Free Republic

Commerce: The U.S. has slipped again in world rankings that assess the ease of starting a new business. If we're to bring down our stubbornly high unemployment rate, this trend has to be reversed. According to the World Bank's "Doing Business 2012" report, America is 13th among 183 countries ranked in the "Starting a Business" category. In the 2011 report, the U.S. ranked 11th. The year before, it was No. 8. In 2009, the U.S. was ranked No. 6. It was fourth in 2008 and third in 2007. In the 2012 ranking, the U.S trailed such job creators as Macedonia,...

YOUR dad just lost one of his jokes. Powdered water – a favourite among many bad dad jokes involving improbable concepts such as flameproof matches, inflatable dartboards and glow-in-the-dark sunglasses – is now a reality. And not only is it not funny anymore, it may also save the planet from global warming. In science circles, it's known as "dry water" and it seems those circles have kept it to themselves for quite a while, because it was actually discovered back in 1968, then forgotten about. It was even "rediscovered" in 2006, purely for study purpose, but it's taken a group...

I once worked for an editor who banned the word "oxymoron." I don't know why. It's a good word, meaning a contradiction in terms. The dictionary offers some examples: "wise fool" and "legal murder." I would like to cite another: Barack Obama. He sends contradictory messages.This aspect of Obama's is beginning to play a crucial role in his management of the economy. The fact remains, no matter what Obama says -- and almost no matter what he does -- the business community deeply feels that he is unsympathetic to them and their goals. They say all they want to do...

Wisconsin's labor vote effort may have failed to displace Prosser, but that's only one plank of the Democratic program to mobilize their base. So far the theme is labor, women and blacks. Wisconsin kicked the labor unions into high gear, which is important as it locks down part of a potential swing vote. Now comes rhetoric about Republicans waging a war on women. There is “a war on women,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says. No there isn't, but there is a war for the female vote. Hitting Republicans on social services cuts. Putting abortion front and center. New DNC...

A document from the House ethics committee lists an examination into whether the chamber's rules were violated when Rep. Linda T. Sanchez put three legislative aides to her fellow-congresswoman sister on her payroll after an embezzlement scheme had left Rep. Loretta Sanchez's office short of funds. The document, a July tracking report obtained by The Washington Post, says that the sisters, both California Democrats, "shared transferred staff from one office to another after embezzlement," and that a meeting between lawyers for the ethics committee and the congresswomen had taken place June 1. The document also says that lawyers for the...

The Abkhazian wing of the Georgian Orthodox Church is seeking full independence from its neighbor. After the conflict between the two in the ‘90s, it’s been hoping for church freedom and counts on Russia’s support. Nothing seems to have changed in a small church in the town of Novy Afon since the Abkhazian wing split from the Georgian Orthodox church. Father Vissarion Allia is an active supporter of the Church’s self-rule. Together with local worshippers he would like to see the parishes under the temporary control of Moscow since the republic has been recognised by Russia, eventually leading to a...

What follows is a letter written by a retired military Officer to Barbara Boxer. Please give it your widest dissemination. (I searched key word and title BEFORE posting and came up empty,) Babs: You were so right on when you scolded the general on TV for using the term, “ma’am,” instead of “Senator.” After all, in the military, “ma’am” is a term of respect when addressing a female of superior rank or position. The general was totally wrong. You are not a person of superior rank or position. You are a member of one of the world’s most corrupt organizations,...

The first time I learned about the practice I was horrified. It was the mid-1990s. The source was Sharon Dunsmore, a nurse in a hospital NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) who wrote a small booklet about the experience. One day on the job she had been summoned “stat” to the delivery room to deal with an “oops abortion”—a failed abortion in which the baby unexpectedly survived, or, as Dunsmore quoted the pediatrician on the scene, “had the audacity to survive.” The team struggled as to whether to continue intubating the child—now a little boy, not a “fetus”—who clearly was not...

You are the Democratic candidate for president. You want to reach out to Catholics. So what do you do when the majority of the elected officials on your National Catholic Advisory Council have the seal of approval from NARAL Pro-Choice America? That's the position Barack Obama now finds himself in. A few months ago, his Catholic advisory council was announced with great enthusiasm, and Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) was listed as a national co-chair. His appearance at the top of the council sent a clear message: This campaign is determined to recover some of the lost Democratic sheep who...

WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Most Pakistanis want their country to be a democratic Islamic state but are deeply distrustful of the United States and its war on terrorism, according to a poll released on Sunday. Funded by the U.S. Institute of Peace, or USIP, the poll was taken in the nuclear-armed nation before President Pervez Musharraf's six-week state of emergency and the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto last month. The results, released about six weeks before elections scheduled for Feb. 18, show that a large majority of Pakistanis see democracy as fully compatible with Islam, the pollsters...

Young Pastor's Powerful Sermon Encourages Parishioners to Take Part in Life Chain By Steve Jalsevac MANOTICK, Ontario, October 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Sunday, Sept. 23, a week before Canada's Life Chain Sunday, Fr. Geoff Kerslake gave what was seen as a powerful sermon encouraging his parishioners to take part in the local Life Chain the following Sunday. Fr. Geoff is the young pastor of St. Leonard's parish in Manotick, Ontario, located on the fringe of Canada's capital city of Ottawa. Fr. Geoff's sermon so encouraged one couple who heard it that they had the text re-printed in the bulletin...

Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she will create a new congressional panel to examine the administration's intelligence budget and to make sure the money is being spent properly. Creating the panel, Pelosi said at a news conference, "makes oversight stronger and makes the American people safer." Democrats have been highly critical of the conduct of intelligence agencies in the days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the lead- up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Pelosi, D-Calif., also said that one of the first tasks of the Democratic-controlled House she will lead beginning in January will be...

Some highlights from the Nonaligned Movement summit's final declaration. TERRORISM: Denounces the brutalization of peoples under foreign occupation as the gravest form of terrorism. Asks that terrorism not be associated with any religion, nationality or ethnic group and that it be recognized that the struggle of peoples under colonial or alien domination does not constitute terrorism. MIDEAST CONFLICTS: Strongly condemns "the relentless Israeli aggression launched against Lebanon." Promotes a revival of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Supports the Palestinian people's "inalienable right to self-determination in their independent and sovereign State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital." NUCLEAR IRAN: Defends...

After looking at some of the pictures of some hezbollah rallys I noticed someone holding a sign with the name Islamic Thinkers Society so I decided to investigate on what this organization was and what it was about. This is what I have found: First off looking at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Thinkers_Society "The Islamic Thinkers Society is an American extremist Islamic group that seeks the goal of restoring the Islamic Caliphate to create what they call "an ideal Islamic society." Located mainly in Jackson Heights, Queens, they have gained controversy for their close ties to terrorist incidents in the United States after...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- The Hamas-led Palestinian government called for a cease-fire in its violent two-week standoff with Israel but stopped short Saturday of offering to release an Israeli soldier held by Hamas militants. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected the proposal by Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Olmert will not agree to a truce until Hamas releases the soldier, officials in Olmert's office said. Earlier, an Israeli Cabinet minister said Israel hopes the fighting, which has killed more than 40 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier, eventually will lead to a broader cease-fire deal. In fighting Saturday, Israeli troops...

Religious Liberals Gain New Visibility A Different List Of Moral Issues By Caryle Murphy and Alan Cooperman Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, May 20, 2006; A01 The religious left is back. Long overshadowed by the Christian right, religious liberals across a wide swath of denominations are engaged today in their most intensive bout of political organizing and alliance-building since the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements of the 1960s, according to scholars, politicians and clergy members. In large part, the revival of the religious left is a reaction against conservatives' success in the 2004 elections in equating moral values with...

If it hasn’t occurred to most Americans by now, Arabs don’t think like us. They see the world in very different terms. Rationality, logic, and common sense do not rate high among their priorities.

Comments in Middle East border on bizarre... Bill Clinton (in Qatar) called the cartoon depictions of Muhammad published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last fall "totally outrageous cartoons against Islam," ... In fact, the cartoons are pretty tame stuff -- the Islamic prophet is not shown as dirty, drooling, shaped like an animal or engaged in any unsavory acts, all standard for cartoon depictions of Jews in the modern Arab press. Mr. Clinton is entitled to his opinion, of course, though one wonders why he would want to gin up more hostility toward the West with an inflammatory characterization of...

Muslims who want to live under the Islamic Sharia law were told Wednesday to get out of Australia as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks. A day after a group of mainstream Muslim leaders pledged loyalty to Australia at a special meeting with Prime Minister John Howard, he and his ministers made it clear that extremists would face a crackdown. Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to Howard, hinted that some radical clerics could be asked to leave the country if they did not accept that Australia was a secular state and...

This is the third of four debates, This is in English, and tomorrow's will be in French. Join me in wishing Stephen Harper GOOD LUCK!