Free Republic

We’ve already seen this trend coming from the Rasmussen national polls, and now Politico reports that Rasmussen has substantial corroboration of their reports. Independent voters have begun rejecting the big-spending programs of Barack Obama, especially as they show little return on the vast fortunes he’s spent thus far. That means trouble for Obama in swing states that he carried relatively easily just eight months ago: Obama retains extremely strong support from Democrats, and earlier this year lost much of the Republican support that followed a giddy Inauguration. It is the independents who appear to be currently on the move: Obama...

Wealthy nations agree on temperature cap in fight against global warming.... leaders of the world's richest industrial countries pledged Wednesday to seek dramatic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to slow dangerous climate change. They agreed for the first time that worldwide temperatures must not rise more than a few degrees. However, their goals are nonbinding, and it's far from clear they will be met. The wealthy nations failed to persuade the leaders of big developing countries to promise to cut their own fast-spreading pollution, unable to overcome arguments that the well-established industrial giants aren't doing enough in the...

In the ongoing quest to determine the exact birthplace of Barack Obama, the president's alleged personal effort to put the matter to rest is raising some interesting new questions. The latest concerns focus on a letter purportedly sent by Obama to Honolulu's Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children in which the commander in chief outright declares his birth at the facility. In the message dated Jan. 24, the freshly inaugurated president is said to explain that he's "a beneficiary of the excellence of Kapi'olani Medical Center – the place of my birth ... ." The text of the letter...

As they review the bizarre and unpredictable weather pattern of the past several years, a growing number of scientists are beginning to suspect that many seemingly contradictory meteorological fluctuations are actually part of a global climatic upheaval. However widely the weather varies from place to place and time to time, when meteorologists take an average of temperatures around the globe they find that the atmosphere has been growing gradually cooler for the past three decades. The trend shows no indication of reversing.

GREENSBORO — The Greensboro Symphony Orchestra will be able to keep two of its full-time staff jobs, thanks to $50,000 in federal stimulus money. The symphony is among seven nonprofit arts organizations in North Carolina that will receive grants totaling $325,000 through the National Endowment for the Arts. The money comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The NEA received $50 million to preserve nonprofit arts jobs threatened by declines in support during the economic downturn. The symphony and Triad Stage were the only groups in Guilford County eligible for direct NEA grants, because they had received NEA funding...

This year is the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Darwin (1809–1882), and it’s no accident that assorted atheists are making sure that everyone knows that. But they have some competition from those wanting to name 2009 as the “International Year of Astronomy”, because it’s the quadricentennial of the first use of the telescope by Galileo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei (1564–1642), usually known by his first name only. Not to be outdone, the atheists have long used Galileo as a story of “science versus religion”. So what are the facts? [1] Not science vs religion, but science vs scienceMany historians of...

U.S. President Barack Obama suffered a double-barreled setback in Congress on Thursday when members of his own party moved to apply the brakes on his top legislative priorities, healthcare and climate change. Obama has demanded urgent and simultaneous attention to overhauling healthcare and addressing climate change, saying both were necessary to boost the U.S. economy, which is in a deep recession. He has demanded that Congress send him a bill by October to cut healthcare costs and provide medical coverage to most of the 46 million uninsured Americans. The president wants climate change legislation before year's end. While Obama was...

Former GOP Governor Helped Make 2006 Reform Reality. BOSTON -- Three years after the inception of Massachusetts’ landmark health reform legislation, which required every citizen to buy insurance, NewsCenter 5’s Ed Harding wondered what former Gov. Mitt Romney, a key political architect of the plan, thought of its progress. Call it protecting his legacy, well-earned pride, or seeing the glass as half-full, but Romney says Massachusetts deserves an ‘A.’ “It’s working like we had hoped it would work,” the one-time republic presidential candidate said. “We got nearly everybody in Massachusetts health insurance, which really, something people didn't think was possible.”...

The New York Times is testing a price point of $5 a month for access to nytimes.com, with a 50 percent discount for print subscribers. The Times e-mailed a survey to print subscribers Thursday afternoon inviting their reaction to that pricing plan and asking a range of questions about online pricing. NYT survey A portion of the Times' survey on charging for access to its Web site. (Click image for larger version.) New York Times Co. spokeswoman Catherine Mathis confirmed in a telephone interview that the Times had sent the survey, but said no timetable has been set for a...

A private swim club in suburban Philadelphia allegedly discriminated against minority children from a city day camp, denying the campers re-entry amid claims of racism, camp officials claim. Alethea Wright, executive director of Creative Steps Inc., told MyFOXPhilly.com that the camp's check for $1,950 was returned after just one 90-minute session on June 29 at the Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley.

The map, touted as a way for residents to monitor the safety of their neighborhoods, doesn't include about 19,000 serious crimes reported in other LAPD data. Officials say they're looking into it. The Los Angeles Police Department's online crime map intended for public use has failed to include nearly 40% of serious crimes reported in the city. In one of those rapes, a man hid in the back of a woman's car, forced her to drive to an abandoned North Hollywood apartment and assaulted her. It was the kind of incident that residents of the neighborhood around Sherman Way and...

In health bill, billions for parks, paths Supporters cite prevention, but add-ons’ critics see pork By Michael Kranish Globe Staff / July 9, 2009 WASHINGTON - Sweeping healthcare legislation working its way through Congress is more than an effort to provide insurance to millions of Americans without coverage. Tucked within is a provision that could provide billions of dollars for walking paths, streetlights, jungle gyms, and even farmers’ markets. The add-ons - characterized as part of a broad effort to improve the nation’s health “infrastructure’’ - appear in House and Senate versions of the bill. Critics argue the provision is...

Columnist Margaret Carlson says Sarah Palin is "very good at stringing words together" that make "no sense."

...A video was produced to promote Gay Day at the Movies featuring a pair of "Bumblebee Boys" in Camaro-branded briefs washing the Bowtie brand's pony car revival. The cheeky (pardon the pun) video is clearly targeted at the gay community and uses beefcake car washers to that effect in a not-so-subtle way.

Yesterday we mentioned that poll out of Ohio showing Obama's support collapsing in the uber-important swing state. Turns out that's not a one-state phenomenon. Both Gallup and Rasmussen have new polls out showing big slippage in support for the administration Everything seems to have changed since that last jobs report, since it viciously undercut the green shoots claims. Here's Rasmussen: The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 32% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-seven percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential...

Now that we've got the buy-side managers for the Obama adminstrations Public Private Investment Program lined up, the question is whether there will be anyone on the sell-side. With the buy-side guys saying that the P-PIP will allow them to pay between 5% and 10% more for toxic assets, you might think banks would be all over this thing. But that's not how its shaping up. The P-PIP is still stumbling. Many are now wondering whether bankers will sell into the program. We suspended mark-to-market. "A month after the PPIP program was announced, under pressure from banks and Congress, the...

Liquid nitrogen, vegetable steamers, Macintosh workstations and old, refrigerator-size tape drives. These are just some of the tools a new breed of Space Age archeologists is using to sift through the digital debris from the early days of NASA, mining the information in ways unimaginable when it was first gathered four decades ago. At stake is data that could show Earth's risk of an asteroid strike, shed light on global warming and -- perhaps -- even satisfy those who think the moon landings were a hoax. The most visible of the archeologists is arguably Dennis Wingo, head of Skycorp Inc.,...

First lady Michelle Obama thought about sending her daughters away to summer camp, she said recently, but instead decided on another program -- the "Camp Obama" world tour. "This has been such a, you know, busy year for them," she said, "We're having 'Camp Obama' and, you know, they're going to travel a little more with us, and we're going to do some historic things." It's not your everyday sleepaway camp, but a world-class adventure: This week, the first tweens have toured Rome's Coliseum and Russia's Kremlin -- exotic locations for sure, but the president said his daughters haven't skipped...

The uber-establishment Council on Foreign Relations said Wednesday it favors granting legal status to many of the roughly 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., creating a guest worker program for low-skilled foreign workers to come and work in the U.S and opposes local police getting to conduct immigration raids. The CFR issued an immigration policy report Wednesday that looks to lift caps on foreign university students in the U.S. and allow skilled foreign graduates to get more work visas. The international policy group also wants to create legal paths to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already...

COLUMBUS, OH—Ian Kimmel, 31, of Dublin pleaded guilty in United States District Court here to one count of possession of child pornography for having between 150 and 300 images on his personal computer depicting children under the age of 18 engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He faces a possible maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment and will be required to be under court supervision for at least five years after he serves any prison time. Federal law will also require him to register as a sex offender. Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio and...

I have often thought that a basic problem with health care is insurance. That insurance, promising full coverage for those with the right employer, motivates bad behavior from customers and doctors. Why be a savvy shopper when all health care is free? This is often referred to as moral hazard, one abuses a resource if there are no repercussions. Conversely, the need to mitigate health care cost (counter moral hazard) has been regulating price, not paying more than $X for a given procedure. Now in most other markets this combination of moral hazard and cost constraint, constrains innovation. Why innovate...

.S. lawmakers rang alarm bells about the troubled commercial real estate industry, which has been walloped by the credit crunch and an implosion of property values. "The commercial real estate time bomb is ticking," Joint Economic Committee Chairman Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said in opening remarks to a hearing before her panel Thursday. U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, said he was distressed about the situation the industry is facing. Banks have yanked back on lending to developers of shopping malls, apartment complexes, hotels and office parks. Meanwhile, the securitization market - a key source of funding for the commercial real...

The Obama Doctrine is finally coming into focus. It’s been hard to glean its form because for so long it seemed the president’s most obvious guiding principle was “not Bush,� particularly when it came to the Iraq War. Indeed, his anti-Bush stance has led him to stubbornly refuse to say the war has been won or to admit that he was wrong to oppose the surge. In the past, this unthinking reflex has caused Obama to take some truly repugnant positions. In July 2007, Obama said that he would order U.S. forces out of Iraq as quickly as possible, even...

There is still time to stop the legislative monstrosity known as the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill before the Senate approves it. But for that to happen, Americans must learn how bad it is. Let's briefly review the basics: The bill is ostensibly designed to curb man-caused carbon emissions (presumably without outlawing breathing) to retard global warming. Even if we accept, for purposes of argument, the assumptions of radical, hysterical leftist environmentalists that man-caused global warming will destroy the planet if evil, rich capitalists don't radically curtail their own contributions to the catastrophe, Waxman-Markey would not prevent this Armageddon. Climate scientist Chip...

Britain is ready to cut its number of nuclear warheads as part of global deal to persuade Iran and North Korea to give up the arms race, PM Gordon Brown has said. The Prime Minister said US-brokered talks next year could pave the way for the UK to reduce its 160-warhead arsenal in return for proof from would-be nuclear states they had stopped their weapons programmes. Speaking at a G8 summit in Italy, Mr Brown insisted there was no question of abandoning plans to replace the Trident weapons system. UK Trident Missile But he signalled the number of British warheads...

Most economists believe the U.S. doesn't need another round of stimulus now despite expectations of continued severe job losses. Just eight of 51 economists in The Wall Street Journal's latest forecasting survey said more stimulus is necessary, suggesting an average of about $600 billion in additional spending. On average, the economists forecast an unemployment rate of at least 10% through next June, with a decline to 9.5% by December 2010. "The mother of all jobless recoveries is coming down the pike," said Allen Sinai of Decision Economics. But he doesn't favor more stimulus now, saying "lags in monetary and fiscal...

U.S. swine flu vaccinations could begin in October with children among the first in line — at their local schools — the Obama administration said Thursday as the president and his Cabinet urged states to figure out now how they'll tackle the virus' all-but-certain resurgence. "We may end up averting a crisis. That's our hope," said President Barack Obama, who took time away from the G-8 summit in Italy to telephone another summit back home — the 500 state and local health officials meeting to prepare for swine flu's fall threat. No final decision has been made on whether to...

WASHINGTON—A 35-year-old Minneapolis man was sentenced today in federal court on one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to al Qaeda. David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Frank J. Magill, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota announced that on July 9 in Minneapolis, U.S. District Court Judge John Tunheim sentenced Mohammed Abdullah Warsame to 92 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Warsame, a naturalized Canadian citizen of Somali descent, was charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization—al Qaeda—in a Jan. 20, 2004,...

Federal and state authorities this morning arrested 20 defendants accused of being part of ring that defrauded Medi-Cal out of nearly $4.6 million by using unlicensed individuals to provide in-home care to scores of disabled patients, many of them children with cerebral palsy or developmental disabilities. The 20 defendants arrested this morning are among 42 defendants named in a 41-count indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury on June 25. The indictment is part of an investigation called Operation License Integrity, a two-year investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the chief culprits in the housing crisis because they encouraged people who could not afford payments to borrow money, according to a congressional report released Tuesday. The claims in the report have long been advanced by conservatives, who argue that the Community Reinvestment Act and other federal programs fed the housing bubble that burst in 2007 and led to the economic downfall in 2008. But the report explains in detail how Fannie and Freddie -- government sponsored enterprises (GSE) that were not subject to the same oversight as other publicly traded firms -- “privatized...

The headline: The “good news.” NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The number of Americans filing initial unemployment claims fell sharply last week, while those filing ongoing claims rose to another all-time high, according to government data released Thursday. There were 565,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended July 4, down 52,000 from a revised 617,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said. It was the lowest number since January and was below the consensus estimate of 603,000 from economists surveyed by Briefing.com. Analysts said last week’s drop was distorted by a change in the pattern of seasonal layoffs in...

Burris Won't Run in 2010 By Emily Pierce Roll Call Staff July 9, 2009, 6:14 p.m. Burris Won't Run in 2010 House Chairmen Thumb Noses at White House Health Care Deal Updated: 6:48 p.m. Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) will announce Friday that he will not seek election to a full term in 2010, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Burris’ office issued a press release Thursday evening saying the Senator would make a “major announcement” Friday during a scheduled speech at the Chicago South Loop Hotel. However, his spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. Burris’ decision is likely based on...

Operation Falcon, a multiagency effort led by the U.S. Marshals Service, nabbed 258 fugitives in Minnesota during the week of June 22, officials announced Thursday. Fugitives included 18 sex offenders and at least nine known gang members, and all of the fugitives were considered violent, officials said. The number of arrests this year during the one-week sweep from Duluth to Rochester doubled the number of arrests last year, said Michael McGinn, U.S. marshal for the state of Minnesota.

North African extremist group, whose senior leaders were crucial allies of Osama bin Laden, has denounced terrorism and become the first organisation ever to leave al-Qaeda. The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which once sought to overthrow Col Muammar Gaddafi, dealt a blow to bin Laden by reversing a decision made in 2007 to join al-Qaeda. A statement from the LIFG leadership criticised "indiscriminate bombings" and the "targeting of civilians", saying that violence "did not achieve the aims of the group in removing oppression". Al-Qaeda has come under mounting pressure in recent months. Missile attacks executed by American drones in...

Thomas Boyd/The OregonianOregon State Police troopers on Wednesday remove an anti-logging protester from the Elliott State Forest near Reedsport. Police arrested the final four logging protesters in the Elliott State Forest today, including one who had rappelled down from a tree during the night and was later caught about four miles from the site.The arrests brought to 27 the number of protesters taken into custody for blocking access to a timber sale near Reedsport, in Douglas County. Oregon State Police and Douglas County sheriff's deputies arrested 23 people at the scene Wednesday, including some who had chained themselves inside...

The world's most powerful media moguls are "very bearish" on the economy, but they don't seem to be blaming President Obama for the tough times, Rupert Murdoch says. Apart from Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, both owned by News Corp., the media "remains very supportive of him, perhaps not of all of his policies," Murdoch told Stuart Varney of Fox Business Network. Speaking during an interview with Varney on Thursday at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, the News Corp. chairman and CEO also criticized the stimulus bill that was supposed to have juiced the...

A new book published by Al Qaeda shows that the terrorist group is under intense pressure and in "deathly fear" of U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Pakistan, terror experts say. The 150-page book, titled "Guide to the Laws Regarding Muslim Spies," was recently posted on jihadist Web sites. It was written by a senior Al Qaeda commander, Abu Yahya Al-Libi, and features an introduction by Ayman Al-Zawahri, the No. 2 man in Al Qaeda. The book accuses some in Al Qaeda's ranks of being spies who provide intelligence, including information about Al Qaeda camps and safehouses, to U.S. forces. According to...

The dream of self-sufficiency popularised in the 1970s comedy is not beyond the reach of people living in Britain's five million flats, the organisation says. Lettuce, tomatoes, beetroot and a variety of herbs can all thrive on windox sills – allowing those without gardens and allotments to join the "grow your own" trend. Kingston Lacy, a country mansion in Dorset, is one of the Trust properties where windox boxes have been installed. At other properties, hanging baskets have been converted to grow vegetables. The National Trust has calculated that the nation's windowsills could provide the equivalent of 600 acres of...

NEW YORK — A Manhattan skyscraper in one of the most security-conscious parts of New York City has become the scene of an unlikely missing persons mystery. Police are trying to figure out what happened to a cleaning woman who vanished midway through her shift Tuesday evening at an office tower a few hundred feet from the World Trade Center reconstruction site. Eridania Rodriguez, 46, punched in for work at 2 Rector Street around 5 p.m. She donned her blue uniform, chatted with other after-hours employees and was last seen on security cameras around 7 p.m., according to a lawyer...

An earthquake rocked China tonight, causing at least 10,000 homes to collapse and injuring more than 300 people. The quake, measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale, hit Yunnan province's Yao'an county in the south west of the country. It was was followed by eight aftershocks. So far there have been no reports of deaths. But Chinese official state media said that at least 336 people were injured, with 30 cases serious. More than 40,000 houses were damaged by the tremor – of which a quarter collapsed. State officials said they were sending 4,500 tents, 3,000 quilts and other relief materials...

First it was the Senate derailing Barack Obama’s big legislative priority, cap-and-trade, until after the summer recess. Later in the day, the House joined in what looks to be a mini-retreat from the President with the declining poll numbers. The Blue Dog Coalition has demanded a delay in producing a health-care reform bill, with a specific eye towards avoiding taxes and apparent opposition to the “public plan” Obama has demanded: The drive to remake the nation’s health care system suffered yet another setback in Congress on Thursday when a pivotal group of House Democrats rebelled against leadership-backed legislation taking shape...

t is none of my business if the president of the United States was giving his seal of approval to a nice example of the fairer sex. Frankly, while the photograph looks fairly self-explanatory, we don't even know if that's indeed what he was doing -- for all we know, the King of Saud could have been close by, but out of camera shot, and President Obama was just getting in a quick bow. Regardless of what the president's excuse may be, one thing is for certain: the First Lady is gonna kick his scrawny butt later. Actually, the only...

Minneapolis terrorism suspect Mohammed Abdullah Warsame was sentenced today to seven and a half years for conspiring to aid Al-Qaida, with credit for the years he has already spent in prison. In U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Judge John Tunheim gave Warsame credit for his five-and-a-half years behind bars and gave him additional credit for "good time," because he has been kept in solitary confinement. That means he will probably be released and deported in about 10 months. Warsame, 35, served one of the longest pretrial detentions for a terrorism-related case since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He pleaded...

TEHRAN, Iran – Thousands of protesters streamed down avenues of the capital Thursday, chanting "death to the dictator" and defying security forces who fired tear gas and charged with batons, witnesses said. Turning garbage bins into burning barricades and darting through choking clouds of tear gas, the opposition made its first foray into the streets in nearly two weeks in an attempt to revive mass demonstrations that were crushed in Iran's postelection turmoil.

Michael Jackson's memorial service the latest stop for Houston Democrat known as 'The Funeral Lady' for the stars Shocked to see Texas U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee join the star-studded memorial tribute to Michael Jackson earlier this week? Probably not if you’re from Houston. The congresswoman, who represents the 18th District, has a reputation in her hometown for, let’s say, making herself available to speak at events, occasions, funerals — particularly when cameras are nearby. Just a few days earlier, in her signature braid, Jackson Lee stood alongside Beyoncé at her pre-concert press-conference to address hunger —both women grinning for...

After being closely followed by the U.S.S. John McCain, a vessel on its way to Burma believed to be carrying missile parts turned back to return to North Korea. The ties between the two dictatorships are worrisome, as Burma’s purchases help sustain the DPRK regime and their close military cooperation will make the Southeast Asian country the North Korea of its region. A secret Burmese government report has leaked out revealing that 17 officials visited North Korea from November 22-29, 2008, including the chief of staff of the armed forces. An agreement for close military cooperation was signed on November...

In an interview with private TV network Globovision that was broadcast Tuesday in Venezuela, Secretary Clinton got tough on Iran, calling for "even stricter" sanctions and saying its "pursuit of nuclear weapons" would "be very destabilizing in the Middle East and beyond."

SAN JOSÉ, July 9 - Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said on Wednesday that his presence in Costa Rica is not to respond to any negotiation and that what is appropriate is for the leaders of the de facto regime in his country to present excuses and the requirements for their withdrawal from power “in the next 24 hours.” On arriving in San José for the announced mediation by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias on the Honduran situation, Zelaya explained to journalists that he is there to hear, through the mediator, what the coup leaders have to say and see how...