Free Republic

The mysterious Ukrainian mutant flu we reported on earlier is now in full swing as eastern Europe buckles down for its potential spread into neighboring countries. Over 1.4 million people are now infected. 12 people have died in the past 24 hours even. Ria: The death toll from the flu epidemic in Ukraine has reached 328, with 12 deaths registered over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Wednesday. Last week, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) chief, Raisa Bohatyryova, said there were "constitutional prerequisites" for a state of emergency amid the flu epidemic, which has left...

SUSAN Boyle experiences Life Thru A Lens - just like Robbie Williams on his famous 1997 album cover. The Britain's Got Talent runner-up, 48, was mobbed by paparazzi as she flew into Los Angeles. She is in the States to belt out her version of The Rolling Stones' Wild Horses on American Idol, which you can see by clicking below. (in the article)

SEQUIM -- Health care reform will take center stage in a public meeting Tuesday as a group of Oregon physicians calling themselves "Mad As Hell Doctors" will promote universal health care and discuss the current proposals for reform. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Sequim High School Auditorium, 601 N. Sequim Ave. "We have, for the first time, a group of physicians that is stepping forward in this moment of total confusion and fear that's been fomented on the health care issue," said Bill Kildall, coordinator of Reform Health Care Now, which is sponsoring the event. "These doctors...

Verum Serum has another of its video series on ObamaCare and the Trojan horse of the public option. Think of this as Trojan Horse’s Greatest Hits — a couple of big hits, plus a couple of tracks you may not have seen before now. For instance, I don’t believe I’ve seen Barney quite as Frank as he is in two clips from the last few weeks on his goals for the public plan: EXCERPT Video at hotair

YouTube - Ma3lst0rm's Channel

Women are increasingly rejecting a desperate, Bridget Jones-like search for a perfect partner, preferring instead to enjoy their single status and refusing to compromise by settling for 'Mr Mediocre'. Caroline Davies reports Sunday April 13, 2008 The Observer They are successful, spirited and single and their growing numbers are contributing to a major change in the make-up of the traditional British household. 'Freemales' - manless women who are happy to remain so for the present at least - are now a force to be reckoned with and are overturning the dated Bridget Jones image of the lonely woman staring despondently...

Two trends bedevil America. One is taxes. The second, more important, is marriage. Those who pay no taxes have no check on their appetite for services. If somebody else is paying, nothing’s unaffordable. At the federal level, 41 percent of the U.S. population is totally outside the income tax system, according to the Washington-based Tax Foundation. Since 2000, the number of filers with no tax liability, zero, has increased from 29 million to 42 million in 2005. Of 132.6 million returns filed in 2005, only 90.6 million paid taxes. The rest got back all they’d paid in — and more....

Princess Bubble is a book written as a means to offer “girls of all ages [an] updated version of the traditional fairy tale. No longer a ‘Damsel in Distress,’ this princess travels the world, helps others, and finds ‘happily ever after’ even before she finds her Prince!” Thus, what we have in a thin tome is a fantasy wherein women are not as they actually are but as the authors, along with legions of feminists, would like them to be. It is child lit created for the purposes of indoctrination. It seeks to convince girls that they can have it...

Welcome to the Last Singles Thread of 2007! As we approach the witching hour of December 31st at 11:59 PM (in fact any time the subject of New Years comes up!) the question of "New Years Resolutions" takes center-stage. Naturally, in the spirit of creativity and ingenuity, your host for the evening has thought of no better topic to address for this weekend's thread. There are several obvious popular resolutions made, and various different surveys show people are putting them in different orders. Invariably, "lose weight", "exercising", "quit smoking," "quit drinking" are in the top ten. Getting out of...

Welcome to the Singles Thread!We're now officially in the Christmas season, which, as the song says, is "when the world falls in love." So we'll do our best to have fun, maybe pass around the egg nog, mulled cider or a nice cappuccino (digitally, of course) and share memories or expectations of past, present and future seasons. Tonight, tell us, what is your favorite Christmas movie or show? Recently, I sat down with my family and we watched the rapid-fire chaotic "Shrek the Halls" half-hour special on TV (which boiled down to about 23 minutes after commercial breaks, many...

Marriage is a foundation of civilized life. No advanced civilization has ever existed without the married, two-parent family. Those who argue that our civilization needs healthy marriages to survive are not exaggerating. And yet I cannot, in good conscience, urge young men to marry today. For many men (and some women), marriage has become nothing less than a one-way ticket to jail. Even the New York Times has reported on how easily "the divorce court leads to a jail cell," mostly for men. In fact, if I have one urgent piece of practical advice for young men today it is...

Welcome to the Singles Thread! Good evening. This weekend's proposed topic of discussion is chivalry, or, using the title I didn't have room for, "the proper behavior of men, and how they should treat women."Random House (Unabridged) defines chivalry as "the sum of the ideal qualifications of a knight, including courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms." The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as "The qualities idealized by knighthood, such as bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women." The word comes from Old French chevalerie which meant "horsemanship," coming originally from the word caballus which we get words like...

Virginia E. Fisher  Other Articles by Virginia E. FisherPrinter Friendly Version   Where Have All the Christian Men Gone? My Conversation with John Eldredge September 3, 2007 Many men balk at the idea of going to church. Some resist the tendency in Christian circles to "feminize" God. Others object to how Christian men tend to be so tame and passive — more like women — and very bored. And so, it is perhaps not surprising that John Eldredge's books, especially Wild at Heart, have been wildly successful. Seeking to discover the secret of a man's soul, Catholic and Protestant...

Welcome to the Singles' Thread As always, we welcome people to talk about whatever is on their mind. This weekend's suggested topic is being single and how singles identify with conservatism, but if anyone has other thoughts, please feel free to post them. If you have ideas that are better than the "official" topic, we may follow your lead completely. If you just want to sound off about something else, we'd love to hear what you have to say. We may discuss it in detail, or we may swing back to other topics. The suggested topic for this weekend is...

Single parents will be made to seek jobs By Graeme Wilson, Political Correspondent Last Updated: 2:59am BST 19/07/2007 Single parents will be forced to start looking for a job once their youngest child turns seven, with those who cannot find work being placed on United States-style workfare schemes. Peter Hain claimed Labour had made progress in getting lone parents back to work Peter Hain, the Work and Pensions Secretary, announced yesterday that the age at which lone parents will be expected to start seeking work will be cut from 16 to 12 next year. In 2010, it will be reduced...

While the Palestinian society is more open than many others in the Middle East, there is still much frustration these days and not only for economic reasons, says Bassem Ezbidi, a political scientist at the West Bank's Bir Zeit University. "The political stalemate with Israel and internal violence between Hamas and Fatah also contribute." Cell phone use has skyrocketed over the last five years, he says. His students often walk around with high-tech phones they can barely afford. "The unfortunate part is they use the phones not to communicate, but to surf porn and download useless ringtones. It's raised issues...

<p>After more than two years of disheartening online dating, Charlotte Kullen resolved to spend less time pursuing men and more time pursuing her hobbies. She plunged into tennis, running, sailing, horseback riding, fitness boot camp and scuba diving classes, assuming that somewhere between the sit-ups and the strapping on of fins she might meet some eligible prospects.</p>

Some of the best public service ads to run during last year's election cycle were produced by a new group called Women's Voices, Women Vote. Let's work through a few facts and figures. Whether they are divorced, separated, widowed, not yet married, or legally prevented from marrying their same-sex partner, almost half of all American women over 18 are unmarried. Soon they will be a majority. But turnout among unmarried women - just 59 percent in the 2004 presidential cycle - was significantly lower than the 71 percent rate among married women. In the 16 states where Women's Voices ran...

One of the more delicate areas I dealt with while running a dating service for more than two decades was the issue of race, and more specifically racial stereotyping by prospective members. Stereotyping in itself is a volatile issue, and at some point during intake interviews, I often repeated the phrase “While there is some truth to all stereotypes, there are certainly many exceptions to every single one.” However, when one is dealing with a sample of more than 20,000 single, divorced, and widowed men and women, I feel confident and comfortable making certain statements in a column titled The...

I figure I would ping the singles this weekend, nothing really fancy, just ad-hoc in case if the official thread gets posted. I just don't want to step on anyone's toes, yet, we missed out on last week so I figure I would ping all this week.

Health Care: A little piece of news out of Connecticut shows us that the resistance to universal coverage needs to be ratcheted higher. Free access to medical care for everyone is an economy-killer. Like unthinking politicians from Washington, D.C., to Washington state, lawmakers in Connecticut are considering legislation that would set up a Medicare-type system for everyone in the state under 65. But there's a little matter of cost. The Connecticut legislature's Office of Fiscal Analysis, a nonpartisan professional agency, has estimated that providing health care to the state's 2.95 million residents who are not covered by Medicare would run...

In an age when cohabitation and divorce are common, single parents concerned about the developmental health of their children may want to choose new partners slowly and deliberately, new research from The Johns Hopkins University suggests. The reason for taking your time? The more transitions children go through in their living situation, the more likely they are to act out, Johns Hopkins sociologists Paula Fomby and Andrew Cherlin report. They also found that the effect of family upheaval on children varies by race.

They are the new majority -- women who find themselves, by choice or not, living spouseless. Divorced, widowed, never married, they are women discovering new strengths. Many rejoice in their independence, their achievements and their ability to go it alone, happily.

I was looking for this video in the FR search files. I could not find it. Apologies if it is too old and already hashed out here. It just struck me as something that we can all look forward to if we allow the Democrats any more inroads in this country. http://www.onthefencefilms.com/video/brainsurgery.html

Valentine’s Day approaches, but it seems consumers are being standoffish about online dating. The number of U.S. Internet users visiting dating Web sites is falling, says a report set to be released Monday. Last year, only 10% of Internet users visited at least one online dating site, down from 16% in 2005 and 21% in 2002, says the report by Jupiter Research. The decline in unique visitors hasn’t yet resulted in a decline in subscribers, the study found, but the trend likely will at some point, analysts say. Other research firms track the same trend. Traffic to seven of the...

THE news that 51 percent of all women live without a spouse might be enough to make you invest in cat futures. But consider, too, the flip side: about half of all men find themselves in the same situation. As the number of people marrying has dropped off in the last 45 years, the marriage rate has declined equally for men and for women. The stereotype has been cemented in the popular culture: the hard-charging career girl who gets her comeuppance, either violently or dying a slow death by late-night memo and Chinese takeout... But when it comes to marriage,...

America has reached "the tipping point" on marriage, and The New York Times couldn't be happier. Its analysis of Census data shows 51 percent of women were living without a spouse in 2005, up from 35 percent in 1950. Through surrogates, the Times celebrated the news as liberating and empowering for women. One single 45-year-old gushed: "Considering all the weddings I attended in the '80s that have ended so very, very badly, I consider myself straight up lucky." Chimed in a 59-year-old divorcee: "A gentleman asked me to marry him and I said no. I told him, 'I'm just beginning...

For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one, according to a New York Times analysis of census results. In 2005, 51 percent of women said they were living without a spouse, up from 35 percent in 1950 and 49 percent in 2000. Coupled with the fact that in 2005 married couples became a minority of all American households for the first time, the trend could ultimately shape social and workplace policies, including the ways government and employers distribute benefits. Several factors are driving the statistical shift. At one...

Men lust for hourglass curves, say researchers By Roger Highfield Science Editor Last Updated: 11:14pm GMT 09/01/2007 The traditional theory of beauty says that for every man who chases the voluptuous type, such as Jordan or Marilyn Monroe, there is another who prefers to woo a waif such as Twiggy or Kate Moss. But this and the idea that beauty is subjective and ever-changing has been overturned by Prof Devendra Singh and his daughter Adrian Singh. The psychologists from the University of Texas today publish research showing lovestruck men have only one thing on their minds: a woman's WHR -...

BANGKOK (AFP) - "I could not find anybody in the States. There was nothing in America for me. That's why I'm here," says the clean-cut 52-year-old bachelor, who bears a passing resemblance to Hollywood actor Michael Douglas. Sullivan, an emergency nurse from Florida, is one of a growing number of foreign men seeking young and beautiful Thai brides via the Internet. Speaking at the Bangkok office of Sweet Singles, a Thai bride-by-Internet company, Sullivan says he has decided to "go beyond boundaries" in his search for a wife after a futile quest in the United States. "American women in my...

....More American women than ever are putting motherhood before matrimony. New data released by the Centers for Disease Control show that nearly four in 10 U.S. babies were born outside of marriage in 2005—a new high. These unwed moms aren't all teens—last year teen pregnancies fell to their lowest levels in 65 years. Some—like 44-year-old Mary Lee MacKichan, who used a gay friend as a sperm donor—are professional, older women who want to have babies before their biological clocks run out, but most are low-income twentysomethings. (Unwed births among 30- to 44-year-olds are up 17 percent since 1991; among those...

In this world of pain, confusion and question, today we give pause. We don’t today focus on the half empty cup but rather CHOSE to look at the joy of life, the blessings of life and the friendships of life. Today we give thanks to God for his gift of life & blessings in this troubled world. We give thanks to friends and family for the gifts of friendship and joy they share with us Today is day ONE of the LONG 4-day Thanksgiving Weekend here at the Singles Thread. We are thankful that Jim & John Robinson have...

How does a girl avoid dating or marrying some festering bag of ripe compost like Kevin Federline and his helix-missing ilk? I know Britney Spears is about as sharp as a bag of wet mice; however, even with her low levels of discernment and her Turkish walnut like density, I believe Brit (as well as those below and above her in brilliance) can, with a little guidance, steer relationally clear from any urge to merge with some future K-Fedian bad date. So . . . how does a girl circumvent the date from hell? It’s pretty simple, ladies. Follow the...

Tomorrow Kate of Spice Island will be sharing her stories of the “Sixth Sense” More Linky Links Great Halloween Craft Prjoects Bobbing for apples Hangman Game Curly Bill’s Halloween Thread 2005 Curly Bill’s Halloween Thread 2006 THE HAUNTED PALACE BY E. A. POE, ESQ. In the greenest of our valleys By good angels tenanted, Once a fair and stately palace — Snow-white palace — reared its head. In the monarch thought's dominion — It stood there! Never Seraph spread his pinion Over fabric half so fair. Banners yellow, glorious, golden, On its roof did float and flow — This...

The U.S. economy remains in better shape than bearish partisans contend. Broad economic indicators like real GDP, payroll employment, and industrial production are expanding, while the U.S. economy itself is nearing its sixth year of expansion. Yet the same bullish claim cannot be made about Michigan, which continues to lose jobs. It’s rare for a state with an economy as large as Michigan’s to record job losses in the midst of a national expansion. A lot of ink is spilled in Detroit each month reporting short-term job losses. But some key long-term trends have been overlooked. How bad is Michigan’s...

Amish Weddings Family is the core element in the Amish church, and choosing a mate is the most important decision in an Amishman's life. Boys and girls begin their search for a spouse when they turn sixteen. By the time a young woman turns twenty or a young man is in his early twenties, he or she is probably looking forward to the wedding day. But several definite steps must be taken by a couple before they may marry. Both must join the Amish church. They are baptized into the Amish faith and are responsible for following the Ordnung....

They hiked over 40 kilometers, killed close to 20 Hizbullah guerrillas and spent 32 days in Lebanon without a single casualty. But on Monday, soldiers from the Herev Battalion emerged from battle, sweaty, dusty and tired making history twice - as the first battalion to enter Lebanon and the one to spend the longest amount of time deep in enemy territory under Operation Change of Direction. The battalion, consisting strictly of Druse soldiers from northern Israel, was on its way to take control of the northern border with Lebanon on July 12, when Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were kidnapped...

The History of the Middle Finger Salute NO OFFENSE TO ANYONE, I HOPE! Very interesting and now you'll know for certain what is implied by this gesture. The History of the Middle Finger Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured, English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of...

Alot of people are harping on the Liberal undertones of the new Superman movie. I see something else. I see conservative values creeping into Hollywood. This Lois is no slut. She has been getting knocked around for being an unwed mother but lets look at the facts of the story. In Superman 2 Lois and Clark get married and have sex while he is human. Lois' memory of those events are wiped clean and Superman leaves (Superman 3&4 never happened). Ok Lois ends up pregnant and the man that made her that way is gone. What does she do? Does...

“Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem. Ronald Reagan, 1985 ~*~ Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. Saturday Evening Post, 1965 ~*~ “Trust, but verify“ ~*~ Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born. ~*~ Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men...

Randi Anderson knew she was on her own the day her son was born 22 months ago when she drove herself to the hospital. Long before Anderson pulled up to Swedish Medical Center, her film-school boyfriend was gone. Twenty hours after she arrived at the hospital, she joined the growing ranks of single mothers. It is a group that often feels isolated, suffers higher-than-normal rates of depression and believes it carries a stigma in a culture that celebrates marriage. "I certainly feel like it's written across my face," Anderson, 34, said. "We've been told it's not OK to be a...

Twenty-five years ago, most men in the Tampa Bay area married by age 35. But since 1980, the number of never-married men 35 to 55 has jumped sevenfold. ST. PETERSBURG - On the eve of his 50th birthday, Robert Mendenhall was trying to decide whether to spend the big day with someone new or with his ex-girlfriend. She had held his interest the longest: eight months. Mendenhall, who works in regional sales for a roofing and window company, hangs out with half a dozen never-married men in their late 40s and early 50s. They are successful at their jobs, keep...

Well, due to time constraints and running a feline MASH unit, I admit this beginning will be very plain, but when I host it for my scheduled turn in May, I'll be sure to "bling" it up better. This weeks theme will be pets: Pansy from 1987 Pansy from 2006 Greystone, taken 4-06-2006 The subjects are: 1. Current pets 2. Past pets 3. Anything else to do with pets.

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Feb. 24, 2006) -- Most Marines strive to be the best at what they do, but only a select few can claim they were the "first" in history to accomplish something. Like Samuel Nicholas who became the first Marine officer in 1775, Opha Mae Johnson who became the first female Marine in 1918 or Carol A. Mutter who became the first female major general in 1994. Through hard work and dedication, Kimberly D. Walker joined these distinguished Marines in February when she became the first female master gunnery sergeant to serve as a combat...

Catholic Teacher Single, Pregnant -- and Now Unemployed Diocese Disputes Lawsuit Charging It With 'Pregnancy Discrimination' By Jim Brown and Jody Brown December 7, 2005 (AgapePress) - A Catholic school teacher in New York who was fired for becoming pregnant while unmarried is contesting her termination. St. Rose of Lima School in Queens recently fired pre-kindergarten teacher Michelle McCusker upon learning she had engaged in non-marital sex. With help from the New York Civil Liberties Union, McCusker has filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She informed the school of her condition one month after this school...

Moral turpitude ain't what it used to be By Kathleen Parker Nov 26, 2005 What a funny world. Where once it was scandalous to be unmarried and pregnant, now it is scandalous to disapprove of another's being unmarried and pregnant. The latest episode in these morally confused times occurred in New York recently when a Roman Catholic school fired a teacher because she is single and pregnant. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn claims that teacher Michelle McCusker violated "the tenets of Catholic morality" and thus could not be employed by the school. For her part, McCusker claims she was...

NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Women seem to have become a rare sight in many sections of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. At a bar in the French Quarter on a recent night, there was not a single unattached woman, observers said. City officials guess New Orleans now has a population of 150,000 during the day and 75,000 at night after commuters have left, The Los Angeles Times reports. Sally Forman, the mayor's press secretary, says: "There's this strange feeling that it's all men in town." Part of the reason is that the wives and children...

I never thought there would be an issue about what age I decided to marry at, which now I realize you don't "decide" to marry. It should just happen. (But sometimes it is a conscious decision for some women that results as an ultimatum. That's an entirely different column.) I'm 35 years old, never married and that makes me "single." I'm not a divorcee or a widow. I'm not dating anyone nor am I "playing the field" since the prospective greenery seems to be missing in my general vicinity. If you're a 35-year-old woman who has substantial control over your...

EUREKA -- Rob Arkley has apparently given more to help pass Proposition 75 than any other single individual in the state of California. According to the California secretary of state’s website, Arkley heads up a long list of big donors supporting Proposition 75 with a total of $302,000 given to groups supporting its passage. The contributions came in two different contributions, one for $250,001 in September and another for $52,000 made earlier in August. Arkley did not return a call for comment by deadline. But an employee for Security National, owned by Arkley, called the Times-Standard and said his boss...

Last night, many of us read the thread wherein Petronski announced his coming marriage to madame Cyborg. (Check DRUDGE: Unnamed Senior White House source: Cyborg and Petronski to be married...). During the course of the Cyborg-Petronski Thread, the subject of a Free Republic feature wherein single Freepers can meet their fellow conservatives. I have a simple proposition. We could start a regular thread akin to the Freeper Canteen. Such a regular thread could serve as an opportunity for single Freepers to engage in Virtual Mingling. Also, any Freepers who have single, conservative offspring would be welcome to participate so as...