Free Republic

The World Health Organization tried this week to dampen fears about mutations seen in the swine flu virus in several countries, noting that both mutations had been found in very few people. A change that created Tamiflu resistance has been found in about 75 people around the world, said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, chief flu adviser to the W.H.O.’s director general. Two clusters, in cancer units at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina and a hospital in Wales, were both among patients whose immune systems had been severely suppressed by cancer treatment; some had had their bone marrow, which produces...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2009 – Realignment of military medical facilities in the national capital region ordered by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission is on track to meet the commission’s deadline, senior Defense Department officials said here yesterday. Walter Reed Army Medical Center here is consolidating with the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and a new hospital is under construction at Fort Belvoir, Va. “Recommendations proposed a transition from a legacy service-specific medical infrastructure into a premier, modernized joint operational medicine platform,” said Allen W. Middleton, acting principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. “We are...

Just hours after Sen. Charles Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa released a report Friday on their investigation into the abrupt firing of AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin, the Obama White House gave the lawmakers a trove of new, previously-withheld documents on the affair. It was a twist on the now-familiar White House late-Friday release of bad news; this time, the new evidence was put out not only at the start of a weekend but also hours too late for inclusion in the report.

Sunlike stars that harbor planets are low on lithium, according to a recent study that may offer a new tool in the hunt for planets beyond our solar system. Stars are made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. A small percentage of a star's mass comes from heavier elements, which astronomers refer to as metals. Young, yellow stars like our sun usually have more metals than older, redder stars, although the exact mix of those metals can vary. But astronomers have been unable to explain why otherwise similar sunlike stars have widely different lithium levels.The new study suggests that the...

by Dana Blanton , FOXNews.com President Obama's approval rating has hit a new low of 46 percent, even as a majority of Americans says he is providing the kind of leadership they expected. print email share recommend (2) President Obama's approval rating has hit a new low of 46 percent, according to a FOX News poll released Thursday. An equal number -- 46 percent -- disapprove of the job he's doing. Breaking down the numbers by political party shows how sharply split American voters are over the president's job performance. While 85 percent of Democrats approve of their party leader,...

She is a striking brunette with a decidedly outspoken attitude. She lambasts President Barack Obama as a socialist and has become the darling of America's right-wing activists who flock to her appearances. She is hated by liberals and loved by conservatives. Sarah Palin? Not quite. Meet Michele Bachmann, a Republican congresswoman from Minnesota who is being hailed as a new and increasingly powerful voice in American politics

Today is November 16, 2009. Our country is in deep trouble. We have a President who is demonstrably anti-American. His background and history remain a mystery. His goals and programs are the antithesis of traditional American values of freedom, capitalism, and representative democracy. He is anti-military, tying their hands with inappropriate and dangerous rules of engagement on the battlefield, and prolonging the inability to make a timely decision to send requested manpower to the front lines of the War on Terror in Afghanistan. This President cannot even utter the phrase “War on Terror”, and he is uncomfortable with the term...

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- With just 300 or so Muslims in all of Nicaragua, it became an instant mystery here when a big new mosque suddenly seemed to spring up recently in a residential neighborhood. Like, who paid for it?

Fearing Israel will launch an assault on Hizbullah before a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, the Lebanese guerrilla group is getting ready for a new war, the Observer reported on Sunday. According to the British newspaper, Hizbullah has been "busy reinforcing fixed defense positions" north of the Litani River, and after losing many of its bunkers in the south during the Second Lebanon War, is preparing "a new strategy" to defend villages there.

I am a student of history. Professionally, I have written 15 books on history that have been published in six languages, and I have studied history all my life. I have come to think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is simply a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus. Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what...

After months of collaboration on President Obama's attempt to overhaul the nation's health-care system, the insurance industry plans to strike out against the effort on Monday with a report warning that the typical family premium in 2019 could cost $4,000 more than projected. The critique, coming one day before a critical Senate committee vote on the legislation, sparked a sharp response from the Obama administration. It also signaled an end to the fragile detente between two central players in this year's health-care reform drama. Industry officials said they intend to circulate the report prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers on Capitol Hill and...

The goal was to build a reporting system that allows the public to follow the zigzagging paths of dollars awarded under the $787 billion federal stimulus package. A financial GPS of sorts. But despite federal lawmakers' pledge of transparency, the final stages of most money trails, along with key information about job impacts, will remain invisible to users of the Recovery.org website when it debuts next month. Only details of a stimulus grant's passage through its first two stops after it leaves the federal government must be reported, according to guidance memos from the White House Office of Management and...

The Obama administration has decided not to seek legislation to establish a new system of preventive detention to hold terrorism suspects and will instead rely on a 2001 congressional resolution authorizing military force against al-Qaeda and the Taliban to continue to detain people indefinitely and without charge, according to administration officials. Leading congressional Democrats and members of the civil rights community had signaled opposition to any new indefinite-detention regime, fearing that it would expand government powers and undermine the rule of law and U.S. legal traditions.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Riki Ellison, Chairman and President of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) www.missiledefenseadvocacyalliance.org has developed a White Paper that analyzes the recent missile defense decision by President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The White Paper states that the protection of our homeland population is a risk we are facing with the new missile defense plan. Ellison has shared the White Paper with members of Congress, and it is detailed below:

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel defied U.S. pressure to halt construction in its West Bank settlements Sunday, with key leaders speaking out in support of the contentious enclaves and preparing to sign orders to allow building of hundreds of new housing units there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are expected to approve orders for about 500 new apartments Monday, said Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the plans have not been finalized.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday urged the government to impose stricter controls on emergency helicopter operators, including requiring the use of autopilots, night-vision systems and flight data recorders in an industry that suffered a record number of fatalities last year. The NTSB recommendations for training and safety equipment to the Federal Aviation Administration are in addition to others made in 2006, such as requiring installation of terrain awareness monitoring to help pilots navigate when weather conditions are poor. The safety board, which cannot require such changes, also wants the Health and Human Services Department to...

CYPRESS, Texas, Aug. 31, 2009 – Hundreds of people arrived today at the home of retired Marine Capt. Dan Moran, a warrior severely wounded in Iraq, to see Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates present him the keys to his new home on behalf of the Helping a Hero organization. They came to see Moran lauded as a hero by a host of luminaries: Astros legend Craig Biggio, Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurt, U.S. Rep Todd Tiahrt from Kansas , and hundreds of others from the community. What most didn’t expect is that Moran would steal their hearts in the process,...

For too long conservatives (those who respect religion, patriotism, and freedom) have had to satisfy themselves with meager success. Conservatives may win an election or pass a bill, but we are starving for real victory. To win real victory we must colonize the left. We must create a conservative socialist party. The only selling point for the left is socialism, so we must detach socialism from the main body of leftist dogma. When a conservative right battles a conservative left we can achieve real, lasting victory. Both sides would espouse our core principles. I support a conservative socialist or populist...

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Aug. 25, 2009 – An airman assigned here witnessed the birth of his third child, and he did so without leaving his post. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Rafael Garcia talks via webcam with his wife, Monica, and daughter, Carmella Fe, Aug. 18, 2009. Garcia experienced the birth of his daughter via webcam from Southwest Asia. He is deployed from Ramstein Air Base, Germany. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jason W. Edwards  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Instead, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Rafael Garcia of the 379th Expeditionary Mission Support Group saw the birth live via...

DUBLIN -- The Irish government plans to bring into force a new law in October that critics say is a return to medieval justice. The legislation, aimed at providing judges with clear direction on the 1937 Constitution's blasphemy prohibition, imposes a fine of up to 25,000 euros -- about $39,000 -- for anyone who "publishes or utters matter that is [intentionally meant to be] grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion."

We already have a structural trade deficit with most countries of the world and we are spending money outside the U.S. at an alarming rate on two active wars and countless military installations worldwide as well as an expanding foreign aid program. All of this while we and other countries like Spain are in a jobs depression. We are still losing more than 300,000 jobs a month, and Challenger/Grey said recently that layoffs would get worse in the months ahead going into year-end.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Tighter limits on the amount of lead the government allows in children's products and a requirement for new tracking labels are stirring fear among small business owners, already hurting in a tough economy. Starting Friday, the new limits and labels are required as part of a consumer product safety law passed by Congress last summer in the wake of dozens of recalls of lead-tainted toys. Consumer advocates hailed the measures. But some small businesses, like American Educational Products in Fort Collins, Colo.—it sells classroom teaching aids like flash cards, animal models, globes and relief maps—say the testing...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration is preparing a set of about 50 benchmarks for Afghanistan, senior officials said Monday, redefining how to measure success in a war now widely assessed as a stalemate. The benchmarks will test how well the U.S. military and civilian "surges" ordered by President Barack Obama are working. The new measures, ordered by Congress, are due Sept. 24 amid creeping skepticism among many Democrats about the war's prognosis and costs.

NeW Kind of Women by: Brittany Fortier, July 13, 2009 Young conservative women have an organization to call their own. The Network of Enlightened Women (NeW) held its fourth annual conference at the Heritage Foundation on June 26, 2009. Karin Agness, a University of Virginia law school graduate and the founder of NeW, said that the organization serves a two-fold purpose: first, as a book club, which provides a “structural and educational component,” and second, as a network to “cultivate a community of conservative women.” Agness says that NeW women are different from their liberal counterparts because they believe...

In the process of searching for a used car for my children to use to go to school and get to work (summer jobs), I have made a couple of significant discoveries. Many used cars are selling for way below book value because there is no book value due to the incentives for buying new cars and economic conditions. Few banks will give loans on a used car at this time. Many, many used cars are for sale and remain for sale for quite some time. Cars that should have elevated used values are selling for well below "usual" values....

WASHINGTON -- Moving to broaden the scope of the health care overhaul, President Barack Obama threw his support Tuesday behind creation of a program to help families struggling with burdensome costs of long-term care. The voluntary insurance program - sponsored by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. - would pay a modest daily cash benefit of at least $50 that people could use for a range of in-home services or nursing home expenses.

Dear AMERICA,This Friday the film "The Stoning of Soraya" will open in selected cities around the country. Given the current events in Iran this film is not only timely but we understand very moving and compelling. We wanted to make sure our members in selected states were aware of the film and, if there is a showing anywhere near you, we urge you to take it in this weekend. (Click here to open a PDF image with a list of the cities and theaters). THE STONING OF SORAYA M. Release Date: NY/LA - June 26, 2009 Distributor: Roadside Attractions and...

Dusty Rhodes, a light-hitting, hard-drinking outfielder who was at his best on baseball's biggest stage, died of cardiopulmonary arrest Wednesday at a Las Vegas hospital. He was 82. Rhodes, whose left-handed swing was tailor-made for the short right-field porch at the New York Giants' home in the Polo Grounds, never batted more than 244 times in seven big-league seasons and had a career average of just .253. But in his only World Series, in 1954, he delivered a game-winning pinch-hit home run in the 10th inning of Game 1, a game-tying pinch-hit single in Game 2 and a two-run pinch...

WASHINGTON (AP) - An Obama administration official says the Treasury will propose the creation of a regulatory agency to protect consumers in their credit, savings and other banking transactions. The new agency is one of the central elements of President Barack Obama's overhaul of the financial regulatory system. The president is set to announce his broad plan on Wednesday.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Let's go back to me, myself, on this show March 30th, I said this. RUSH ARCHIVE: He doesn't know anything about the automobile business. He doesn't know how to change a tire. The automobile business needs car guys, people that love grease, get in there, manufacture these engines and cars, great designs, lines, make people want to go out and buy these cars. Car companies have to be run by financial people today because they're basically health care and retirement funds.

a new, not yet aired, next episode of 'Kings', will be broadcast on NBC on Saturday June 13, at 8pm ET.

New approach offers more pleasant light of traditional bulbs without the energy guilt Thanks to a bit of ingenuity, Chunlei Guo, associate professor of optics at the University of Rochester, and his assistant Anatoliy Vorobyev have been able to squeeze out fluorescent-like energy performance from an incandescent light bulb. The breakthrough boils down to a laser treatment of the bulb's tungsten filament, a processing step which could one day become a standard in the light bulb industry.

The New Haven firefighter case is one of the most controversial rulings in Sotomayor's record, and one that will no doubt be a prime source of criticism from conservatives. The case, Ricci vs. DeStefano, was brought by Frank Ricci and a group of his firefighting colleagues (all non-black including one Hispanic man). The men were denied promotion after an examination to determine their eligibility to move up yielded no successful black candidates. As a result, the New Haven authority decided to discard the exam results and grant no promotions. Ricci and his colleagues argued they'd been discriminated against, but their...

The New York Times: First to be Nationalized or sold for Scrap? The Wall Street Journal just featured a column speculating that control of the troubled New York Times may be acquired within the next couple of years. That’s it! Abuse your shareholders by running those assets into the ground then sell off what’s left for scrap. Like most of the major media companies, they ran the company not to increase shareholder equity but rather to increase DNC equity. The New York Times is more of a 527 organization than a news organization. The scoundrels running the NY Times should...

Iran and Syria seem to be covertly supporting a new terrorist offensive against U.S. allies in the Middle East and the Caucasus. While they have sponsored terrorists in these regions before, recent disruptions of terrorist cells indicate that they are increasing the tempo and may be preparing for a confrontation in the near future. Mohammad al-Oufi, the commander of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has been in Saudi custody since turning himself in. Al-Oufi revealed that Iran was working with Al-Qaeda in the region and that foreign intelligence services were working with the group to disrupt the flow of Saudi...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A new type of swine flu has infected at least two children in California and while both have recovered, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday they were looking for more cases. They say it is possible the children were infected by other people and not by pigs, and said they have consulted with officials in Canada, Mexico and at the World Health Organization although there is no evidence that the new virus is circulating widely. In a special alert, the CDC asked doctors in California's San Diego and Imperial counties, on the border with Mexico, to test...

I admire Congressman Peter King---he just doesn't give a rat's ass who he angers, he is going to suggest what's right whether it makes him popular or not. He created a fire storm suggesting its time for the US government to more closely monitor Mosques in the US. He fought the Democrats in congress to provide whistle blowers with “immunity for reporting suspicious activities and mitigating terrorist threats relating to transportation security,” He also was a fighter for the cause of "Libel tourism," and he told the truth about Gitmo Prison. Now he is being attacked by the Terrorist enabling...

Many U.S. communities are creating their own currencies now. They try to help consumers and companies to fight the global financial crisis and the recession. The idea, borrowed from the Depression era when the currencies were known as "scrip", is designed to boost local spending and keep money circulating within the community. Typically, a group of businesses print a new currency which shoppers can then buy at a discount – typically one dollar will cost 90 to 95 cents – and spend at full value with participating companies. Some of the currencies have been around for years but the recent...

There is no question that George W. Bush was and is a Globalist what that means is that in spite of the fact that Mr. Bush swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America at many times in his presidency president Bush was awkwardly at odds with his pledge.

(IsraelNN.com) President Obama, before he took office, pressured outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to put a quick end to the Cast Lead counterterrorist operation against Hamas, according to New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh. Hersh, who previously has divulged conversations with leaders promoting pro-Arab positions vis-à-vis Israel, reported in the current edition that President Obama approved of recent talks between American officials and Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Word is that this evening, the great Evan Sayet will be doing a test run of his upcoming talk show (that will be 5x a week starting April 6). I hear it is at 6pm Pacific Time, no idea how long the show will be (my guess is 2 hours). Wait and see, and tune in!

NEW YORK - A Black September terrorist who served about one-half his 30-year sentence for planting three car bombs in New York City in 1973 was deported Thursday, a law-enforcement official said. It was unclear which country had agreed to accept 63-year-old Khalid Al-Jawary. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the deportation, didn't immediately know where Al-Jawary was going. Al-Jawary was convicted in federal court of placing the bombs in 1973 that could have killed and injured hundreds if they had detonated. They were timed to coincide with the arrival of the late...

New World Order In recent weeks, the world has been politely standing by and watching how things play out with the fiscal stimulus and latest bank-bailout plans in Washington. Yes, there's been some grumbling overseas about "buy American" provisions in the stimulus bill, but for the most part, officials elsewhere don't want to step on the toes of a new President to whom they are favorably disposed. They also don't want to endanger legislation that they hope will help jump-start the global economy. •Davos cross-post: Values, schmalues, says Bill Gates. This crisis was about overspending Just wait a couple of...

New World Order In recent weeks, the world has been politely standing by and watching how things play out with the fiscal stimulus and latest bank-bailout plans in Washington. Yes, there's been some grumbling overseas about "buy American" provisions in the stimulus bill, but for the most part, officials elsewhere don't want to step on the toes of a new President to whom they are favorably disposed. They also don't want to endanger legislation that they hope will help jump-start the global economy. Just wait a couple of months, though. Politicians from Beijing to Berlin to Brasília see the current...

On the heels of its attention-grabbing trip to North Korea last February, the New York Philharmonic is planning another high-profile visit for next season: to Vietnam. The stop, part of an Asian tour in October, will be a splashy opening to Alan Gilbert’s tenure as the orchestra’s new music director. (snip) In Communist Vietnam, a freewheeling utopia of commerce compared with the hermetic, impoverished and tightly controlled North Korea, the orchestra will play at the Hanoi Opera House. Completed in 1911 during French colonial rule and modeled after the Paris Opera, it has about 600 seats, according to its Web...

The Heaviest Element Known to Science Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.z Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would...

A revolutionary invention that has its origins in research carried out by NHS Lothian over 20 years ago, has been named as one of TIME Magazine's best inventions of 2008. The world's first commercially available bionic hand, the i-LIMB Hand, invented by David Gow, NHS Lothian, and developed by Livingston-based Touch Bionics, is rated 14 overall in TIME's best inventions of 2008. The world's first bionic hand took many years to develop, beginning with a programme of research work at NHS Lothian's bio engineering centre in Edinburgh. The key innovation is that it is multi-articulating, meaning each finger has its...

(IsraelNN.com) President Shimon Peres dissolved the Knesset Monday evening, a necessary step before holding new national elections. The announcement came at the beginning of the Knesset's winter session. The possibility of early elections arose when acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stepped down as head of the Kadima party and was replaced by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Livni then became Prime Minister-designate, and was charged with creating a coalition. Livni failed to create a coalition, and on Saturday night announced that she would recommend to President Peres to call for new national elections instead of attempting to create a government. On...

Lend America, recently ranked as the 13th largest direct-to-consumer FHA lender in the nation, announced today it has launched a specialized Hope for Homeowners (H4H) Outreach Program to enable institutional investors, such as Wall Street banks and hedge funds, as well as other first lien holders to quickly recapture principal from their non-performing residential mortgage portfolios while helping homeowners avoid foreclosure on sustainable and affordable terms. The key value propositions supporting Lend America's H4H Outreach Program is the Company's centralized originations platform that is comprised of over 300 highly trained mortgage specialists in FHA lending that utilize a high touch...

Yet another heavy sniper rifle is generating a lot of buzz. This one is the CheyTac LRRS (Long Range Rifle System). It looks like a .50 caliber (12.7mm) rifle, but is actually .408 (10.3mm). The .408 round resembles a scaled down .50 caliber, and this bullet is mainly for anti-personnel use (rather than the oft-quoted, but little used, "anti-material" use of the .50 caliber sniper rifles.) The .408 was developed in 2001, and is actually based on the older . 505 Gibbs and the .400 Taylor Magnum elephant guns. The .408 bullet is a new streamlined design that leaves it...