55 B.C. – is incorrect. The Texas State team’s proposed new date of Aug....

The exact date when the Greeks used the Trojan horse to raze the city of Troy has been pinpointed for the first time using an eclipse mentioned in the stories of Homer, it was claimed today. # The truth about an epic tale of love, war and greed Scientists have calculated that the horse was used in 1188 BC, ten years before Homer in his Odyssey describes the return of a warrior to his wife on the day the "sun is blotted out of the sky". The legend of the fall of Troy is mentioned in Virgil and Homer's poems...

Here’s a quick joke for you all… Mahtin goes to pick up his date for the evening. She’s not ready yet, so he has to sit in the living room with her parents. He has a bad case of gas and really needs to relieve some pressure. Luckily, the family dog jumps up on the couch next to him. He decides that he can let a little fart out and if anyone notices they will think that the dog did it. He farts, and the woman yells, “Shep, get down from there.” The guy thinks..(con't @http://boknowsonline.com/2008/03/08/fahtin-mahtin/)

SPILLING a vodka cranberry down your date’s white shirt is never a good start. And banging on about Brad Pitt won’t help your prospects either. That’s why it’s a good idea to set yourself some dating rules right from the start. ‘Chilling out’ and ‘not acting like a psycho’ are definitely priorities as far as we are concerned. So we asked relationship expert Jenni Trent Hughes to share her top ten dating tips: 1) Give yourself a quick emotional MOT before you go on a date to check you’re in the mindset for a possible new relationship. In other words,...

Florida House Bill 0537: Relating to Elections [LPCC] Revises fines applicable to violations of requirements re third-party voter registrations; revises dates re presidential preference primary; authorizes municipalities to move their election date by ordinance to coincide with said primary; exempts persons seeking federal office from resign-to-run law; requires that all write-in candidates reside within district of office sought at time of qualification, etc. Amends FS. APPROPRIATION: $27,861,850. EFFECTIVE DATE: 01/01/2008 except as otherwise provided. 05/03/07 HOUSE Amendment(s) to Senate amendment(s) failed -HJ 01064; Concurred -HJ 01050; CS passed as amended; YEAS 118 NAYS 0-HJ 01064; Ordered engrossed, then enrolled -HJ...

Romance, European-style British men are shyest when it comes to asking for a date and Spanish women won't go out with bald guys PHILIP JACKMAN From Tuesday's Globe and Mail January 22, 2008 at 4:03 AM EST Think that the traditional British reserve is a tired old cliché, a long-dead remnant of chilly Victorian custom? Turns out it's far from outdated when it comes to dating. According to a new survey, British single men were the least confident in Europe when it comes to asking women out on a date, 47 per cent claiming that this is why they're still...

How Old Tree Rings And Ancient Wood Are Helping Rewrite History ScienceDaily (Oct. 27, 2007) — Cornell archaeologists are rewriting history with the help of tree rings from 900-year-old trees, wood found on ancient buildings and through analysis of the isotopes (especially radiocarbon dating) and chemistry they can find in that wood.Sturt Manning talks to visitors during a demonstration of the tree-ring laboratory following his presentation during Trustee/Council Weekend. At the lecture, Manning explained how students and lab staff members precisely dated a wooden support beam from McGraw Hall to 1870. (Credit: Jason Koski/Cornell University Photography)" By collecting thousands of...

Greetings, and Welcome to another Weekend Singles' Thread. This week is National Unmarried and Single Americans Week or National USA Week as the sponsors like to say. The official website for this week is at http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/usaweek/intro.htm . This "celebration" started on Monday and will run through the weekend. The celebration is being promoted by a group called "Unmarried America" that calls itself "an information source for the new unmarried majority." This group is trying to capture and represent the interests of all unmarried people and wants to reach out to those beyond traditional "singles" to include widows and widowers, homosexuals,...

HISTORY - Time line [some] Important dates in radical ISLAM VS WORLD 1263 - 1328 The 'Godfather of Islamic Fundamentalism' Who is the True Godfather of Islamic Fundamentalism? His name is Ibn Taymiyyah, or Taq ad-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah, and he lived from 1263 to 1328. His name by birth was Ahmad ibn Abdul-Halim ibn Abdas-Salaam. This individual could be considered as the real godfather of fundamentalism. Maududi borrowed extensively from Taymiyyah's writings. http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/index.php? id=1194248__________________1347 [The Bahmani sultans & genocide on Indians]The Muslim conquests, down to the 16th century, were for the Hindus a pure struggle of life and death....

Valentine’s Day approaches, but it seems consumers are being standoffish about online dating. The number of U.S. Internet users visiting dating Web sites is falling, says a report set to be released Monday. Last year, only 10% of Internet users visited at least one online dating site, down from 16% in 2005 and 21% in 2002, says the report by Jupiter Research. The decline in unique visitors hasn’t yet resulted in a decline in subscribers, the study found, but the trend likely will at some point, analysts say. Other research firms track the same trend. Traffic to seven of the...

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- Two suspects in a case in which a young couple out for a date were carjacked and killed pleaded not guilty in federal court as prosecutors described their long criminal history. Lemaricus Davidson, 25, and Eric Boyd, 34, were arraigned separately. Davidson was charged with carjacking and firearms charges, and Boyd with being an accessory after the fact to the carjacking. Family members of victims Channon Christian, a 21-year-old University of Tennessee student, and her boyfriend Christopher Newsom, 23, wept as details of the carjacking and killings less than two weeks ago were recounted. The couple...