Free Republic

Now that the Democrats are gearing up to hold their September convention at the stadium, they can’t even bring themselves to type the words “Bank of America.” You know, because corporations are totally greedy, especially when they’re associated with the bankster one percent. For the record, Bank of America Stadium has never been called “Panthers Stadium.” Bank of America purchased naming rights in 2004, replacing L.M. Ericsson Inc. as the corporate (gasp!) sponsor. Prior to that, the facility was known as Carolinas Stadium. Yep, can’t have President Obama associated with an icky corporation when he delivers his keynote address at,...

"Listen, America. Eat your veggies and like it."

US and South Korean special forces have been parachuting into North Korea to gather intelligence about underground military installations, a US officer has said in comments carried in US media. Army Brigadier General Neil Tolley, commander of US special forces in South Korea, told a conference held in Florida last week that Pyongyang had built thousands of tunnels since the Korean war, The Diplomat reported. "The entire tunnel infrastructure is hidden from our satellites," Tolley said, according to The Diplomat, a current affairs magazine. "So we send (South Korean) soldiers and US soldiers to the North to do special reconnaissance."...

Bob Owens is raising the possibility: "I had never heard of “lean” before yesterday, but apparently it is a concoction made from certain prescription cough syrups and a beverage medium, often made more palatable with candy. One of the recipes for “lean” calls for using Arizona Iced Tea Co. watermelon fruit juice cocktail as the beverage of choice, and Skittles candy… the items found on Trayvon Martin’s body the night he was shot by George Zimmerman. The Conservative Treehouse has a lengthy post about the recreational drug, it’s effects and side effects, and alleged screen captures of Trayvon Martin’s social...

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats on Thursday urged the New York Police Department to purge its intelligence databases of information gleaned from its clandestine spying on Muslim neighborhoods. They also criticized the Obama administration for offering tepid responses to questions about whether it endorses such tactics.

Sherman Oaks, California I was detained last night by federal authorities at San Francisco International Airport for refusing to answer questions about why I had travelled outside the United States. The end result is that, after waiting for about half an hour and refusing to answer further questions, I was released – because U.S. citizens who have produced proof of citizenship and a written customs declaration are not obligated to answer questions. * * * “Why were you in China?” asked the passport control officer, a woman with the appearance and disposition of a prison matron. “None of your business,”...

Any single incident where an unarmed civilian is gunned down is one too many

WEDNESDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- Older adults who say they've had a life-changing religious experience are more likely to have a greater decrease in size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain critical to learning and memory, new research finds. ...or conversely, those who had no religious affiliation, had more hippocampal shrinkage (or "atrophy") compared to people who identified themselves as Protestants, but not born-again. ...SOURCE: Duke University, news release, May 19, 2011

U.S. intelligence agencies don't believe Iran is actively trying to build an atomic bomb. A highly classified U.S. intelligence assessment circulated to policymakers early last year largely affirms that view, originally made in 2007. Both reports, known as national intelligence estimates, conclude that Tehran halted efforts to develop and build a nuclear warhead in 2003. The most recent report, which represents the consensus of 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, indicates that Iran is pursuing research that could put it in a position to build a weapon, but that it has not sought to do so. Senior U.S. officials say Israel does...

taking the Obama administration to task over the forthcoming decision to pull the plug on the U.S.-Canadian oil pipeline: Newt Gingrich, who frequently talks about the Keystone Pipeline in his stump speech, railed on the news that President Obama is rejecting the permit. Speaking to a standing-room only crowd of about 350 people in Warrenville, S.C., “boos” erupted when Gingrich said the pipeline had been “vetoed.” “Now, this is a stunningly,” Gingrich began until he was interuppted by a crowd members shouting “stupid mistake.” After pausing for a moment Gingrich responded, “This is a stunningly stupid thing to do.”

From NASA Goddard/GISS: same-o, same-o Paleoclimate Record Points Toward Potential Rapid Climate ChangesThe average global surface temperature of Earth has risen by .8 degrees Celsius since 1880, and is now increasing at a rate of about .1 degree Celsius per decade. This image shows how 2010 temperatures compare to average temperatures from a baseline period of 1951-1980, as analyzed by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Credit: NASA GISS New research into the Earth’s paleoclimate history by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies director James E. Hansen suggests the potential for rapid climate changes this century, including multiple...

'Was there a man dismay'd Not tho' the soldier knew Someone had blundered' 70 years ago over 2,400 Americans were killed and about half as many wounded when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the naval and air forces of Imperial Japan. The usual scapegoats were identified and ruined, but for decades historians have questioned the official account. Between conventional sources of information and radar tracking, it is argued, the Roosevelt administration knew or ought to have known. Some analysts have concluded that Franklin Roosevelt wanted a justification, no matter what the price, for getting into the war. Others have been...

Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul was hushed by deafening boos from a crowd of Tea Partiers at Monday's GOP Presidential debate, after suggesting America's foreign police played a role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Mr Paul attempted to position his argument to slash military spending, contending that occupation was the 'real motivation' behind acts of terrorism by Muslim extremists against the U.S. But a provocative retort from presidential candidate, Pennsylvania lawmaker Rick Santorum, instead drew wide support, after he dismissed Mr Paul's comments as 'irresponsible'. Prior to the Tea Party debate, Mr Paul, 76, had reflected on the U.S. response...

Should energy consumers pay extra taxes to fund government-mandated and subsidized renewable energy technologies? "Absolutely yes," says John Bryson, President Obama's nominee for Commerce Secretary. He made the remark at a meeting of the Commonwealth Club of California in 2009 and went on to extol the virtues of hidden rates in California, a state encumbered with some of the nation's highest electricity and unemployment rates. Bryson, retired CEO of the electric utility Southern California Edison (SCE) and its parent company Edison International, excused the practice, saying, "That's been a part of the regulatory environment for the investor-owned utilities for as...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional leaders rushed to line up Republican and Democratic votes on Monday for a White House-backed deal to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and avert an unprecedented debt default. With scars still fresh from the months-long brawl over increasing the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, a new fight was shaping over the incendiary topic of taxes. Global markets showed signs of relief that the United States appeared to be dodging default, but fears that the country might still lose its triple-A credit rating even with a debt deal contributed to a fizzle in a brief stocks rally. "We...

The press is reporting that the top military leaders have “endorsed” President Obama’s Afghan troop withdrawal decision. With all due respect to the fine reporters, that is not the news. Under our Constitution, military leaders have no choice but to endorse the president’s decision after giving him their best advice. They could resign, of course, but to have the entire senior military leadership resign over a president’s decision contrary to their advice would be a disaster, and not least for the troops on the ground. Make no mistake, however. The entire military leadership believes the president’s decision is a mistake,...

Apple denies Amazon claims to generic app storesApple in a court filing late Thursday rebuffed Amazon's response that the term "app store" was generic. It insisted that the term isn't commonly used by other companies for their portals and couldn't be considered generic. Amazon was allegedly treading on Apple's mark by using the Appstore name as a result. The iPhone maker had sued Amazon in March claiming that its "app store" trademark was valid and commonly associated with the iOS App Store and, more recently, the Mac App Store. At one point, it has argued that the term was a...

Despite Reports of Brutality Toward Civilians, Syria to Join U.N.'s Human Rights Council By Ben Evansky Published April 26, 2011 | FoxNews.com The brutal crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad may finally be getting the attention of world leaders -- but apparently not enough to stop Syria from becoming the newest member of the U.N. Human Rights Council. And despite calling for an independent investigation into the crackdown, which has left hundreds dead, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon apparently won’t do much about blocking Syria’s path to the human rights group. "That's not really for the secretary general to suggest to...

As some states like Utah look to put cops on the front lines of immigration enforcement, San Jose Police Chief Chris Moore and other prominent law enforcement officials warned Wednesday that using their shrinking pool of officers to target illegal immigrants is inefficient, costly and would make their cities more dangerous, not less. "I am looking at laying off 300 officers, so now more than ever I need to focus on partnerships with communities,'' Moore said during a national teleconference sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum. "This (the issue of immigration enforcement) has become a wedge in our communities...

My job deprives me of the luxury of partisanship, as I have to reach out to both sides on the issue of free trade--a disastrous policy one can give impeccably liberal or conservative reasons to be against. So I can't offer any opinion of the Tea Party movement per se. But I can tell you that the way they're handling the issue of free trade reveals a lot about them. Over the last year, I've interacted with the Tea Party about the issue at both the local level and with some of their leadership. And I've observed a few things....