Free Republic

Good Mission.... I'm going to miss the Space Shuttles..

Climate sceptics have lied, obscured and cheated for years. That's why we climate rationalists must uphold the highest standards of science. I have seldom felt so alone. Confronted with crisis, most of the environmentalists I know have gone into denial. The emails hacked from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, they say, are a storm in a tea cup, no big deal, exaggerated out of all recognition. It is true that climate change deniers have made wild claims which the material can't possibly support (the end of global warming, the death of climate science). But...

(IsraelNN.com) First response to the government's construction freeze: A Palestinian terrorist attacked Jews with a knife at the gas station in Kiryat Arba, near Hevron, wounding a man, 45, and a girl, 16. The terrorist was shot and killed by a soldier and a guard; the soldier is of the Nachshon Regiment, which was in the news recently for signs waved by some of its members against being used to remove Jews from their homes. The woman and man are reportedly in light condition. A Magen David Adom emergency crew arrived quickly on the scene, as did police and army...

WASHINGTON (BP)--Delivering a more forthright speech than is often seen from politicians on the issue, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer -- the third ranking member of the Senate -- told a homosexual group last week that "gay marriage" supporters "must not rest" until it is legalized in all 50 states. Schumer's comments came as Maine prepares for Tuesday's vote that will decide the future of "gay marriage" there. If Question 1 passes it would overturn a new state law that legalized "marriage" for same-sex couples. But if it fails it would be the first time any state will have approved "gay...

Global stock markets tumbled Thursday on mounting anxiety over a debt default request by Dubai and tighter lending conditions in China, analysts said. London lost 1.86 percent to 5,264.97 points in late morning trade but was suspended at about 1030 GMT owing to a technical issue. The London Stock Exchange said it was investigating the "root cause" of the problem and would update investors when it had further information.

The director of the United Nations nuclear watchdog warned Thursday that its investigation into Iran’s nuclear program had “effectively reached dead end” after more than a year of stonewalling by Tehran. Mohamed ElBaradei, the departing director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, issued an unusually direct rebuke of Iran’s intransigence in a speech in Vienna, saying that it had been more than a year since Iran had answered questions about the extent of its nuclear ambitions, including suspicions that it is pursuing nuclear weapons. “It is now well over a year since the agency was last able to engage Iran...

Investors Buy Gold As Central Banks On Course To Crash World Economy Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009 Nov 26, 2009 - 02:59 AM By: Bob_Chapman Investors buy gold when there is inflation and when there is a flight to quality. They buy gold when they no longer trust currencies, due to government or central bank profligacy. Due to those and other reasons gold has broken out to new highs. It could well be that gold may never see $1,000 again. Long ago the world’s central banks set the course for a planned collapse of the world economy to implement...

According to AmmoLand.com, data released by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 1,233,982 NICS Checks in October 2009, a 4 percent increase from the 1,183,279 reported in October 2008. So far that is roughly 11,403,417 gun bought this year. The total is probably more as NICS background checks may cover the purchase of more than one gun at a time. "This latest jump in background checks show that Americans are solidly in-favor of keeping firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens," Ammoland reports in an no-byline article. "This clearly shows that the Obama Administration’s OK to...

Police in Berlin, N.H., are investigating an attempted robbery that turned deadly. Residents of an apartment at 616 3rd Ave. told police that three men forced their way into the home around 8 p.m. Wednesday night, threatening and assaulting a man and his girlfriend inside. Police say the man got hold of his own handgun and exchanged shots with the robbers during a struggle. In the end, one of the alleged intruders, 23-year-old Nathaniel Stringfield of Berlin was found dead at the scene. Another alleged intruder was found a short distance away. He's at the hospital in critical condition with...

Less than a year after authorities stormed the offices of Iranian human-rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi, taking sensitive documents and her computer, unidentified authorities have now allegedly taken the Nobel Peace Prize medal and diploma from Ebadi's bank safety deposit box, said officials in Norway, which administers the prize. Outraged officials in Oslo say the incident is unprecedented and has sent shock waves through the Norwegian foreign ministry. “This is the first time a Nobel Peace Prize has been confiscated by national authorities," Norwegian foreign minister Jonas Gahr Store said in a statement posted to his agency's website. "The medal and...

China, gold, and the civilization shift By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Economics Last updated: November 26th, 2009 Stephen Jen from the hedge fund Blue Gold Capital has a warning for those who think that gold has risen far too high, is necessarily in a speculative bubble, and must soon come clattering back down. Mr Jen is an expert on sovereign wealth funds from his days at Morgan Stanley. The gold story — essentially — is that the rising economic powers of Asia, the Middle East, and the commodity bloc are rejecting Western fiat currencies. China, India, and Russia have all been buying...

CHINA announced its first targets for limiting carbon emissions last night, joining the US in revealing the stance it will take at next month's high-stakes climate summit in Copenhagen. China will cut the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product in 2020 by 40 to 45 per cent from 2005 levels, said a statement from the State Council, or cabinet. "This is a voluntary action taken by the Chinese government based on its own national conditions and is a major contribution to the global effort in tackling climate change," the statement said. The announcement marks the...

Yesterday Brian Williams delivered an NBC Nightly News report about President Obama attending the Copenhagen global warming summit. Guess what hot topic was left untouched? If you had guessed Climategate you would have been correct. Not only Williams but also the other TV networks, with the exception of FOX News, have completely ignored what is considered to be the biggest scientific scandal in history. However, new Climategate revelations made by the Canada Free Press about a White House connection to the scandal will soon make it much more difficult (and ridiculous) for the networks to ignore. Canada Free Press editor...

A couple of aspiring reality TV stars gatecrashed the state dinner hosted in honour of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House, clicked pictures with US Vice President Joe Biden and other guests and then posted them on their Facebook profile, US media said. A Washington Post report said: "Tareq and Michaele Salahi -- polo-playing socialites -- were seen arriving at the White House and later posted on the Facebook photos of themselves with VIPs at the elite gathering." "Honoured to be at the White House for the state dinner in honour of India with President Obama and...

Marcel Efroimski, a 13-year-old Israeli chess prodigy, yesterday became the Girls' Under-14 World Chess Champion when she won the Gold Medal for her age group at the World Youth Chess Championships held in Turkey. This in itself is not of any interest to Jihad Watch -- except that during the awards ceremony, the malignant (if not turban'd) and increasingly Islamic supremacist Turkish authorities refused to play the Israeli National Anthem, as is required at such ceremonies. However, young Marcel would not play the dhimmi. She stood on the podium and raised her trophy with an expression of defiance -- as...

DAWN.com: Rawalpindi - "SEVEN INDICTED FOR PLANNING, AIDING MUMBAI ATTACK" SNIPPET: "Anti-terrorism court judge Malik Mohammad Akram Awan charged Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid alias Zarar Shah, Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu Al-Qama, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younas Anjum with planning, arranging weapons and providing training to the attackers." SNIPPET: "The court decided to take up the case of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving 'terrorist' being tried in India, separately under section 540-A of the criminal procedure code..."

ISLAMABAD: Omar Saeed Sheikh, a detained Pakistani militant, had made hoax calls to President Asif Ali Zardari and the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in a bid to heighten Pakistan-India tensions after last year’s terrorist attacks on Mumbai, investigators have told Dawn. ‘Omar Saeed Sheikh was the hoax caller. It was he who threatened the civilian and military leaderships of Pakistan over telephone. And he did so from inside Hyderabad jail,’ investigators said. The controversy came to light after Dawn broke the story, exactly one year ago, that a hoax caller claiming to be then Indian foreign...

It’s one of the most secure places on earth, but two Washington area socialites and reality TV wannabes were apparently able to get behind the gates at the White House and mingle with the crowd at the State Dinner in honor of India last night. The Washington Post has the dish on Tareq and Michaele Salahi, below: The First Lady’s office told ABC they would have no comment on the crashers and referred all inquiries to the Secret Service. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan confirms that the agency is looking “into a report that two individuals not on the guest...

As Mahmoud Ahmadinejad entered the Caracas airport in Venezuela, they received him by playing the Pahlavi-era "Sorood e Shahanshahi" instead of the Islamic Republic's anthem! (See video at link above)

Yemen closes Iran hospital, clinic in Sanaa (AFP) – 16 hours ago SANAA — Yemen said on Wednesday it has ordered the closure of the Iranian hospital and clinic in Sanaa due to what it said was Iran's support of the facilities and lack of transparency in their accounts. Both facilities are run by the Iranian Red Crescent. "The interior ministry has decided to close the Iranian clinic and hospital because of lack of transparency of their accounts and... Iranian financial support to these two institutions," said a ministry statement. Yemeni security forces had on October 13 sealed off the...

Tareq and Michaele Salahi SNIP "Honored to be at the White House for the state dinner in honor of India with President Obama and our First Lady!" one of them wrote on their joint Facebook page at 9:08 p.m. SNIP While the White House offered no official explanation, it appears to be the first time in modern history that anyone has crashed a White House state dinner. The uninvited guests were in the same room as President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, although it is unknown whether they met the Obamas and the guest...

Climate change scandal deepens as BBC expert claims he was sent 'cover-up' emails a month before they went publicBy Carol Driver Last updated at 10:10 PM on 25th November 2009 The controversy surrounding the global warming scandal today deepened after a BBC correspondent admitted he was sent the leaked emails more than a month before they were made public. Paul Hudson, weather presenter and climate change expert, claims the documents allegedly sent between some of the world's leading scientists are of a direct result of an article he wrote. In his BBC blog two days ago, Hudson said: 'I was...

Climate Change: Major U.S. corporations have set up a Web site calling for a global climate treaty to be signed in Copenhagen. Considering recent evidence of massive climate fraud, perhaps they should reconsider. Many will remember the classic soft drink ad campaign where young people from many nations gather on a mountaintop and sing that they'd like to buy the world a Coke, the theory being that sharing a soda was the key to world peace. That sort of naivete has led peoples and governments around the world to accept at face value the outright fraud perpetrated by the Milli...

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Dubai is asking creditors to accept a six-month suspension on debt repayments for its severely cash-strapped conglomerate Dubai World. The government of the Gulf emirate has also appointed consultants Deloitte to restructure state-run Dubai World's operations. The group includes property developer Nakheel, which built one of the state's most ostentatious projects, the palm-shaped, man-made residential islands of the Palm Jumeirah. The conglomerate also includes DP World, owner of the former P&O ports operator. According to Nakheel, Dubai World has $59bn (£35bn) of liabilities, a large proportion of Dubai's total debt of $80bn (£47bn). The emirate's government said in a statement:...

Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs has indicated that he might consider an independent bid for the White House in 2012, and early polling shows he could attract up to 14% of the vote. However, some of that is almost certainly a generic protest vote as an unnamed “some other candidate” picks up between six percent (6%) and nine percent (9%) of the vote in similar 2012 match-ups. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that if the choice is between President Obama, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Dobbs, Obama leads 42% to 34% with Dobbs pulling 14% of...

matthew.chayes@newsday.com Quick Summary Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and her former ardent foe, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), announced they were teaming up to sponsor legislation to combat gun trafficking. Talk about a thaw. In the latest example of politics making for the unlikeliest bedfellows, hugs, mutual praise and chitchat punctuated a news conference between Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a former darling of the National Rifle Association, and her former ardent foe, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), the stridently pro-gun-control congresswoman whose husband was killed in the mass shooting aboard the Long Island Rail Road. Earlier this year, McCarthy had threatened to derail Gillibrand's upcoming...

Why the deception? And who was behind it? AP? The Obama camp? Someone else? What was its purpose? AP, March 5, 2008: "In the world of today, children have different religions from their parents," she said. She, too, is a Christian. --- Is she really? "Saudi Arabia: Obama's grandmother in Mecca for 'Hajj' ceremony," from AKI, November 25 (thanks to C. Cantoni): Mecca, 25 Nov. (AKI) - The grandmother of US president Barack Obama has arrived in Saudi Arabia for the 'Hajj' or Islamic pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, a Saudi daily said on Wednesday. Sarah...

Mecca, 25 Nov. (AKI) - The grandmother of US president Barack Obama has arrived in Saudi Arabia for the 'Hajj' or Islamic pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, a Saudi daily said on Wednesday. Sarah Obama, 87, is being accompanied by a nephew and Obama's cousin, Omran. On Wednesday Sarah Obama was in the valley of Mina with an African delegation, according to the Saudi daily Okaz. Obama, the mother of the American president's father, lives in a village in Kenya and is one of the many guests of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud....

President Obama continued his outreach to the world's Muslims today, sending greetings to pilgrims to Mecca. .... "Michelle and I would like to send our best wishes to all those performing Hajj this year, and to Muslims in America and around the world who are celebrating Eid-ul-Adha. The rituals of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world’s major religions," Obama said in a statement. "During Hajj, the world’s largest and most diverse gathering, three million Muslims from all walks of life – including thousands of American Muslims – will stand...

As President Obama prepares to unveil his long-deliberated war strategy, the Taliban's supreme commander declared today that U.S.-led forces would find only defeat, dishonor and "a bed of thorns" in Afghanistan. The warning, contained in a statement by Mullah Mohammed Omar , the movement's reclusive leader, was issued on the eve of one of the year's most important Muslim holidays, Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice. It marks the end of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, which is made by millions of observant Muslims. In his missive -- punctuated by the flowery phrases and high-flown rhetoric typically...

GOP Senator Tells Climate Change Researchers to Retain Controversial E-Mails Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe has sent letters to several climate change scientists and to the inspectors general of various federal agencies notifying them to retain breached documents and e-mails that he says prove researchers are manipulating data to make the case for global warming. The U.S. Senate's leading global warming skeptic has sent letters to several climate change scientists and to the inspectors general of various federal agencies notifying them to retain breached documents and e-mails that he says prove researchers are manipulating data to make the case for global...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will not be in Afghanistan eight years from now, the White House said on Wednesday, as President Barack Obama prepared to explain to Americans next week why he is expanding the war effort. After months of deliberation and fending off Republican charges that he was dithering on Afghanistan while violence there surged, Obama will address the nation on Tuesday on the way forward in the costly and unpopular eight-year war. He is expected to announce he is sending about 30,000 more troops as part of a new counterinsurgency strategy that will place greater emphasis...

Hacked emails discussed manipulating data to "hide the decline" in global temperatures Calls for an independent inquiry into what is being dubbed "Climategate" are growing as the foundation for man-made global warming implodes following the release of emails which prove researchers colluded to manipulate data in order to "hide the decline" in global temperatures.

Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs has indicated that he might consider an independent bid for the White House in 2012, and early polling shows he could attract up to 14% of the vote. However, some of that is almost certainly a generic protest vote as an unnamed “some other candidate” picks up between six percent (6%) and nine percent (9%) of the vote in similar 2012 match-ups. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that if the choice is between President Obama, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Dobbs, Obama leads 42% to 34% with Dobbs pulling 14% of...

Pataki would actually be behind 45-42 if he ran. It's pretty clear to me who should run, and that's Rudy. I'm willing to look past the issues like abortion where he is less than conservative if it means a sure win over Gillibrand. I'm pretty sure Pataki isn't so conservative either, so really there's not much of a choice. Don't they have to announce pretty soon whether they are running? In Texas the deadline to get on the primary ballot is January 4th.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15. This is the second straight day at -15, the lowest Approval Index rating yet measured for President Obama (see trends). Seventy-four percent (74%) of African-Americans Strongly Approve along with just 19% of white voters (see other recent demographic highlights from the tracking poll). Among all voters, just 34% now give the President good or excellent marks...

Browner says hacked e-mails don't change anything Stephen Dinan Obama administration climate czar Carol Browner on Wednesday rejected claims that e-mails stolen from a British university show climate scientists trumped up global warming numbers, saying she considers the science settled. "I'm sticking with the 2,500 scientists. These people have been studying this issue for a very long time and agree this problem is real," said Ms. Browner, who President Obama has tapped as his chief of policy on global warming. The e-mails were hacked from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia and have come to light...

* US diplomat says destroying Qaeda real goal in Afghanistan * Core strategy is to help Afghans take responsibility of their own security LAHORE/WASHINGTON: Taliban can rejoin the “social and political fabric of Afghanistan” if they renounce Al Qaeda, US special envoy Richard Holbrooke said on Tuesday. In an interview with SPIEGEL, Holbrooke said, “Majority of Taliban do not support Mullah Omar’s extreme views and that there is room for them to rejoin the social and political fabric of Afghanistan if they renounce Al Qaeda and reintegrate peacefully into Afghanistan. And that is a major part” of the Unites States...

The queen of daytime will interview the president of the country during an ABC holiday special that brings together Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama. The network has announced "Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Primetime Special," which includes an interview with the president, a conversation with the First Couple and tour of the White House.

RealClearPolitics.com, which averages all recent national public opinion polls, now shows President Obama's job approval average has dropped to 49.9%, marking the first time this number has dipped below the critical 50% line. Obama's job disapproval average has also climbed to an all-time high of 44.6%, thus narrowing the approval/disapproval gap to a new low of +5.3%.

Obama climate czar Carol Browner on Wednesday rejected the e-mails that appear to show some British climate scientists trumped up global warming numbers, saying she considers the science settled. "I'm sticking with the 2,500 scientists. These people have been studying this issue for a very long time and agree this problem is real," said Ms. Browner, who President Obama has tapped as his chief of policy on global warming. The e-mails were hacked from the Climate Research Unit at the University of Wast Anglia and have come to light over the last week. They appear to show scientists saying they've...

New Jersey voters are split on whether to legalize gay marriage, but more people now oppose it than support it, a poll found on Wednesday. The Quinnipiac University survey found 49 percent of voters oppose a law allowing same-sex couples to marry, while 46 percent support such legislation, reversing an April poll that found 49 percent supported it and 43 percent opposed it. "When we asked about gay marriage in April, it won narrow approval. Now that it seems closer to a legislative vote, it loses narrowly with the public," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute....

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that President Barack Obama’s “inexperience” might be keeping him from making a decision on an Afghanistan strategy. Asked in an interview with Scott Hennen, a conservative radio host, if Obama's prolonged war strategy review was a “dereliction” of his duties as president, Cheney said: “Well, I haven’t gone that far, and it may in part be inexperience on Obama’s part. ... It may be that there’s confusion on the staff, but I’m not encouraged by it.” Cheney also called the administration’s decision to try the Sept. 11 terrorism suspects in New York City...

WASHINGTON – The White House says President Barack Obama is placing heavy emphasis on how the United States eventually will withdraw from Afghanistan even as he plans to announce a troop increase next week. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that the United States is in its ninth year of military involvement in Afghanistan and "we are not going to be there another eight or nine years." Gibbs says Obama's recent meetings with military advisers have often focused on how to train Afghanistan's police and army so they can secure and hold areas taken from the Taliban after...

WASHINGTON—U.S. Congressman Todd Tiahrt (pronounced TEE-hart), R-Kan., released the following statement in response to heinous accusations from Mayor Bloomberg’s political organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns. On Monday the Bloomberg organization paid for a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post assigning blame for the Fort Hood massacre, in part, to firearm policy authored by Tiahrt and approved by Congress since 2002. “The mayors who politicized the tragic deaths of those whose lives were taken along with the dozens who sustained injuries at Fort Hood should immediately issue a public apology to the victims and their families,� said Tiahrt. “Their use of...

Is it just the angle of the picture or has the Bower in Chief now ordered that a foreign flag be raised above the Stars and Stripes?

When President Obama announced plans to give a speech to the nation’s schoolchildren in September, it set off a frenzy among conservative commentators who deemed it, in the words of Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, an attempt to “indoctrinate America’s children to his socialist agenda.” Now, with the release of Katharine DeBrecht’s latest children’s book, “Help! Mom! Radicals are Ruining My Country!” — which lampoons senior Democratic members of Congress, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts — it is liberals’ turn to cry foul about the partisan poisoning of impressionable...

Note to fashion reporters: Don't ask Nancy Pelosi what she's wearing. At Tuesday's state dinner, Washington Post's Robin Givhan approached the House Speaker and, according to a pool report, asked, "Is your gown Armani?" "Pelosi shot her a disapproving stare and rolled her eyes a bit," says the pool report. She also refused to answer Givhan's follow up question, "What was that look?!"

President Barack Obama will deliver Tuesday's address on Afghanistan policy at 8 p.m. Eastern time from the United States Military Academy at West Point, the White House said Wednesday. The setting allows the commander-in-chief to talk directly to future officers as he announces a troop buildup in the eight-year war.