Free Republic

<p>Gov. Sarah Palin and some conservative legislators are pushing a bill to require teenagers to get their parent's consent before having an abortion. We've been here before. The Alaska Supreme Court in 2007 declared such a law unconstitutional. It's still unconstitutional. Parents do not have the right to compel a daughter to abort a pregnancy. Neither do they have the right to compel a pregnant daughter to give birth. Pregnant teens should have ultimate control over the decision to bear a child or abort a pregnancy, just as much as any woman.</p>

A Pennsylvania company that monitors peer-to-peer file-sharing networks discovered a potentially serious security breach involving President Obama's helicopter, Marine One, NBC affiliate WPXI in Pittsburgh reported. Sensitive information about Marine One was reportedly found by Tiversa employees at an IP address in Tehran. Tiversa CEO Bob Boback said a defense contractor in Bethesda, Md., had a file sharing program on one of their systems that contained highly sensitive blueprints for Marine One and financial information about the cost of the helicopter.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT  RUSH:  Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you all very, very much. Thank you all. I can't tell you how wonderful that makes me feel. It happens everywhere I go, but it's still special here. [ Laughter ] If you all will indulge me, I learned something, I guess, it's early Friday morning that I didn't know. Friday morning is when I learned this. I learned that Fox, God love them, is televising this speech on the Fox News Channel, which means, ladies and gentleman, this is my first ever address to the nation. [Applause]   Now, I...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_934.html Travel Warning United States Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs Washington, DC 20520 This information is current as of today, Sun Mar 01 2009 02:26:33 GMT-0800 (PST). SUDAN February 26, 2009 The Department of State continues to warn against all travel to Sudan due to threats from armed conflicts and terrorism. American citizens who choose to remain in Sudan should take appropriate precautions, particularly in light of the January 2008 murder of two American Embassy employees, the possibility of protests related to the expected issuance of an arrest warrant by the...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_930.html Travel Warning United States Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs Washington, DC 20520 This information is current as of today, Sun Mar 01 2009 02:22:42 GMT-0800 (PST). PAKISTAN February 25, 2009 The Department of State warns U.S. citizens against non-essential travel to Pakistan in light of the threat of terrorist activity. This replaces the Travel Warning dated November 21, 2008, and updates information on security incidents, notes the temporary relocation of some employees from the US Consulate in Peshawar to Islamabad, and reminds U.S. citizens of ongoing security concerns in Pakistan....

DENVER – The Colorado State Patrol has withdrawn the $22 jaywalking ticket issued to a good Samaritan who was seriously injured by a pickup after he pushed three people out of its path. Bus driver Jim Moffett of Denver and another man were helping two elderly women cross a busy Denver street in a snowstorm when he was hit Feb. 20. Moffett, 58, suffered bleeding in the brain, broken bones, a dislocated shoulder and a possible ruptured spleen. He remained hospitalized in serious condition Friday

Grandpa, what were churches like? “Please Grandpa,” pleaded Max, “tell me some more about the old days.” John peered over his notepad to see the face of his curly-haired Grandson, “Okay little man,” his eyes quickly scanned the room before he continued, “jump on up here and sit next to me.” “Timmy’s dads said you are a sad old relic from the dark ages,” said Max. “Why are you sad Grandpa?” “They said that?” He could feel an angry flush creeping up his neck. “I am sad, Maxy, but that isn’t what they meant.” “What did they mean, Grandpa? Why...

An American military jury has found a US army officer guilty of the murder of an Iraqi detainee. The jury in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, also convicted 1st Lt Michael Behenna of assaulting Ali Mansour Mohammed near Baiji, north of Baghdad, last May. Behenna had argued that he was defending himself when he fatally shot Mr Mohammed during an interrogation. He was found not guilty of the more serious offence of premeditated murder, the Associated Press reported. The defence argued that Behenna had only intended to interrogate Mr Mohammed about a roadside bomb which had killed two members of his platoon.

President Barack Obama's tax plan, which would boost income taxes on those earning $250,000 or more a year, would affect about twice the share of taxpayers in Santa Clara County as in the state and nation. That's because there are more people here who earn high incomes, and the plan would take more of their income in taxes while cutting back on one of the few deductions available to them - mortgage interest. "Long term, there is going be some pain involved" for these taxpayers, said Michael Gray, a San Jose certified public accountant. That income class includes about 43,000...

[lots of cruft redacted]Risks to Unique and Threatened Systems. There is new and stronger evidence since the TAR of observed impacts of climate change on unique and threatened systems (such as polar and high mountain communities and ecosystems), with increasing levels of adverse impacts as temperatures increase further..... Corals are vulnerable to thermal stress and may have limited adaptive capacity. Increases in sea surface temperature of ~1 °C to 3 °C are projected to result in more frequent coral bleaching events and widespread mortality unless there is substantial thermal adaptation or acclimatization by corals (10, 11). Increasing vulnerability of Arctic...

BAGHDAD: Al-Qaida's so-called ‘oil minister’ in Iraq has been arrested along with 10 other members of the group, the interior ministry said on Saturday. "The police in Diyala province arrested eleven members of the Islamic State in Iraq (al-Qaida's self-styled name there), including Ali Mahmud Mohammed. He is the oil minister of this organisation," the statement said. The ministry did not say when he was detained, only that he was arrested north of Baquba, the capital of Diyala province and one of the most unstable parts of the country. Mohammed was known for his involvement in hijacking tanker shipments of...

College for all: Is Obama’s goal attainable? Education experts share thoughts on what it would take Feb. 28, 2009 In his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, President Barack Obama called for every American to pursue some form of education beyond high school. It's an ambitious goal — some might say impossible. Currently, only two of every five American adults have a two- or four-year college degree. Millions of Americans struggle even to complete high school, with one in four dropping out. And even a high school degree is no guarantee a student is ready for college....

How the dream has gone sour for those who got rich on the back of political patronage - then lost it THE richest man in China has ended up in police custody and other “red billionaires” have plunged into debt or political disgrace as the communist nation’s flirtation with capitalism turns sour. Meanwhile, millions of ordinary Chinese have lost their shirts in the stock market after share prices collapsed, and at least 20m workers have lost their jobs due to the recession. In this atmosphere, the plight of Huang Guangyu, 39, has won little public sympathy. He is still languishing...

The president has killed off the idea of small government with a vast schedule of tax and spend to combat recession AS Barack Obama prepared to deliver his speech to a joint session of Congress last week, his aides raced to television studios to deliver the official spin. Evoking the cheerful optimism in tough times of a fondly remembered president, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs predicted his boss would be “Reaganesque”. No matter how dire the global meltdown, “there would always be better days ahead”. The Great Communicator of the 1980s would have recognised his successor’s upbeat tone, but...

It becomes ever-clearer, where the priorities of the Obama Administration lie; dissatisfied with merely cutting the defense budget--in wartime, mind you--by $55 billion, the FBI recently, very quietly, transferred agents from counter-terrorism to anti-fraud. Yes. Instead of watching for terrorists who want to kill you and destroy America, they'll instead be looking for (rich) people stealing money. The FBI's (and CIA's) record since 2001 has been nothing short of stellar, despite the tears of liberals in the media, endlessly questioning "how safe are we, really/how safe do you feel? for the last 8 years of complete security. Okay, there were...

HIGHLIGHTS: Part 1: “Obama came into office and has an 80% approval rating now and he’s letting us know that things are bad and he will turn them around. He inherited a bad situation and reason things are bad that Bush cut taxes and put too much faith in free market capitalism. That there wasn’t enough regulation because of eight years of tax cuts and letting Wall Street run amuck that the country’s a mess and he’s going to fix it with New Deal Style Roosevelt programs and he’s saying things will get worse for a while, a big understatement....

Sunday, 1 March 2009 Chavez sends army to rice plants President Hugo Chavez has instituted sweeping reforms in 10 years in power Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ordered the army to take control of all rice processing plants in the country. Mr Chavez accused some firms of overcharging by refusing to produce rice at prices set by the government. He warned that some companies could be nationalised if they tried to interfere with supplies of the grain. Mr Chavez - who has nationalised large swathes of Venezuela's economy - did not say how long the government intervention would last. Major...

Raising the marginal tax rate on successful earners, capital, dividends, and all the private funds is a function of Obama’s left-wing social vision, and a repudiation of his economic-recovery statements. Ditto for his sweeping government-planning-and-spending program, which will wind up raising federal outlays as a share of GDP to at least 30 percent, if not more, over the next 10 years.

The Six-Trillion-Dollar Man Fighting for truth, justice, and the European way. By Mark Steyn The superheroes I always found hard to keep track of were the ones who kept relaunching themselves. I mean, Batman’s been Batman for 70 years and Spider-Man’s been Spider-Man for the best part of 50. But I’m thinking of chaps like Ant-Man. Very small, as one might expect. Then he became Giant-Man. Then he became Yellowjacket (his girlfriend was the Wasp). Then he became Goliath. I’ve lost track of him since then. But, thanks to my usual 20-second exhaustive research, I see he was relaunched only...

Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, and senior Republican panel member John McCain of Arizona introduced legislation that would make it easier to kill weapons programs that spawn runaway development costs, while taking steps to improve competition in the heavily consolidated industry. The legislative salvo was fired a day after the White House announced the selection of Ashton B. Carter, a Harvard University physicist, to run the Pentagon procurement office that oversees the expenditure of about $330 billion a year on goods and services. The bill would give Congress greater leeway to kill programs...