Free Republic

President Obama took to the podium today to talk to Americans about the White House’s initiatives to help veterans get back into the work force and what the government is doing to encourage a health economy. But before he dove into the details, the President stood at his podium for a good minute or so in silence, interrupting only to let the audience know that he was “just waiting, here.” The President didn’t quite specify what he was waiting for as he stared out into the audience for the minute, though a number of things could have been delaying his...

[snip] "In addition, the incidence for schizophrenia is almost doubled for individuals who are born and brought up in cities. "These values are a cause for concern and determining the biology behind this is the first step to remedy the trend." He and colleagues studied a series of brain scans from healthy volunteers from rural and urban areas to reach their conclusion. Dr Pruessner said: "These findings suggest that different brain regions are sensitive to the experience of city living during different times across the lifespan. "Future studies need to clarify the link between psychopathology and these affects in individuals...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I read today a piece written by a friend of mine named Michael Ledeen. I've quoted Michael Ledeen on this program before. He's a noted scholar and think tank thinker, and he's done a lot of thinking for a lot of different think tanks. He's been associated with I think Heritage and a number of them. Now, what he's primarily known for in recent years has been championing the cause of the Iranian people against the oppression that they face each and every day. He's always been a staunch supporter of the United States military, keen observer,...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.- A Florida judge says red light tickets issued by police officers are unconstitutional because they impose more severe penalties than red light camera citations. Broward County Judge Fred Berman noted last week police write tickets for $260 when they observe a motorist blowing through a red light while $158 citations are issued to motorists caught by the red light cameras, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Friday. Berman said the police-issued tickets, which also impose points on driver's licenses, violate equal protection provisions in the U.S. and Florida constitutions. The ruling eliminated a ticket issued to a motorist...

California's attempts to switch to green energy have inadvertently put the survival of the state’s golden eagles at risk. Scores of the protected birds have been dying each year after colliding with the blades of about 5,000 wind turbines. Now the drive for renewable power sources, such as wind and the sun, being promoted by President Obama and state Governor Jerry Brown has raised fears that the number of newborn golden eagles may not be able to keep pace with the number of turbine fatalities. The death count along the ridgelines of the Bay Area’s Altamount Pass Wind Resource Area...

For the seventh year in a row, a survey of chief executives has ranked California as the nation's worst state in which to do business. More than 500 U.S. CEOs polled by Greenwich, Conn.-based Chief Executive magazine based their opinions on numerous factors, including regulations, tax policies, work force quality, education resources, quality of living and infrastructure.

A Government Accountability Office report to be released on Tuesday concludes the federal government "could potentially save billions of taxpayer dollars annually" by "reducing or eliminating duplication, overlap, or fragmentation" in federal government programs. The report was mandated by a provision included by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., in a bill passed last year raising the federal debt ceiling. And Coburn said on Monday evening that the findings bolster his long-standing attempts to consolidate or eliminate duplicative programs. "It makes us all look like jackasses," Coburn told reporters, arguing both the legislative and executive branches can barely track federal programs. "Anybody...

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has received new information regarding allegations of possible military aspects to Iran's disputed nuclear program, the agency said in a report. The confidential report, obtained by Reuters on Friday, listed several areas of questions the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has about Iran's atomic activities and called on Tehran to cooperate with its investigation.

...and he filled tanks feeding the boat’s 200 horsepower Mercury engine with gas that had been blended with 10 percent ethanol. “I heard a station in Greenville had straight gas, but I just took it to the next one I could find. Within 10 minutes, my engine started failing,” Gray said. “(The ethanol) had crystallized and crumbled and had clogged my fuel line, and I had to tear out all of the fuel system.” Gray saved hundreds of dollars by repairing it himself, but his troubles with the motor are nothing new to marine shop owners, lawn mower mechanics and...

So, what was really up with the televised feed of Rep. Bachmann's State of the Union response? Our sources tell us that CNN had originally agreed to use the live feed set up by Tea Party Express, which had a teleprompter running on the lens in which Rep. Bachmann was delivering her speech. But, when Rep. Bachmann left the camera set-up and sat in the House chamber to hear Pres. Obama's speech, CNN set up a camera of their own, just off to the side of the main, tele-prompter/camera. Thus, when CNN provided their network feed it ended up skewed...

Longtime readers of WUWT may remember this story from 2008:Nutty Story of the Day: “Global Warming” is Killing the Penguins in AntarcticaThe root of this goes back as far as 2006, such as this MSNBC story:click image for the story at MSNBC.com Now it appears that assertion of a link between global warming and penguin deaths is dying  faster than the penguins themselves. In what appears to be a manifestation of the observer effect problem in science (the act of observing changes the outcome) we have this article from the science journal Nature that says the act of tagging penguins so...

Terry and Linda Jamison, the Psychic Twins and author of "Psychic Intelligence", who correctly predicted the events of September 11 terrorist attacks in the US, are predicting more events for 2011. In "Wings of Love Radio" recorded on November 20, 2010, the Psychic Twins predicted that Barrack Obama will be a one term president and that he will not be re-elected. Policies of President Obama will be challenged and he will have a difficult time pushing his agenda through. Do not underestimate the power of Sarah Palin, and that more women will come into power in politics and the corporate...

I did a search at Google today for “cars” and was shocked. Rather than list links allowing me to search for “cars” on Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Voila, Naver and Yandex, Google instead favored its own search results. I’m glad the EU will be investigating whether this favoritism violates anti-trust laws. Consider the evidence. Here’s a search on Google for cars:As you can clearly see, none of the competing search engines I’ve named are listed in the top results. Rather than show them, Google instead shows pages about cars that it has collected across the web using its own technology.Google’s behavior...

10% unemployment = 50% top tax rate corporate = 85% individual top tax rate for more than $250k/year 4% unemployment = 20% top tax rate corporate = 25% individual top tax rate for more than $250k/year 1% unemployment = 0% top tax rate corporate = 10% individual top tax rate for more than $250k/year

The starting pay of certain liberal arts majors generally clocks in well below that of graduates in engineering fields, according to a Wall Street Journal study. Graduates with engineering degrees earned average starting pay of $56,000 in their first full-time jobs out of college, topping other majors. Communications and English majors only earned $34,000 in their first jobs. The survey, which was conducted by PayScale.com between April and June of this year, was answered by about 11,000 people who graduated between 1999 and 2010. The reported starting pay was adjusted for inflation to make the salaries of graduates from different...

Liberal groups are constantly talking about “tolerance” and diversity. It’s discussed so much that one might be led to believe that liberal groups believe in these ideals. Hardly. Liberal outlets expect you to tolerate their opinion, yet, they have no problem not tolerating others. Witness Juan Williams recent firing at NPR, Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar’s exit stage left, and the latest NAACP hit piece on the tea party. It’s been one hell of a week for “tolerance” in liberal precincts. Now comes word that union stage hand was fired for wearing a cap and sweatshirt from the aircraft carrier...

Jewish Italian MP Fiamma Nirenstein was reconfirmed this week as Vice President of Italy’s Foreign Affairs Committee. In addition, she was also appointed an official consultant on Israel and the international Jewish communities by Italian Foreign Minister Frattini. Earlier this week, Nirenstein commented on Christian leaders who criticize Israel yet ignore violence by Arabs. She pointed out that “Islam does not like Eastern Christians: it has forced them to flee and now they account for only 6% of the population in the Mideast”, and added that the only country where the number of Christians has grown is Israel, where 163,000...

Many people have heard the curious claim that women who live together menstruate together. The idea dates at least to 1971, when Dr. Martha K. McClintock, an experimental psychologist, published a study showing that the menstrual cycles of women living in a college dormitory tended to synchronize over time. Dr. McClintock and other scientists suggested it might have something to do with pheromones, chemicals that send messages by smell.

Democratic National Committee gets new logo, slogan By: James Hohmann September 15, 2010 03:27 PM EDT Eager to bridge a daunting enthusiasm gap, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine recited a list of President Barack Obama’s accomplishments Wednesday to an auditorium packed with George Washington University College Democrats. It came as he unveiled a new web site, a new logo and a new slogan for his party: “Change That Matters.” As he went down a longer list, Kaine spoke passionately of how Democrats delivered an economic stimulus (he would only call it “the Recovery Act”) and “the Affordable Care Act”...

<p>DOVER, N.H. — A New Hampshire high school student shocked so severely in shop class that his heart stopped beating is suing his teacher, the school district and the city of Dover.</p> <p>Kyle Dubois and his parents claim teacher Thomas Kelley did not warn Dubois and other students of the dangers of the electrical demonstration cords in their electrical trades class.</p>