Free Republic

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's military said Friday it was investigating a hacking attack that netted secret defense plans with the United States and may have been carried out by North Korea. The suspected hacking occurred late last month when a South Korean officer failed to remove a USB device when he switched a military computer from a restricted-access intranet to the Internet, Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said. The USB device contained a summary of plans for military operations by South Korean and U.S. troops in case of war on the Korean peninsula. Won said the stolen documents...

The Senate early Friday headed off a Republican filibuster on the final spending bill of the year, clearing the way both for the bill's passage and for the final end-game on a health care bill. Republicans had tried to drag out the debate on the $636.3 billion 2010 defense spending bill as a way of delaying a return to the health care debate, which Democrats are trying to finish by Christmas. But on a 63-33 vote that began at 1 a.m., the Senate mustered more than the 60 votes needed to end the filibuster and move to a final...

Just in time for Obama to announce it, and it only cost the USA 100 billion dollars. Thanks Hillary. Climate draft deal agreed December 18, 2009 – 1:30PM Leaders and ministers from 28 countries including Australia have outlined a draft accord to fight global warming. The details of the draft are not known yet but the move came hours before some 130 world leaders were set to convene in the dying hours of the climate summit at Copenhagen. Representatives from key blocs, covering both rich and developing countries, embarked on late-night negotiations in a desperate bid to hammer out a...

The Founding Fathers created a Republic, but 60 Senators are poised to take it away. With the pending disaster of the passage in the Senate of a bill nationalizing one sixth of the U.S. economy and our entire healthcare system at a cost of over $2.5 trillion, we are faced with a crucial question: are the Republican senators using every means at their disposal to stop this looming, tyrannical abuse of power? Unfortunately, the answer appears to be “no.” The Senate, unlike the House of Representatives, has parliamentary rules and procedures that give the minority the ability to stall legislation....

FYI, The NASA press release below refers to 'holiday' or 'seasons' greetings six times. No mention of Christmas, of course. [comment deleted]! In a bizarre historical turnabout, religious activity on the space station has now become almost entirely dominated by the Russians. They fly icons blessed by priests (http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=6673) Photos: http://hochu.vkosmos.ru/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/ikona.jpeg and http://www.svet-valaama.ru/photoalbom/2006_05_icon_from_space/2006_05_icon_from_space_01.jpg Also http://www.interfax-religion.ru/img/2308.jpg I haven't seen anything remotely similar from the American side. What have I missed? For the next manned launch this Sunday, also expect Russian Orthodox priests from the newly-built church in Baykonur (news story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10729300) to bless the rocket and the crew. File photo: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Mp59h1-TVgE/SsKiot99hvI/AAAAAAAAAnA/1QV6t9vIfrs/s400/Best+Soyuz+Bless.jpg...

“Barack knows that we are going to have to make sacrifices; we are going to have to change our conversation; we're going to have to change our traditions, our history; we're going to have to move into a different place as a nation.” “. . .conversation. . .traditions. . .history. . .move into a different place. . .” Could that different place be Islam World Rule socialism? The data is pretty much right there in our laps, people.

tly sent the following letter to our senior senator, Max Baucus: Max, let's start out by saying that you have been doing a good job for Montana in recent years and that is why I have voted for you every time you have been on the ballot. That, I'm afraid, is about to change if you keep going down the path you are on concerning the requirement for health insurance or risk a fine. This is unbelievable and un-American. You see Max, until recently I had no health insurance and made too much money for Medicaid. I was stuck in...

...The protest, dubbed "Code Red" due to the urgency of stopping health-reform legislation, may not have been their biggest. But if you looked closely, there were signs that the group—or, in this case, a motley collection of groups called High Noon For Healthcare—is gaining steam. For one thing, Republicans are increasingly trying to associate themselves with the movement. For another, more Democrats seem willing to hear them out. The most prominent politician to speak at the first official D.C. tea party on April 15 was Alan Keyes. Glenn Beck's 9/12 protest featured a smattering of conservative Republicans, including Rep. Tom...

Climategate just got much, much bigger. And all thanks to the Russians who, with perfect timing, dropped this bombshell just as the world’s leaders are gathering in Copenhagen to discuss ways of carbon-taxing us all back to the dark ages. Feast your eyes on this news release from Rionovosta, via the Ria Novosti agency, posted on Icecap. (Hat Tip: Richard North) A discussion of the November 2009 Climatic Research Unit e-mail hacking incident, referred to by some sources as “Climategate,” continues against the backdrop of the abortive UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) discussing alternative agreements to replace the 1997...

Sheldon Adelson on his casino company's plans for Macau, Singapore--and, perhaps, Europe. In 2007 Sheldon Adelson was America's third richest man. Before the collapse of the markets last year, shares of his Las Vegas Sands casino company traded at more than $140 a share, maxing out his personal fortune at nearly $40 billion. These days he's worth a mere $9 billion, 26th on the most recent Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans. "The Forbes 400 is a report card for the wealthy, and seeing it this year hurt," he says. "I got a bad report card." Now he's vowing...

Lawyers see litigation and administrative nightmares resulting from political impasse. Barring a last-minute political deal, the federal estate tax is set to disappear as of Jan. 1, 2010--for just one year. Democratic leaders of Congress are vowing to resurrect the tax retroactively sometime next year, but the impending lapse has estate planners in a tizzy. They worry the lapse could turn into a nightmare for some families. "We may have to change every other client document," laments Carol Harrington, the head of the Private Client Group at McDermott Will & Emery. The one-year repeal of the estate tax has been...

Senate Republicans said Thursday that they would try to filibuster a massive Pentagon bill that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an unusual move that several acknowledged was an effort to delay President Obama's health-care legislation. Late into the night, Democrats emerged from a huddle confident that they would muster the 60 votes needed to thwart the GOP effort at blocking the military spending bill. An antiwar liberal said he would set aside his reservations and support choking off the filibuster to keep the chamber on a timeline of holding a final health-care vote before Christmas. The vote on...

Cato's Michael Tanner has a great piece in the New York Post questioning why the Senate has to pass health care reform before Christmas. He writes: Reid's latest vision not only hasn't been debated or scored by the Congressional Budget Office, no one except Sen. Reid even knows for certain what's in it. Even so, Sen. Reid says the Senate must vote on this new package before Christmas. ...... Democrats also face a real risk here: not only will they be voting for a measure that most people don't just oppose, but absolutely loath, but they will be doing it...

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Vermont's highest court is being asked to decide what a dog's love is worth. The state Supreme Court on Thursday was to hear a case that began in July 2003, when Denis and Sarah Scheele, who were visiting relatives, let their mixed-breed dog wander into Lewis Dustin's yard and he fatally shot it. Now the Scheeles are asking the court to carve out a new legal doctrine that a dog's owners can sue for emotional distress and loss of companionship, just like parents can when they lose children. "We're still working toward having the courts recognizing the...

WASHINGTON — Don’t touch that C-SPAN dial. The Senate is planning a midnight session tonight as Democrats and Republicans fight fire with fire over health care reform. Tonight’s session is not even about health care but rather the annual Department of Defense spending bill. Senators have a 1 a.m. vote on the Pentagon bill. But with just one week to go before the Christmas deadline on health care, neither side is making this easy. Democrats have little room to spare as the health bill must go through a series of potentially time-consuming procedural votes in coming days if Senate Majority...

NEW YORK (AP) -- It's no mistake. This credit card's interest rate is 79.9 percent. The bloated APR is how First Premier Bank, a subprime credit card issuer, is skirting new regulations intended to curb abusive practices in the industry. It's a strategy other subprime card issuers could start adopting to get around the new rules.

WASHINGTON — The White House and Senate Democratic leaders seem willing to give Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, just about anything he wants to win his support of major health care legislation. Anything, that is, but the item at the top of Mr. Nelson’s wish-list: air-tight restrictions on insurance coverage for abortions. The bid to win Mr. Nelson’s support has become a race against the clock. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, has developed plans for a series of votes beginning at 1 a.m. Monday and round-the-clock Senate sessions intended to meet his deadline of completing the...

WASHINGTON — Negotiations with Russia to replace an expired Cold War-era arms control treaty have bogged down and now appear unlikely to be concluded by the end of the year as the White House had hoped. As the two sides seek a breakthrough, President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, plan to discuss the nuclear negotiations in a meeting Friday on the sidelines of United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark. The two leaders are not expected to seal a deal. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, say negotiations with...

Diario de America (note- Machine translation from Spanish) "Rigged States Organization" By Luis Marín The OAS is well aware, in any of the instances, what is the state of human rights in Venezuela, as does also on Cuba, even though that country is full member of the organization. It does not take in all the visit of any committee "in loco" for what he need to contact a group of experts who could do their job and report much better documented and more credible than the same inter-American commission, so permeated by political and ideological interests of the respective governments....

The decision by New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority to sharply cut services to close a nearly $383 million deficit is the latest sign that the state will operate under harsh fiscal constraints in the coming year. The proposed cuts, which would include shutting down two subway lines and slashing night and weekend hours on a system that operates around the clock, will be aired at several public hearings this winter. A final vote is planned in the spring by the board of the MTA, which manages transit systems in New York City and surrounding areas, including Long Island. The measures...

Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King continues to be one of the most outspoken critics of the Obama administration. For the second time, King wrote a letter to the President, demanding he fire "safe schools" czar Kevin Jennings. Obama never responded to the first letter authored by King, and signed by 52 GOP House members.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is Time magazine's "Person of the Year." Twelve months ago, the "honor" went to then-President-elect Barack Obama. Notably, the 1932 recipient was President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who asserted in his March 4, 1933, inaugural address, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Mr. Roosevelt went on to describe the economic anxieties of millions left jobless in a deepening depression as "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." He then served notice that if the "national emergency" required it, he would "ask the Congress for the one...

I have consistently pointed out that ObamaCare will result, within two to three years of its implementation, in a decline in life expectancy in the United States. This is chiefly because ObamaCare looks at healthcare from the macro-position of its proportion to total GDP, without allowing for individual choice. Because the structure of ObamaCare will be decisions at the macro-level in a structure that will be co-opted by the politically connected parts of the health care industry, the connection between patient and individual care will contiue to be cut. It will have little to do with cutting costs since the...

THEME: Preserving Environment: Islamic Order "Introduction Whether we realize or not the environmental damage and pollution produced by humans, disrupt the natural balance of the earth. This slowly threatens the life of creatures on this earth. If the issue persists, it will be disastrous. This calls for good natural resource management based on the teachings of Islam. The main objective of this seminar is to sustain the nature which will benefit mankind and future generations." (UNISSA) Call for papers.

If you believe polls, current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke favorability has been slipping. A recent Rasmussen Reports poll indicates that only 21 percent of Americans favor his reappointment as the Fed chair. And this hasn't gone unnoticed by some members of the Senate, where Bernanke's fate lies. Bernanke's reconfirmation passed through the Senate Banking Committee by a 16-to-7 vote on Dec. 17. But that margin calls into question how his reconfirmation vote on the Senate floor could go. And as CNBC "The Kudlow Report" host Larry Kudlow warned, that puts his reconfirmation in question. "Look, ‘Helicopter' Ben passed the...

Two years ago the government pledged that all veterans would have the right to fast-track NHS treatment if their conditions were service-related, but has that promise been kept?

So Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has just made news by landing in Copenhagen and immediately announcing $100 billion through 2020 in additional new money to developing countries, in the name of “climate change”. Climate changes. Always has. Always will. And so long as a country remains poor, its climate and weather will be among the greatest challenges to its people. Just like it was to us until we industrialized and got wealthy. All of the billions in foreign development aid have ostensibly been to help these countries deal with climate change (though it is not due to the weather...

Note: The following text is a quote: December 14, 2009 Iranian arms procurement agent sentenced to 60 months imprisonment WILMINGTON, Del. - Iranian arms procurement agent Amir Hossein Ardebili was sentenced to a term of incarceration of 60 months on Dec. 14 as a result of an investigation led by U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). On May 19, 2008, Ardebili pleaded guilty to multiple violations of the Arms Export Control Act, International Emergency Economic Powers Act, smuggling, conspiracy, and money laundering. The charges resulted from a three year international undercover investigation which exposed Ardebili's role as a prolific arms...

Four T6-A training aircraft recently arrived in Tikrit for Iraqi Air Force student pilots to use to as a stepping-stone platform toward advanced multi-role fighters the IqAF will use in the future to protect its airspace. The IqAF will have a full complement of (15) T6-As by the end of 2010, purchased by the Government of Iraq and the United States. Photo by Senior Airman AJ Hyatt, Multi-National Security Transition Command - Iraq. TIKRIT — The Iraqi Air Force celebrated the arrival of four training aircraft, the groundbreaking of a new air traffic control tower and the receipt of facilities...

Three veteran city police officers today were charged in Circuit Court with separate crimes ranging from accessory to murder to forgery and official misconduct, a development the state attorney's office says could jeopardize more than 70 felony cases. The announcement comes days after a former Riviera Beach police officer was convicted in Circuit Court of attempted sexual battery and other charges and adds another blemish to a city police department in turmoil. Riviera Beach Assistant Chief Dave Harris referred questions to city spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown, who said, "Riviera Beach takes the integrity of officers very seriously. Our standards are...

In the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore argues that historically, when the levels of carbon dioxide rises that is cause the temperatures of earth to rise considerably. In his documentary, Gore explains that ice core records from the distant past proves this point. However, when the data is looked at in finer detail, it becomes obvious that temperature is driving the hight levels of carbon dioxide not the other way around as Gore and his fellow watermelon political allies would like us to believe. I call them watermelon because they may be green on the outside, but they are...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other senior Democrats vowed in Copenhagen Thursday to back up Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s pledge to increase U.S. climate aid for poor nations. But Democrats also endorsed Clinton’s linking the commitment to China and other nations making their emissions curbs subject to outside verification, a major issue of dispute at the international climate summit.

President Barack Obama will ask Congress next year to fund a new heavy-lift launcher to take humans to the Moon, asteroids, and the moons of Mars, ScienceInsider has learned. The president chose the new direction for the U.S. human space flight program Wednesday at a White House meeting with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, according to officials familiar with the discussion. NASA would receive an additional $1 billion in 2011 both to get the new launcher on track and to bolster the agency’s fleet of robotic Earth-monitoring spacecraft. The current NASA plan for human exploration is built around the $3.5 billion...

Leadership: Alaska's ex-governor asks a question we'd like answered: Why is California's current governor pushing the same policies in Copenhagen that helped drive his state into record deficits and unemployment? The movie series that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a household name involved cyborgs traveling through time to alternately try to destroy or save one John Connor, who would grow up to be the leader of the resistance against a race of machines that ruled the planet. Prominent in the series was his tough cookie of a mom, Sarah Connor. Another Sarah has taken the lead in another resistance against another group...

The internal threat from Muslim extremists in the military extends to high-level Defense Department aides who have undermined military policy. In fact, one top Muslim adviser pushed out an intelligence analyst who warned of the sudden jihad syndrome that led to the Fort Hood terrorist attack. An honored guest of the Ramadan dinner at the Pentagon this September was Hesham Islam, who infiltrated the highest echelons of the Ring despite proven ties to U.S. terror front groups and a shady past in his native Egypt. As senior adviser for international affairs to former deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, Islam ran...

A moderate Democrat whose vote could be crucial said Thursday an attempted Senate compromise on abortion is unsatisfactory, raising doubts about whether the chamber can pass President Barack Obama's health care overhaul by Christmas. "As it is, without modifications, the language concerning abortion is not sufficient," Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, a key holdout on the health care bill, said in a statement after first making his concerns known to Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Nelson said there were positive improvements dealing with teen pregnancy and adoption, and that he was open to further negotiations. But in a radio interview earlier...

Homeland Security and other governmental agencies have been shown this material with no response to the providers. That is because Barack Hussein Obama is Muslim. Read "Obama states he is Muslim" at http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/swank/091107

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2009 – The demonstrated bravery and resolve of the nearly 3,000 Canadian forces serving in Afghanistan reflects the commitment necessary to achieve success there, the commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan said in the Canadian capital yesterday. Canadian forces’ efforts in mentoring Afghan security forces and their work in infrastructure development projects in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province are greatly appreciated, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal said at the Conference of Defence Associations Institute in Ottawa. “The courage and determination of Canadian forces are an inspiration to our coalition,” McChrystal said, noting that Canada, with about...

In a related development, secret documents were leaked today indicating that the United Nations has been plotting to form an international environmental governing body which almost certainly would infringe on U.S. sovereignty.

BAGHDAD, Dec. 17, 2009 – Iraqi security forces with U.S. advisors arrested a suspected leader of a terrorist group operating in southern Baghdad yesterday and followed up overnight with four more operations targeting the Baghdad al-Qaida in Iraq network. All of the operations were conducted with warrants issued by Iraqi courts for the arrest of suspected terrorists. Acting on intelligence gathered by Iraqi and U.S. sources, Iraqi forces and U.S. advisors stopped an alleged Aisha Battalion cell leader as he was driving on a public roadway west of Baghdad. Aisha Battalion is an al-Qaida in Iraq proxy group. The driver...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTVA-CBS 11 News) A contractor hired for a major construction project on Elmendorf Air Force Base broke both state and federal law. At issue: the illegal immigrants that were granted access to the base to help construct the Air Force's new F-22 hangers. This summer the Air Force started a multi-million dollar effort to build new F-22 hangers on Elmendorf Air Force Base. The contractor hired for the steel work was Steel System Erectors out of California. An investigation has reviled the company employed undocumented workers and allowed them access to a national security site. A "critical infrastructure...

When President Obama shows up in Copenhagen to take part in the greatest fraud perpetrated worldwide in the modern era, there is only one thing you need to know. It is all a lie. It was a lie from the first moment a scientist like James Hansen told Congress on June 23, 1988 that the planet was going to be roasted by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and it was a lie when Al Gore wrote "Earth in the Balance" and there were still more lies in his Oscar-winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth."A British court banned the documentary from being...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama's Democratic allies will pay in November 2010 mid-term elections for the "garbage" legislation they pushed through the US Congress, a top Republican lawmaker warned Thursday. Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner took aim at Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's remark Wednesday that she was "always in campaign mode" and would sell voters next year on Democratic achievements. "I hope she does a great job of marketing all the garbage they passed this past year," he said at a year-end press conference, vowing "we're going to continue to be the party of better solutions." Recent...

The planet may be saved after all, and it will only cost $100 billion. Just as the Copenhagen climate summit appeared to be on the verge of unraveling, the United States Thursday announced its support of an annual $100 billion climate protection fund, the Associated Press reports. “The US is prepared to work with other countries toward a goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion a year by 2020 to address the climate change needs of developing countries,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. Included in the conditions for the US' contribution, Clinton demanded that China's emissions reductions be scrutinized independently...

Victims of Ponzi-schemer Bernard Madoff turned up in the House not long ago, hats in hand, begging for federal compensation for their loss. "We need your help now," said Jeannene Langford, who said Mr. Madoff's scam cost her 30 years of savings. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on capital markets, offered sympathy but little else: "We don't have the funds." If only he had dared to say, "We don't have the authority." The lack of funding is debatable and subject to reversal; the lack of authority is not. Or at least that's how it...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, Dec. 17, 2009 – With Iraq’s national elections approaching, U.S. soldiers are preparing to support the Iraqi army and police while remaining in the background. Four women from Najaf, Iraq, walk down the street as U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, drive past during a reconnaissance mission, Dec. 3, 2009. The soldiers were checking out polling sites in the area for Iraq’s upcoming elections. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Natalie Hedrick  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The soldiers of the 3rd Infantry...

On "The Senate Doctors Show" Sen. John Barrasso, M.D., and Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D., discuss the Democrats' health care reform bill. They note the cuts in Medicare and how a Washington takeover of health care would affect health care.

Tempers boil as delegates wait in freezing weatherBy Michael Lim Ubac Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 04:43:00 12/18/2009 COPENHAGEN — Coffee or tea? Police officers serving warm drinks to civilians is definitely not part of the job description of the Philippine National Police, or police forces in other parts of the world. But Danish police officers known here as “politi” had to assume this rather odd role as delegates braced themselves for long queues just to get inside Bella Center, the site of the UN climate conference here. It’s like being public servants literally. Below zero On Monday, with the...

I'm wondering whether there's anyone out there with the guts to pretend that it's insignificant that President Barack Obama keeps appointing radical after radical to his czar positions. Can anyone honestly say Obama's appointments don't tell us a great deal about Obama himself -- as if we needed any further proof he is a left-wing extremist? I don't need to make a list of his radical appointees and detail proof of their extremism. Anyone paying attention knows it's irrefutably true that this has become a deliberate pattern. Statistically, Obama couldn't accidentally appoint this many radicals in two political lifetimes. Is...

Pressure has mounted at the Copenhagen summit for the United States to take further action on climate change but opponents in Congress have vowed to throw up roadblocks for President Barack Obama. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered one glimmer of hope on a bleak day in the 194-nation talks by announcing the US would contribute to a $US100 billion ($A111.02 billion) fund to help poor nations cope with global warming. "There should be no doubt about the commitment of the United States to reaching a successful agreement here in Copenhagen and meeting this great global challenge together," Clinton said....