Free Republic

DAWN WALTON Globe and Mail Update Calgary — Former U.S. president George W. Bush defended his decision to invade Iraq, said “risk takers,” not government are needed to salvage the world economy and offered his advice to current U.S. administration during a luncheon speech in Calgary. In his first public address since U.S. President Barack Obama moved into the White House, Mr. Bush was greeted with a standing ovation when he took the podium by close to 2,000 guests who paid $4,000 per table. “This is my maiden voyage. My first speech since I was the president of the United...

espite their political differences, Rosie O'Donnell wouldn't mind grabbing drinks with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. “I'd like to have a beer with her. I'd like to meet her kids. She seems like a pretty nice woman," O' Donnell told Extra. "Although I have to say, I am thrilled her party did not win. [But] you got to give it to her for spunk.” The ultra-liberal O' Donnell admitted, "I think I probably would like her if I met her....She had an amazing life for herself and her family in Alaska. Very successful. Before you knew it, she was the most...

Austin (Texas) – BMW’s Hydrogen 7 sedan may still be a few years away, but if you just can’t wait and have the necessary cash on hand, you may be able to buy a hydrogen car later this year. Ronn Motors has begun accepting orders for its Scorpion sports car, which, according to its manufacturer, will be able produce hydrogen on-demand from an on-board water tank. If the Tesla Roadster and the Fisker Karma are too generic for you, there may be another choice this fall: Texas startup Ronn Motors unveiled its Scorpion yesterday. The sports car does not...

New Calif. Law Requires Warning When Products Contain Lead Traces CLEVELAND -- As they put up holiday lights this year, some people are noticing something very strange on their new packages of lights – a label warning about possible hazardous chemicals in the lights. NewsChannel5's John Matarese reported that despite the warning label, the lights are not dangerous. Al Shelton went to buy some lights for outside his house, but found a label on the boxes warning about the lights' wires containing lead. The label read, "Handling these coated electric wires in this product exposes you to lead, a chemical...

If Spanish matador Fernando Cruz ever has children, he'll have doctors at the Valencia bullring to thank after he suffered a double goring. Cruz, 25, is recovering in hospital after the second bull of Tuesday's corrida caught him in the upper thigh, throwing him into the air, and gored him in the groin once he hit the ground. Newspapers reproduced the eye-watering bulletin issued by surgeons at the bullring after a two-hour operation and film of the incident was played on the main evening news. "Fernando Cruz is suffering from two horn wounds of 25 centimeters in length each. One...

While American women overall are closing the wage gap with men, the situation in Wisconsin is worsening, according to a recent report. "The State of Working Wisconsin 2006" by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in September found that women earned 25 percent less than men in 2005, a gap that actually increased from about 23 percent in 2000. That report found that a median male worker in Wisconsin earned $16.84 per hour in 2005, compared with $12.62 per hour for women - over $4 less. The report said that men's wages have crept upward in...

Yesterday, it was announced that a grand total of 26 people have received their cash settlements from the Louisiana Recovery Authority. This is out of a total of 123,000 potential applicants. LRA leaders are touting the numbers as progress, which sure sounds like spin to me. In the meantime, thousands of poor victims make difficult decisions every day whether to stay in the state or leave. Unfortunately, due to the slow pace of the Road Home plan, thousands have opted to leave. Along with concerns about levees, political corruption, poor schools, the slow pace of relief by the LRA is...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Thousands of sperm samples, some stored by men who feared they could become impotent, were destroyed when the temperature rose undetected in a refrigeration tank at the University of Florida. The problem at the university's Women's Health Center at Magnolia Parke began last October, when a faulty sensor on the liquid-nitrogen-filled tank apparently failed to alert anyone that the temperature had risen, said center spokesman Tom Fortner. The vast majority of the samples were from anonymous donors intended for use by couples with fertility problems. "Our anonymous donor sperm bank is essentially wiped out," Williams said.

Aug. 23, 2006 — Sanju Bhagat's stomach was once so swollen he looked nine months pregnant and could barely breathe. Living in the city of Nagpur, India, Bhagat said he'd felt self-conscious his whole life about his big belly. But one night in June 1999, his problem erupted into something much larger than cosmetic worry. An ambulance rushed the 36-year-old farmer to the hospital. Doctors thought he might have a giant tumor, so they decided to operate and remove the source of the bulge in his belly. "Basically, the tumor was so big that it was pressing on his diaphragm...

The star of Chula Vista's auto pool is a high-tech wonder that never needs gasoline. The 2005 Honda FCX runs on hydrogen, one of the most plentiful elements on earth. Sounds like a dream. But finding city employees to pilot the vehicle has been a nightmare. “It's been a challenge to keep people driving it,” said Jack Dickens, the city's fleet manager. “They are intimidated by the cost.” Manufactured in small batches, these experimental cars are painstakingly engineered and stuffed with costly gizmos. This gives the little FCX a big price tag: $1 million. “I try not to drive it...

San Antonio, Texas -- site of the famous 19th-century battle at the Alamo -- is now host to another potential battle that is brewing, this one between homosexual activists and conservative Christians. The battle is centered on, of all things, a statewide chain of grocery stores. The H-E-B Grocery Company, with headquarters in Kerrville, began more than 100 years ago with one tiny family store. It now boasts over 300 stores across the Lone Star State and in northern Mexico and more than 56,000 employees. It also boasts of giving millions of dollars annually to charitable organizations, educational initiatives, and...

Residents of Gaza vicinity communities are not the only ones suffering from anxiety; UN aid agencies fear shortage of food, medications and water pollution in PA territories Who is paying the price for the Gaza operation? While the residents of Sderot, Ashkelon and the Gaza vicinity communities and kibbutzim are suffering from ongoing rocket fire and unstoppable sounds of war around them, Gaza Strip children are also suffering. Workers of aid organizations in the Strip reported that food and fuel are being stocked. Damien Personnaz of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that fear among children and parents in...

I died because I'm poor. I'm floating in the water. My Mom is accross from me. Mosquitos swarm around us. They're our only friends. I'm in the United States. Of, America. Not Vietnam. I'm not on T.V. It's really me. I'm dying 'cause I'm poor. Mama's eyes are fluttering. Like a butterfly. This is real. Please, people. Not a photo op. I'm dying 'cause I'm poor. I spit on Mama's lips, to give her moisture. Her face turns cold. I'm crying 'cause I'm poor. Oh, Mama! Dear sweet Mama. I wail into the sky. Where's that promising Bush? Mama didn't...

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, Arab-Americans have a greater fear of racial profiling and immigration enforcement than of falling victim to hate crimes, according to a national study financed by the Justice Department. The study also concluded that local police officers and federal agents were straining under the pressure to fight terrorism, and that new federal policies in this effort were poorly defined and inconsistently applied. The two-year study, released today by the Vera Institute of Justice, explored the changed relationship between Arab-Americans and law enforcement in the years since the 2001 terrorist attacks. The Vera Institute is a...

An Encino man pleaded guilty to running a recycling scheme straight out of a "Seinfeld" episode - one that bilked California out of $2.5 million, authorities said Wednesday. Errol Segal, 61, president of Active Recycling, trucked more than 50 million cans and bottles into California from neighboring states and Mexico, then falsified records to bill the state for the California Redemption Value. The company also billed the state for more than 10 million bogus bottles. "This is the largest (recycling scheme) my office has done in a long, long time, if ever," Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Garringer said. "We're talking...

Bush’s giant Right Wing Noise Machine (RWNM) loves to preach about the Bush economic miracle. In fact, the RWNM’s current thinking is Bush doesn’t spend enough time talking about his economic triumphs. If only he did, then everyone would fall in line and believe in the great Bush economic miracle. There is one problem with this argument: it’s a lie. Any way you look at the Bush economy, it comes up short. Today, I want to compare Bush’s job creation record with other economic recoveries. As usual, Bush comes up way short. The national Bureau of Economic Research has identified...

Why does anybody support George w Bush as President? He is clearly the worst President I have ever seen -- a complete disaster. And before you say anything, I have been a registered Republican for 25 years.

In search of a terrorist nuclear bomb, the federal government since 9/11 has run a far-reaching, top secret program to monitor radiation levels at over a hundred Muslim sites in the Washington, D.C., area, including mosques, homes, businesses, and warehouses, plus similar sites in at least five other cities, U.S. News has learned. In numerous cases, the monitoring required investigators to go on to the property under surveillance, although no search warrants or court orders were ever obtained, according to those with knowledge of the program. Some participants were threatened with loss of their jobs when they questioned the legality...

BREAK TRANSCRIPT http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/today.guest.html chloride you could eliminate one or more. Having felt physically fine up to this point, I got on the subway afterward, and all of a sudden, I felt ill. I didn't want to eat anything. What I was going through seemed like a very unnatural experience. "On the subway, Peter asked, 'Shouldn't we consider having triplets?' And I had this adverse reaction: 'This is why they say it's the woman's choice, because you think I could just carry triplets. That's easy for you to say, but I'd have to give up my life.' ... When I found...

The three Dunkin' Brand chains -- Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin-Robbins and Togo’s -- will be acquired from French-owned Pernod Ricard by a U.S. investment consortium for $2.43 billion, according to the companies.