Free Republic

IS the gym passé? For all their ads promising to stir motivation, gyms have failed to do so. “Up until the last six years, it’s been relatively easy to sell memberships, and to replace people going out the back door with people coming through the front door,” said Michael Scott Scudder, a consultant who advises health clubs and conducts up to 15 industry surveys annually. “Not so anymore. We’ve come to a point that we can’t sell enough membership in the industry to cover the attrition rate.” Blame the gym’s now-ubiquitous flat-screen TVs and the fact that iPods are de...

Keith Olbermann broke his silence about his split from MSNBC on Monday night, taking to Twitter to thank his fans for their support. "Citizens Of The Free World: Greetings!" he wrote, three days after announcing he would no longer host "Countdown" for the network. "My humble thanks to all Friends of Keith for the many kind words. The reports of the death of my career are greatly exaggerated." While fans of Olbermann were shocked on Friday night when he announced his immediate departure from MSNBC, there was at least one person not surprised by the news: Glenn Beck. "You can...

During the reading of Article II, Section I of the Constitution -- the clause that requires the president of the United States to be a "natural born citizen," an unidentified woman in the gallery screamed "Except Obama! Except Obama!" Politico's Marin Cogan adds that the woman yelled, "Help us, Jesus!" She was removed immediately. UPDATE: I'm told that the woman who made the disruption was Theresa Cao, a birther activist and supporter of court-martialed birther Lt. Col. Terry Lakin. On December 16, she told WorldNetDaily that she was "taking his message to the White House and Congress."

Chicago (AP) - U.S. Rep. Danny Davis has a message for former President Bill Clinton: Don't take sides in the Chicago mayor's race -- or else. Davis, a longtime friend of Clinton, warned the ex-president on Tuesday that he could jeopardize his "long and fruitful relationship" with the black community if he campaigns for former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel instead of one of the two leading black candidates running -- Davis or former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.

It’s looking increasingly likely that California will get bailed out by the federal government. The Golden State is $70 billion in the hole. Analysts expect that figure to reach $150 billion within four years — and that’s not including the state’s $500 billion unfunded pension liability. Spending needs to be cut dramatically, but it won’t be; the state is too politically dysfunctional to do that. And the election of big-spender Jerry Brown will only make things worse. (Incidentally, Governor-elect Brown recently described his state’s budget problems this way: “It is much worse than I thought. I am shocked.”) Most conservatives...

Say goodbye to your 100-watt incandescent light bulbs. On Jan. 1, it’ll become increasingly challenging to find one on a store shelf in California. That’s because the state has ordered a phaseout of the high energy-consuming light bulb. The state is pressing to have the old incandescents replaced with newer, more efficient bulbs, such as compact fluorescents, halogens and light-emitting diode light bulbs, or LEDs. And beginning in 2012, 100-watt incandescents will be off the shelves completely. As is typical, California is getting a jump-start on a trend that will begin nationwide in a few years. Three years ago, the...

Today is the Environmental Protection Agency’s 40th birthday. Thank you Richard Nixon: you left us a heck of a legacy on this one. The media is sure to tout the remarkable environmental progress in the United States over the past 40 years, and indeed we have never had cleaner air, cleaner water, or more plentiful wildlife. By any objective measure, environmental progress has been remarkable over the past 40 years, but it was also remarkable for decades before the creation of the EPA, and indeed every advanced economy has seen dramatic environmental improvement, regardless of its regulatory model.

Last night in front of an audience of hundreds at a presentation at the University of Southern California, TV personality Bill Nye — popularly known as the "Science Guy" — collapsed midsentence as he walked toward a podium. Early indications are that Nye is OK, but what's odd about the incident isn't so much Nye's slight health setback as the crowd's reaction. Or, more precisely, its nonreaction, according to several accounts. It appears that the students in attendance, rather than getting up from their seats to rush to Nye's aid, instead pulled out their mobile devices to post information about...

Ray Stevens - Throw the Bums Out

The tick-tocking sound in Afghanistan is time running out for Team America - and the enemy knows it. It's not only Beltway pundits who have picked over the fine points of President Obama's fuzzy July 2011 Afghan troop withdrawal target date, it's the Taliban, too, from Kabul to Kandahar and Khyber to Karachi. Never mind that Obama and Army Gen. David Petraeus have hedged on that date, promising any pullouts will be "conditions based."

U.S. taxpayers gave $300 billion to bail out U.S. banks, which ultimately helped rescue foreign banks in a globalized system.

PATERSON, N.J. (AP) -- Police say a man attending a block party as part of the National Night Out anti-crime initiative was shot and killed in New Jersey's third-largest city. Paterson police say 39-year-old Robert Godfrey was shot in the head while arguing with another man on a crowded street Tuesday.

Pete FerronThe Shrugging Out Podcast Pete Ferron conducts an excellent, extended, three-part interview with the founder of Generational Dynamics, John Xenakis, and makes it available to you for free direct listening or download.Interview with Generational Dynamics’ John Xenakis: Part 1Part 2Part 3 After you’ve enjoyed Pete’s interview with John Xenakis, catch Pete’s insightful commentary about the interview:Commentary

Gawker may be the last place you'd expect to see writers expressing righteous indignation over ethical breaches, particularly journalistic ones. But on Wednesday, the site's Hamilton Nolan slammed Lavender Magazinefor outing anti-gay Minneapolis pastor Tom Brock as a gay man. Lavender's sin, according to Nolan, was not about pulling back the curtain on hypocrisy, which has come to be considered justified over the years, but that the reporter went undercover to a 12-step meeting of gay men to get the story.

He has already missed his own self-imposed deadline, and President Obama's plans to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, suffered more setbacks last week when lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol took steps to block him. On Friday the full House voted 282-131 to prevent Mr. Obama from transferring any of the detainees being held at Guantanamo to the United States, while the Senate Armed Services Committee passed a bill Thursday stopping Mr. Obama from buying a new prison to house the detainees.

The Shrugging Out Podcast - Wednesday, April 21, 2010 - Episode 11: Is it seditious to shrug out?Podcaster and host Pete Ferron starts out by blasting Time columnist Joe Klein's charge that Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin's recent statements are seditious, or as the elitist Klein puts it, "rubbing up against it [sedition]". This makes Pete sing--literally--Sedition...Sedition! Shrugging Out is all over the news!!! Reality-based New Jersey Governor Chris Christie provides mega-doses of reality to the temporarily-chastened boobs responsible for putting New Jersey into the deep hole it's in today. Thomas Sowell channels the "Shrugging Out Philosophy" by exploring the...

If pro is opposite of con, then what is the opposite of progress? Congress!

A few months ago I decided to write my memoirs, a project I knew was going to bring me closer to an amazing turning point in my life. From the moment I wrote the first phrase I was sure the book was the tool that was going to help me free myself from things I was carrying within me for a long time. Things that were too heavy for me to keep inside. Writing this account of my life, I got very close to my truth. And thisis something worth celebrating. For many years, there has been only one place...

As a gesture to all of the traitors that screwed over the United States of America last night, I propose the following: Place a piece of bread in your toaster. "Cook" it until it is charred black. Place charred toast in a suitable envelope. Mail said envelope to your representative in DC. They'll get the message.....

Christian teacher told today how he lost his job after complaining that Muslim pupils as young as eight hailed the September 11 hijackers as 'heroes'. Nicholas Kafouris said he was forced from his £30,000-a-year post because he would not tolerate the 'racist' and 'anti-Semitic' behaviour of children. He said the predominantly Muslim youngsters openly praised Islamic extremists in class, and hailed the terrorists of the 2001 atrocities as 'martyrs'. Mr Kafouris, 40, told how one pupil said to him, ‘Don’t touch me, you’re a Christian’, when the teacher accidentally brushed against him with his arm. Others said, ‘We want to...