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The Russian invasion of Georgia has not changed the balance of power in Eurasia. It simply announced that the balance of power had already shifted. The United States has been absorbed in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as potential conflict with Iran and a destabilizing situation in Pakistan. It has no strategic ground forces in reserve and is in no position to intervene on the Russian periphery.

Bill Kristol telling Neil Cavuto exclusively that Colin Powell will endorse Obama and speak at the convention.

There’s a huge concern among conservative talk radio hosts that reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine would all-but destroy the industry due to equal time constraints. But speech limits might not stop at radio. They could even be extended to include the Internet and “government dictating content policy.” FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell raised that as a possibility after talking with bloggers at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. McDowell spoke about a recent FCC vote to bar Comcast from engaging in certain Internet practices – expanding the federal agency’s oversight of Internet networks. The commissioner, a 2006 President Bush appointee, told...

The Russian invasion of Georgia has not changed the balance of power in Eurasia. It simply announced that the balance of power had already shifted. The United States has been absorbed in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as potential conflict with Iran and a destabilizing situation in Pakistan. It has no strategic ground forces in reserve and is in no position to intervene on the Russian periphery. This, as we have argued, has opened a window of opportunity for the Russians to reassert their influence in the former Soviet sphere. Moscow did not have to concern itself...

what is the deal with all the duplicate threads lately? it seems like there are several of the same threads posted over and over sometimes there are threads that were posted from the day or days before often there are muliptle threads of the same topic on the first page. I have been guilty of this as well even though I have searched for the keyword

September's national convention for Republicans won't be a bed of roses for Sen. John McCain. There's at least one impediment to keep him from his party's nomination — a probable fight over the platform. At issue are his stances on such explosive issues as global warming, immigration, stem-cell research and campaign finance. The Washington Post reports that, "Virtually the entire platform will have to be rewritten to lessen the imprint" of President Bush, whose name appears on nearly every page." Although McCain has yet to reveal how he plans to alter the strongly conservative platform, the Post reports that many...

If this is a repeat post, my apologies but I did an extensive search and did not find that it had appeared on FR before. And if anyone can find the sources of this -- an email to me from a trusted friend -- please add that info. Thanks ******** SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW OIL: MAYBE NOT By: John David Powell I hang around educated and talented people. Each individual has at least one university degree. Most read, watch, or listen to more than one news source every day. They span generations with ages ranging from the 20s to...

Emily Nordling has never met a Muslim, at least not to her knowledge. But this spring, Ms. Nordling, a 19-year-old student from Fort Thomas, Ky., gave herself a new middle name on Facebook.com, mimicking her boyfriend and shocking her father. “Emily Hussein Nordling,” her entry now reads. With her decision, she joined a growing band of supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who are expressing solidarity with him.....

Emily Nordling has never met a Muslim, at least not to her knowledge. But this spring, Ms. Nordling, a 19-year-old student from Fort Thomas, Ky., gave herself a new middle name on Facebook.com, mimicking her boyfriend and shocking her father. “Emily Hussein Nordling,” her entry now reads. With her decision, she joined a growing band of supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who are expressing solidarity with him by informally adopting his middle name. The result is a group of unlikely-sounding Husseins: Jewish and Catholic, Hispanic and Asian and Italian-American, from Jaime Hussein Alvarez of Washington,...

Environmental Foolishness Has Made Nuclear Energy Radioactive   By Jack Spencer and Nick LorisFrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, June 23, 2008 Carbon-capping legislation and recent studies[1] that conclude that a massive build-up of nuclear power is needed to minimize the negative economic impact of CO2 caps have spurred several high-profile articles on the costs of nuclear energy.[2] One such article notes that estimated construction costs for nuclear power plants and the overall costs of nuclear power have increased significantly since 2000 and espouses wind power, solar power, and energy efficiency as alternatives to new nuclear plants.What these articles do not recognize...

Every presidential candidate can use a sexy blonde movie star to liven up his or her campaign, appear at big money events and rally the entertainment community. Sen. Barack Obama’s go-to Hollywood hottie is Scarlett Johansson, a starlet who trades frequent e-mails with the presumptive Democratic nominee, campaigns tirelessly on his behalf, hosts lucrative fundraisers and even appeared in that “Yes We Can” viral video that got 10 million views in its first week online. Of course, there’s always the possibility of a backlash. “Even I’m wary of celebrity endorsements,” Johansson told Politico on Friday. “I don’t want to seem...

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay Packers running back Noah Herron thwarted a would-be burglar by hitting him with a bed post during a break-in at his home. Brown County Sheriff Dennis Kocken said Tuesday that the break-in happened late last Friday and the injured the intruder remained hospitalized but is expected to recover. "Noah Herron used necessary, reasonable and justifiable force in protecting his life and property," Kocken said in a statement. "Herron, the victim in this random home invasion, is cooperating with law enforcement." Herron, 26, missed all of last season with a knee injury. Chief Deputy John...

After recently losing three Republican-held seats, and the potential disaster of losing more this fall, Congressional Republicans just don't get it. Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) was interviewed by Sean Hannity who almost begged Congressional Republicans to publicly sign a "Contract With America" type document in unison on the U. S. Capitol steps. Boehner wasn't excited about that - noting that Republicans aren't willing to sign off on halting earmarks and other wasteful spending. A great example of their wastefulness is the pork-laden farm bill that was recently passed with Republican help, and now veto-proof thanks to Republican RINOs. Looks like...

Fox says Texas appeals court wants children returned to their homes!

Economy limps ahead at a 0.6 percent pace in first quarter, better pace than expected WASHINGTON (AP) -- The bruised economy limped through the first quarter of this year at only 0.6 percent as housing and credit problems forced people and businesses alike to hunker down. The country's economic growth during January through March was the same as in the final three months of last year, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The statistic did not meet what economists consider the classic definition of a recession, which is a retraction of the economy. This means that although economy is stuck in...

TEACHERS are being urged to stop using terms such as husband and wife when addressing students or families under a major anti-homophobia push in schools. The terms boyfriend, girlfriend and spouse are also on the banned list - to be replaced by the generic "partner" - in changes sought by the gay lobby aimed at reducing discrimination in classrooms...

New Bill in Maine Makes “Visual Sexual Aggression” a Crime It might be 2008 in the rest of the USA, but in Maine, it’s 1984. A new bill in the Pine Tree State would make it a crime to peer at children in public. It’s been asserted that some legislators can justify making any action a crime–as long as they add the magic words “for the children” to the mix. This Maine bill adds proof to that assertion. State Rep. Dawn Hill, D-York, is the head cheerleader for a bill only a fan of police state actions could love.

Two hoax ads on Craigslist cost a Jacksonville man thousands of dollars in property Saturday and could land the pranksters in jail on theft and burglary charges. The classified ads popped up Saturday afternoon on the Web site saying the owner of a home in the 7900 block of Sterling Creek Road was forced to leave the area suddenly and that his belongings, including a horse, were free for the taking, said Jackson County sheriff's Detective Sgt. Colin Fagan. The only problem is that Robert Salisbury has no plans of leaving his home any time soon. Salisbury, who works as...

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The South Carolina primary turned out to be a clarifying event after all. Instead of the potential for five front-runners in the Super Tuesday contest in two weeks, it appears we will have at best three viable candidates for the nomination, and only if Rudy Giuliani proves his strategy correct by winning Florida. What will be left will be the three candidates that the conservative blogosphere has relentlessly criticized for their lack of lifelong fealty to the Ronald Reagan legacy, but whom voters have nevertheless trusted enough to support in the primaries. First, the failure of Mike Huckabee and Fred...

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Mitt Romney was in Michigan, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada and then went back to Michigan. Rudy Giuliani visited Florida, Michigan, South Carolina, Alabama, Washington and New Hampshire. John McCain went from Michigan to Iowa to New Hampshire. But where was Fred, as in Fred Thompson? --snip-- New Hampshire voters on Sunday expressed a range of opinions about Thompson. "I like him, but he won't make it," said Claire Roy, a Manchester Republican who, like most voters, remains undecided. "He started too late to begin with. I don't think he's presidential material. That's the way I look...

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Global Warming, as we think we know it, doesn't exist. And I am not the only one trying to make people open up their eyes and see the truth. But few listen, despite the fact that I was the first Canadian Ph.D. in Climatology and I have an extensive background in climatology, especially the reconstruction of past climates and the impact of climate change on human history and the human condition. Few listen, even though I have a Ph.D, (Doctor of Science) from the University of London, England and that for 32 years I was a Professor of Climatology at...

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Former US presidential nominee John Kerry voiced full support for the Islamic Republic's right to use civilian nuclear technology on the basis of the rules and regulations of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NTP). Addressing a world Economic Forum meeting in Davos Switzerland on Saturday, Kerry also strongly rejected West's demanded prerequisites for the resumption of nuclear talks with Iran. Kerry, whose remarks followed a speech by Iran's former President Seyed Mohammad Khatami, stated his support for Khatami's views, and said Americans find out - only when they are outside their country - that the world is different...

While Drudge and everyone else is caught up in Obamamania, Tancredo throws his hat in the race as well.

Sunday, December 10, 2006 Did A Lone Rabbi Mean to Ban Christmas Trees? Posted by: Michael Medved at 11:56 PM There’s an outrageous story out of Seattle (my home base) that shows the way that good intentions can occasionally produce disgusting results. Because of the prevailing climate of political correctness, a decent guy and honorable clergyman looks like a horse’s rear end and has provoked appropriate indignation from millions of people. According to misleading news stories featured prominently in newspapers and on TV (including KING 5 TV News): “All 15 Christmas trees inside the main terminal at Sea Tac Airport (Seattle-Tacoma...

Iran calls for new cut in OPEC oil output Dec 3, 2006 Iran's OPEC envoy Hossein Kazempour Ardebili called on the oil cartel to agree a new oil output cut at its next meeting to counter an oversupply of crude, the official news agency IRNA reported. "Some factors like the decrease of world economic growth and accumulation of oil and stockpiles of its by-products indicate that the market needs a cut in OPEC oil output again," Kazempour Ardebili said. "There is still oversupply in the market beyond the oil demand and with OPEC's output cut (agreed in October) all the...

A previously unheard of Palestinian group, the Holy Jihad Brigades, claimed responsibility on Wednesday for kidnapping a Fox News cameraman and correspondent, Al-Jazeera satellite TV reported. American correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand were kidnapped Aug. 14 from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters in Gaza City. Although Palestinian militant groups have often seized foreigners, including members of the media, this is the longest any have been held.

SAN DIEGO -- Future costs for illegal immigrants in the United States will reach a half a trillion dollars, a Heritage Foundation researcher said Wednesday at congressional hearing in San Diego. The influx of illegal immigrants has effectively "imported about 10 million high school dropouts into the United States," said Robert Rector, a senior research fellow in welfare and family issues for the Washington, D.C.-based think tank. Rector testified before the House Judiciary Committee, which convened at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot for one in a series of hearings on illegal immigration this month. The hearings are a rebuttal to...

Iran awarded Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez its highest state medal on Sunday for supporting Tehran in its nuclear standoff with the international community, while Chavez urged the world to rise up and defeat the U.S., state-run media in both countries reported. The leftist Venezuelan leader also condemned Israel for what he called the "terrorism" and "madness" of its attacks in Lebanon, Venezuelan state television reported. "Let's save the human race, let's finish off the U.S. empire," Chavez said. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented Chavez with the Islamic Republic Medal in a ceremony at Tehran University. The award was to show...

July 29, 2006 -- KATIE Couric had fellow passengers aboard a New York-bound jet on the warpath this week when, as their plane was about to taxi to the runway, she got out of her seat and begged the pilot to allow one of her late-arriving producers to board. "It was like, 'Who the hell does she think she is?' " fumed one passenger who observed Couric's diva-like antics. "If you or I attempted something like this, we'd be cooling our heels at Guantanamo." The witness told Page Six that attendants on Wednesday's 6:30 p.m. Delta Shuttle flight out of...

Messages sent by the Canadian UNIFIL officer killed in the Israel Air Force attack on a UN post in Lebanon last week indicate that Hezbollah had been firing rockets at Israel from a location near the post "on a daily basis" prior to the IAF attack. Several days before his death, Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener sent an email in which he wrote: "We have on a daily basis had numerous occasions where our position has come under direct or indirect fire from both artillery and aerial bombing. The closest artillery has landed within 2 meters of our position and the...

Elginite and former U46 school board member Douglas Heaton asked for a simple explanation of what Elgin police are doing locally to enforce immigration laws. He was met with silence, at least until newspaper articles about his frustration at the lack of response were published. One would think that a city council that hurried along a proposed ordinance seeking acceptance of a Matricula card as a valid form of identification locally would at least treat a request from one of its citizens with the same dispatch. Heaton got his response, and although it was not what he had hoped for,...

President Bush was in no mood for diplomatic niceties at the G8 summit, judging by remarks made to Tony Blair as the leaders of the world's most powerful industrial democracies sat down to lunch today. Unaware that a microphone at the summit was switched on, Mr Bush, chomping a piece of bread, used the opportunity to suggest a way out of the latest criss in the Middle East. "See, the irony is what they really need to do is to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s***," he said. Mr Bush also hinted that Condoleezza Rice, the...

Saying he was fine, former Secretary of State Colin Powell returned to a seminar Friday after being briefly hospitalized following a dinner with former President Clinton and others. Powell, 69, arrived on time for a panel discussion at the Aspen Ideas Festival and showed no signs that he had been sick the night before. "I'm fine. I look healthy, don't I?" he told the Aspen Daily News after the hour-long session. "I started hyperventilating a little and was feeling a little altitude sickness, I think. "I probably would have been OK but they said, 'Oh god, let's take a look...

By Toby Harnden in Washington (Filed: 18/06/2006) The American spy who persuaded Libya to renounce its weapons of mass destruction is to return to the Central Intelligence Agency, where he will direct an aggressive drive to recruit informants inside Iran to aid possible negotiations over Teheran's nuclear capability. Stephen Kappes, a former United States Marines officer who resigned from the CIA after a clash with its then director, Porter Goss, has been brought back from self-imposed exile in London by George W Bush. Iran will be top of his agenda. "He's a remarkable guy, a talented leader and among the...

A man is suing an auto-parts store for assault and battery after he attempted to hold up the business and employees responded by beating him with a metal pipe. Dana Buckman, 46, walked into an auto shop brandishing a semiautomatic pistol July 5, 2005, only to have it turned on him by employees Eli Crespo and Jerry Vega, police said. The men beat Buckman with a metal pipe and held him with his own gun. Buckman escaped, only to be arrested a week later. He pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and was sentenced to 18 years in prison as a...

Is it Rush or Best of? His Website does not say

Did you know that Pat Robertson, through rigorous training, leg pressed 2,000 pounds? How did he do it? ...Where does Pat find the time and energy to host a daily national TV show, head a worldwide ministry, develop visionary scholars, while traveling the globe as a statesman? One of Pat's secrets to keeping his energy high and his vitality soaring is his age-defying protein shake...

While promoters of "The Da Vinci Code" have tried to downplay the film's challenge to Christianity, actor Ian McKellen took a shot at the Bible in an interview with the "Today" show, saying Scripture should carry a disclaimer that it is "fiction." McKellen, who played Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings" triology, was responding to a question from host Matt Lauer about the requests by some Christian groups to insert a "fiction" disclaimer at the beginning of the controversial film, which suggests Jesus and Mary Magdalene were man and wife and that the divinity of Jesus was an invention...

Steelers fan-instructor makes teenager sit on floor, tells classmates to pelt him An ethnic studies high-school teacher and die-hard Steelers fan in Pittsburgh has "humiliated" one of his students who wore a Denver Broncos jersey to class, making the boy sit on the floor and having his classmates pelt him with paper. According to a report in the Denver Post, Joshua Vannoy, 17, showed up for his midterm test sporting a John Elway No. 7 Broncos jersey. Not only did his teacher at Beaver Falls High School, John Kelly, make him take the test while sitting on the floor, he...

Ky. Gov. Refuses Pamela Anderson's RequestBy ROGER ALFORD, Associated Press WriterFRANKFORT, Ky. - With a bust in the balance, Kentucky's governor is siding with Colonel Sanders over Pamela Anderson. Gov. Ernie Fletcher wrote the "Stacked" actress to say a bust of the KFC founder will stay in the Kentucky Capitol, despite Anderson's claim that Sanders is a symbol of cruelty to chickens. "Colonel Sanders remains a Kentucky icon," Fletcher wrote last week. "His success story has been an inspiration to many. The industry he began has employed hundreds of thousands of workers over the years. His business and his legacy...

LOS ANGELES - Former teen idol Leif Garrett is hooked on heroin, his mom says - and she blames hard-partying rock 'n' roll legends like the Rolling Stones for steering her son toward drugs. "Leif idolized rock stars ... that whole life of rock 'n' roll and drugs ... the Rolling Stones. He figured if they could do it, so could he," Garrett's distraught mother, Carolyn Stellar, told the Daily News yesterday.

PLANS to erect the Australian flag over the Bondi Beach pavilion were vetoed because of fears the symbols could incite further racial violence on Sydney's beaches. In a decision met with outrage from residents, returned servicemen and ethnic groups, Waverley Council voted six to four against the proposal, declaring Australia's most famous beach should remain clear of flags to "remove provocation". Mayor Mora Main and fellow Green George Copeland led a block of Labor councillors, including deputy mayor George Newhouse, Peter Moscatt and Ingrid Strewe, vetoing the plan by Liberal councillor Joy Clayton on December 13. The Australian flag and...

Tehran, 22 Nov. (AKI) - Iran's religious authorities in the holy Shiite city of Qom have officially invited Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, to convert to Islam, according to Hojatolislam Mohammad Reza Hakimi, quoted by Iran's Farda news agency. "I met Castro together with the Iranian foreign minister, Saiid Salili, and gave him some sacred Islamic texts translated into Spanish," said Hakimi, who recently returned from a government visit to Cuba. "We spoke with Castro for several hours, and I think I almost managed to convince him to become a Muslim," Hakimi added. "Castro certain that Cuba is suffering from...

Using a digital camera dangling from a line nearly 3,300 feet long, scientists for the first time have photographed a live giant squid, the tentacled deep-sea monster that is the largest invertebrate on Earth. *SNIP* "the recovered section of tentacle was still functioning," they continued, "with the large suckers of the tentacle club repeatedly gripping the boat deck and any offered fingers."

Murder and rape - fact or fiction? Gary Younge in Baton Rouge Tuesday September 6, 2005 Guardian There were two babies who had their throats slit. The seven-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in the Superdome. And the corpses laid out amid the excrement in the convention centre. In a week filled with dreadful scenes of desperation and anger from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina some stories stood out. But as time goes on many remain unsubstantiated and may yet prove to be apocryphal. New Orleans police have been unable to confirm the tale of the raped child, or...

Russian Sub Surfaces; All Seven Crew Alive By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer Seven submarine crew members trapped for nearly three days under the Pacific Ocean were rescued Sunday after a British remote-controlled vehicle cut away the undersea cables that had snarled the vessel. The seven crew members, whose oxygen supplies had been dwindling amid underwater temperatures in the mid-40s, appeared to be in satisfactory condition, naval spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said. The seven were being examined by ship medics, he said. The sub surfaced late Sunday afternoon, some three days after becoming stranded in 600 feet of water off...

Giant 'Bra Fence' Sparks Controversy Official Says Fence Offends Asian Cultures, South Africans POSTED: 1:15 pm EDT July 29, 2005 UPDATED: 1:24 pm EDT July 29, 2005 A New Zealand man is resisting demands to take down hundreds of women's bras strung on his farm's fence after their night of drinking, according to a Local 6 News report. "It was probably a novelty for the first six months but I think it's passed and we need to move on," said chairman Bill Gordon. "This town has got lot of Japanese students who get educated here. They are very offended by...

BOSTON - On April 25, Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres. Then they let him into the United States. The following day, a gruesome scene was discovered in Despres' hometown of Minto, New Brunswick: The decapitated body of a 74-year-old country musician named Frederick Fulton was found on Fulton's kitchen floor. His head was in a pillowcase under a kitchen table. His common-law wife was...