Free Republic

All over America, restlessness and frustration are growing. It has now been almost three years since the great financial crash of 2008, and yet the U.S. economy is still a complete and total mess. Click here to see the facts > In fact, there are all sorts of signs that things are about to get even worse, and the American people are just about fed up. Virtually every major poll, survey and measure of consumer confidence shows that the American people are becoming more pessimistic about the economy. Millions of hard working Americans that worked their fingers to the bone...

No smoking signs may be driving more people to light up, a psychological study suggests. Scientists say the messages have an 'ironic effect' on smokers that increases their craving for tobacco. Without being aware of it, they react to the signs by thinking of and wanting cigarettes. 'You get ironic effects when you couple information that people perceive with negation,' said researcher Brian Earp, from Oxford University. 'When I say "don't think of a pink elephant", I've just put the thought of a pink elephant in your head. 'A lot of public health messages are framed in a negative way...

A federal lawsuit claims a Branch County tea party group was denied the right to display banners and signs at a tea party rally at a public park in Coldwater because it was “too political” and “too controversial.” The Coldwater City Council then passed a resolution banning all banners and signs in that park. The Thomas More Law Center law firm filed its lawsuit last week in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. Attorney Robert Muise of the Thomas More Law Center alleged that Coldwater City Manager Jeff Budd objected because the Common Sense Patriots of...

An 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan has hit with a ferocious tsunami. It’s the largest earthquake in the history of Japan. This on the heels of the quake that just rocked Christchurch, New Zealand. Friends, I believe that these are “signs of the times,” without question. There are many “signs of the times” Jesus told us to look for, which point to His return. Jesus told us one of those signs is that there would be an increase in earthquakes. “And there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great...

President Obama will host Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for a private meeting at the White House on Wednesday. It will be the first meeting between the president and his 2008 Republican adversary since Obama took office. The White House said Tuesday night the Oval Office meeting would take place Wednesday afternoon, though there was no indication as to the reason for the meeting, or scheduled topics for discussion. Obama and McCain sat down for talks at transition headquarters in Chicago after the Democrat's election.

While Paul Krugman and other liberal commentators continue to exploit this weekend's tragedy by making hay out of supposedly extreme rhetoric on the right, perhaps they would do well to examine some of the rhetoric that has come from the left. On October 23, The Scranton Times reported that Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., said this about Florida's new Republican Governor Rick Scott: "That Scott down there that's running for governor of Florida," Mr. Kanjorski said. "Instead of running for governor of Florida, they ought to have him and shoot him. Put him against the wall and shoot him. He stole...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Friday signed a bill effectively barring suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay prison from being brought to the United States for criminal trial, a move that will make it hard to quickly close the jail. "Despite my strong objection to these provisions, which my administration has consistently opposed, I have signed this act because of the importance of authorizing appropriations for, among other things, our military activities in 2011," Obama said in a statement.

God created the universe, which moves like a huge precise clock. The universe was above all created for the King of the Universe, Jesus Christ, and secondarily for human beings. THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM has fascinated many for centuries. For millennia, believers, scoffers and the curious have wondered at the Biblical account of the Star. The Bible recounts unusual, or even impossible astronomical events at Christ's birth. For many doubters, the account of the Star is easily dismissed as myth. For many believers, it is a mystery accepted on faith. But what happens if we combine current historical scholarship, astronomical...

You’re on a first date, and it’s going horribly. Or is it? It turns out that it’s all a matter of perspective. The elements that are making your date a disaster could actually signal something much sweeter. Read on for the six signs that your doomed date is anything but. 1. Your date is not your type Sure, you’ve seen your date’s photo on his or her profile — but when you meet face to face, you realize the person is so not your type. “Next!,” you say? Not so fast. “Remember that there are thousands of happy couples out...

ARLINGTON, Va. - A colorful mural at an Arlington dog park depicting cartoon puppies frolicking and chasing bones is the subject of a federal lawsuit................. "The problem with Arlington sign code (is) whether a sign can go up or not or whether artwork can go up or not depends on the identity of who is speaking and what it is they're saying," Frommer says.

Cash-strapped cities and towns across America are having to pay out millions of dollars on new signs under orders of the federal government - because they are the wrong letter size. Washington officials have demanded that every single street sign in the nation which is currently in capitals must be replaced because they are supposedly too hard to read. In their place will be new signs with the same green background and the same font, the only difference being that they are in lower-case letters. For some cities the cost will be millions of dollars at a time when budgets...

British Foreign Secretary William Hague signed a “treaty between nations” with Palestinian Authority leaders on Wednesday. “This agreement is the first ever bilateral treaty between the two nations,” the British Consulate-General site proclaimed. The treaty covers cooperation in the film industry. Hague signed a similar agreement with Israel. Aside from its reference to the “treaty between nations,” the UK Consulate site also referred to Hague's trip to visit PA leaders in Ramallah as “his first visit to Palestine,” apparently recognizing a new country of “Palestine” before even PA leaders have declared one to exist.

A new analysis of political signs displayed at a tea party rally in Washington last month reveals that the vast majority of activists expressed narrow concerns about the government's economic and spending policies and steered clear of the racially charged anti-Obama messages that have helped define some media coverage of such events. Emily Ekins, a graduate student at UCLA, conducted the survey at the 9/12 Taxpayer March on Washington last month by scouring the crowd, row by row and hour by hour, and taking a picture of every sign she passed. Ekins photographed about 250 signs, and more than half...

One year after the Nobel prize jury made its controversial decision to award President Obama the prize for world peace, a larger jury is still waiting for the president to live up to those lofty expectations. Even some of Obama's allies -- like former Nobel laureates Al Gore and Jimmy Carter -- declined to assess his performance in fulfilling what the peace prize said was his "vision" of world harmony. The one year anniversary of Obama's prize comes as fighting is escalating in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq continues to smolder and Obama struggles to keep fledgling Middle East peace...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday signed seven major health care-reform bills, including legislation establishing a Web-based insurance exchange that will allow consumers to comparison-shop for coverage. The governor's action makes California the first state to implement an oversight board for insurance exchange marketplaces since the new federal health care law was enacted earlier this year. Massachusetts implemented its exchange prior to reform. "For national reform to succeed, it will be up to the states to make it work, and California is moving forward on reforms that will provide affordable and quality health care insurance," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Any good suggestions for preventing or capturing DemoRATS that steal campaign yard signs from your yard? Maybe rat traps? http://tucsoncitizen.com/in-the-aggregate/tag/dems-steal-campaign-signs-in-ld-20/

Republicans question the estimates as being too low Stimulus sign (CNSNews.com) – At a minimum, taxpayers have spent $9.1 million as of July 2010 on signs advertising the Obama administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the stimulus law, according to federal officials reporting estimates to the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.But the cost is probably much higher since the six government agencies that spent stimulus dollars relied largely on sampling to get an estimate of how much money was spent on posting signs near Recovery Act projects.Most of the signs read, “Putting America to Work,” and they...

http://news.discovery.com/space/hubble-spots-ghostly-space-spiral.html

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has dropped its requirement for "stimulus" project propaganda signage, according to a communiqué from the department’s inspector general. As of July 15 the policy changed, the I.G. says, and signs and plaques promoting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) at jobsites and on things like "stimulus"-funded railroad cars were “strongly encouraged” in lieu of the mandate. Sounds like a Capone line.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act sign near Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia. (Photo by Rachel Jeffries/Courtesy of House oversight committee staff)   (CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Department of Transportation imposed strict guidelines for the placement, size, and visibility of signs promoting the $862-billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), popularly known as the economic stimulus bill, according to a review by DOT’s inspector general released on Thursday. Some Republican congressman say the signs amount to taxpayer-funded propaganda for the stimulus package. Two DOT agencies--transit and rail--initially required that stimulus-funded projects post ARRA signs, but now the DOT “strongly encourages”...