Free Republic

A campaign spokesperson for presidential candidate Michele Bachmann says a report documenting the severity of the Minnesota congresswoman's migraines is overblown. But, there has been at least one admitted instance of Bachmann being sidelined for days due to a severe migraine and other instances of her falling ill on the House floor. In an article posted by The Daily Caller Monday night, un-named sources described Bachmann's migraines as regular and debilitating, often interrupting her work schedule. Alice Stewart, national press secretary for Bachmann's White House bid, joined the campaign in mid-June, and Stewart says she has seen no evidence of...

Submitted by Charles Hugh Smith from Of Two Minds How Much Would It Cost To Buy Congress Back From Special Interests? Here's a thought: let's buy our Congress back from the special interests who now own it. We all know special interests own the U.S. Congress and the Federal machinery of governance (i.e. regulatory capture). How much would it cost the American citizenry to buy back their Congress? The goal in buying our Congress back from the banking cartel et al. would not be to compete with the special interests for congressional favors--it would be to elect a Congress which...

Republicans shouldn't settle for issuing outraged press releases the next time President Obama makes a recess appointment. Instead, they should use their constitutional powers to block him from taking such action in the first place. In his first two years in office, Obama made 28 recess appointments, many of which were of highly controversial nominees who likely wouldn't have been confirmed otherwise. Obama will keep making such appointments until House Republicans thwart him. Remember that when Democrats took over Congress in 2007, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blocked President Bush from making recess appointments by holding pro forma Senate sessions...

Ever since Scott Brown's stunning upset victory in Massachusetts, Obama has been forced to acknowledge the existence of Republicans...beyond insulting, demonizing and falsely blaming them for everything and excluding them from every step of the process. Now, the "post-partisan" candidate for "change" wants to "work together"...

<p>The death of Sen. Edward Kennedy quickly became a rallying cry for Congress to pass health care overhaul legislation.</p> <p>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office sent an email to reporters at around 2:30 a.m. today, just hours after his death, calling for the passage of health care overhaul. “Ted Kennedy’s dream of quality health care for all Americans will be made real this year because of his leadership and his inspiration,” the statement read.</p>

China has launched a crackdown on gun crimes to ensure social stability, the Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday in an online statement.

How music lessons hold the key to brainier children By Roger Highfield, Science Editor (Filed: 20/09/2006) Young children who take music lessons show more advanced brain development and improved memory than those who do not, according to a study published today. Suzuki pupils in concert: research shows evidence of early musical learning being linked to advanced brain development Researchers claim to have found the first evidence of musical training being linked to greater attention skills. After a year, musically trained children performed better in a memory test that is correlated with general intelligence skills such as literacy, verbal memory, mathematics...

How did the chimpanzee cross the road? 14 September 2006 From New Scientist Print Edition. Cautiously, it would seem. When it comes to crossing roads, chimps seem to have formulated their own version of a highway code. What's more, the time they spend pondering a strategy before crossing depends on how dangerous the road is. When some monkeys and baboons cross risky terrain, adult males travel at the front of the group to reduce the risk of it being attacked by predators. This had never been recorded in great apes, but now Kimberly Hockings of the University of Stirling in...

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How British names conquered the world By Charles Clover (Filed: 31/08/2006) The biggest concentration of people called Salt is in Stoke-on-Trent, as is the greatest number of people called Pepper, according to a new study which maps the spread of British names across the globe. The number of people with either surname is roughly equal so the reason for this is likely to be that both Salts and Peppers derived their names from people who made pots for condiments in the Potteries, according to the authors of the study, published at the Royal Geographical Society's annual conference yesterday. What the...

Contact: Hannah Johnson hannah.johnson@bristol.ac.uk 44-117-928-8896 University of Bristol How modern were European Neanderthals? Neandertals were much more like modern humans than had been previously thought, according to a re-examination of finds from one of the most famous palaeolithic sites in Europe by Bristol University archaeologist, Professor Joao Zilhao, and his French colleagues. Professor Zilhao has been able to show that sophisticated artefacts such as decorated bone points and personal ornaments found in the Châtelperronian culture of France and Spain were genuinely associated with Neandertals around 44,000 years ago, rather than acquired from modern humans who might have been living nearby....

I could use some help in figuring out how individuals,corporations,etc. might financially exploit Joe Biden's (and another questionable group's) plan to divide Iraq into 3 balkanized countries with one EU-like capitol in Baghdad, and "an equitable share of the oil revenues". I scent a big-ass weasel in the woodpile ! Who would gain-financially-from such a division,and how ? I'd appreciate any (non-political)ideas you might suggest.(I already dislike Biden,so I don't need schooling in that !)

How to tell Earthlings that Martian life is here 18:40 01 August 2006 NewScientist.com news service David Shiga The Spirit and Opportunity rovers that continue to explore Mars are not designed to search for life. But if a sample return mission is ever sent to Mars, scientists could test for it in the rocks brought back to Earth. In 1996, news of possible signs of life in a Martian meteorite called ALH84001 leaked out ahead of a press conference that had been scheduled by NASA. This was partly because a high-ranking White House official told a prostitute about the meteorite....

BAGHDAD — U.S. and Iraqi forces zeroed in on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi over two weeks, tracking his spiritual adviser to the terrorist leader's doorstep and unleashing the airstrike that included a bomb equipped in Tucson that killed them, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday. The first bomb used in the airstrike was a laser-guided Paveway GBU-12, Lt. Gen. Gary North, the top U.S. air commander in the region, told Reuters. Raytheon makes the bomb's guidance systems in Tucson

How locusts decide it's time to swarm 19:00 01 June 2006 NewScientist.com news service John Pickrell Juvenile locusts marching in a swarm (image: Gabriel A Miller) The precise moment at which a group of independently milling locusts loses its chaotic aspect and transforms into a highly aligned swarm has been pinpointed by researchers. The finding could provide a new weapon in the campaign to control the pests which devastate vegetation in Africa and Asia, with dire impacts on agriculture, health and economies. Previous work has shown that solitary locusts can be induced to swarm when individuals in concentrated populations repeatedly...

Remember the Big Bad Wolf? He dressed up as Grandma, hoping to fool Little Red Riding Hood long enough to eat her. Well, that's the same tactic some liberal groups and Democrats are using these days in Washington, D.C., to get government control over the Internet: Dress up a bad idea in familiar and comforting words and hope the American public will be fooled. This very bad scheme is dressed up in the oh-so-sweet sounding notion of "net neutrality." Those who coined the "net neutrality" term are hoping the words will make the public, and especially lawmakers, believe it's a...

(a psychological conundrum) Most of America's populace think it improper to spank children, so I have tried other methods to control my kids when they have one of "those moments." One that I found effective is for me to just take the child for a car ride and talk. They usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our car ride together. I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique. Sincerely, A Friend SCROLL DOWN

Researchers Describe How Natural Nuclear Reactor Worked In Gabon The Oklo natural nuclear-reactor site in Gabon. St Louis MO (SPX) Nov 01, 2004 To operate a nuclear power plant like Three Mile Island, hundreds of highly trained employees must work in concert to generate power from safe fission, all the while containing dangerous nuclear wastes. On the other hand, it's been known for 30 years that Mother Nature once did nuclear chain reactions by her lonesome. Now, Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have analyzed the isotopic structure of noble gases produced in fission in a sample from the...

How Africa Became Black Africa's racial history was not necessarily its racial destiny. To unravel the story of Africa's past, you must not only look at its faces but listen to its languages and harvest its crops. By Jared Diamond DISCOVER Vol. 15 No. 02 | February 1994 | Anthropology Despite all I'd read about Africa, my first impressions upon being there were overwhelming. As I walked the streets of Windhoek, the capital of newly independent Namibia, I saw black Herero people and black Ovambo; I saw Nama, a group quite unlike the blacks in appearance; I saw whites, descendants...

How babies do maths at 7 months Basic numerical ability predates speech Babies have a rudimentary grasp of maths long before they can walk or talk, according to new research. By the age of seven months infants have an abstract sense of numbers and are able to match the number of voices they hear with the number of faces they see. The research could be useful in devising methods for teaching basic maths skills to the very young, say researchers in the US. The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Look and listen Adults can...