Free Republic

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that consumers and health care providers immediately stop using EzriCare Artificial Tears as it investigates a "multistate cluster" of infections that testing has linked to the eye drops. At least one death has been associated with the infections. Infections have been found in 50 patients in 11 states, the CDC said, adding that most of them had used artificial tears and that the mostly commonly used brand was Ezricare. Results in some patients included "permanent vision loss resulting from ocular infection, hospitalization and [the] death of one patient with bloodstream infection,"...

This is from decades ago. I got teased mercilessly when it came out, but even today I remember, ‘Wash your hands, Roger’.

The Proud Boys, a right-wing men’s group, is claiming a higher profile role in the region, with two members involved in a confrontation outside the Vancouver Mall that raised concerns for some about a miscarriage of justice. VANCOUVER, Clark County — Mykel Mosley walked out of the Vancouver Mall and saw something that made him angry: a pickup flying what he says was a Donald Trump flag. The African-American teenager yelled out an obscenity about Trump. Two men got out of the truck, and chased Mosley, one of them spinning him briefly to the ground. A video, posted online, shows...

A 23-year-old mother was shot and killed in Long Beach Thursday morning on her son's third birthday, police said. Jazzmine Wash, of Long Beach, had stepped outside of her apartment to grab her 3-year-old's diaper bag when she was shot multiple times in the torso, police said. She died at the scene.

Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul’s foreign policy outlook isn’t so dissimilar to that of President Obama’s long-time pastor and mentor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, says Washington Post editorial writer Charles Lane. On “Fox News Sunday,” Lane made the ideological connection between Paul and Wright, who claimed after the 9/11 attacks that “America’s chickens” had come home to roost. “Well, I think one of the amazing things that this all shows that this is the Republican Party might be about to crown the winner of the Iowa caucuses, somebody with the foreign policy views of Jeremiah Wright,” Lane said. “Remember that?...

Last week, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray announced his latest and greatest plan to solve D.C.’s crisis in education: the D.C schools will extend their reach in 2012, offering “early childhood education” to children as young as 6 months of age. The mayor believes that D.C. babies and toddlers will experience educational success only if school system employees--or subcontractors--are around to prod their intellectual growth. After all, what could be more crucial to a baby’s development than a specially assigned bureaucrat, right? It’s preposterous. Even from an educational perspective, the proposal lacks credibility. The D.C. public schools are among the worst...

The pasta stains might have disappeared — but are your freshly laundered clothes really clean? In our desire to be greener, as well as softer on clothes, many of us are lowering the temperature of our washes. The maker of Ariel Gel is encouraging consumers to wash at 15c (60F) rather than 40c (104F) in order to halve energy costs. But experts are concerned our bid to save the planet — and money — will affect our health. For while we associate laundry with cleanliness, some estimates say the average washing machine load contains 100 million E.coli at any one...

On June 15th, President Obama sent an e-mail out to supporters informing them about a raffle offering a “casual dinner” with the commander in chief. The money raised from the raffle will go to his re-election campaign. (snip)“We rely on everyday Americans giving whatever they can afford -- and I want to spend time with a few of you. So if you make a donation today, you'll be automatically entered for a chance to be one of the four supporters to sit down with me for dinner.

On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos intercepted a flotilla of six ships sailing toward Gaza with the stated intention of breaking an Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the territory, ruled by the terrorist Hamas organization. Activists aboard five of the six ships passively surrendered their vessels. As a result, nobody was injured. But aboard the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish vessel, events took an ugly turn. As Israeli commandos rappelled from a hovering helicopter onto the top deck of the ship, they were set upon by a band of extremists, who attacked them with axes, metal bars and other makeshift weapons. One or...

According to the Washington Post, examining every detail of the relationship between moderate Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins is worth devoting an exhausting 6228 words to. Writer Martha Sherrill offered a fawning analysis of the two senators who often frustrate conservatives. The near book-length profile investigated the apparent dislike the senators have for each other, but also highlighted the "nuanced" way in which the two side with liberal policies.

Benjamin Disraeli is credited with the saying that there are three kinds of lies -- lies, damned lies and statistics. The legendary British statesman could have spotted another example of his adage in an article in the March 28 edition of the Washington Post about Israel's deployment of an anti-missile system to intercept rockets fired by terrorists in Gaza against civilian populations in southern Israel ("Israelis put in place anti-rocket system" by Janine Zacharia, page A6). As historical context for the deployment of an anti-rocket battery near Beersheba, Zacharia writes the following: "Israel launched a widely criticized bombardment of the...

The headline and lead paragraph of Jerusalem correspondent Janine Zacharia's Nov. 27 article might lead readers of the Washington Post to believe that they're about to find out why many in the aviation industry consider Israel's screening of passengers the gold standard in airport security measures. ("Israeli air security is easy on most, intrusive for a few" page A7). But they would be wrong. Because, it turns out, the bulk of her article is a full-bore attack on Israel's profiling methods, including special scrutiny of Arab travelers.. The result of such profiling, Zacharia reports, is that most travelers pass through...

A special call to prayer and fasting for Washington state has been issued from September 22 to October 31 by Light of the World Prayer Center in Whatcom County. For more information, go to: www.lowpc.org . From David Bryant, “A Christ-awakening begins whenever God’s Spirit uses God’s Word to re-introduce God’s people back to God’s Son for all that He is.”

The washing machine cycle takes about 45 minutes _ and George Washington comes out much cleaner in the Zimbabwe-style laundering of dirty money. Low-denomination U.S bank notes change hands until they fall apart here in Africa, and the bills are routinely carried in underwear and shoes through crime-ridden slums. Some have become almost too smelly to handle, so Zimbabweans have taken to putting their $1 bills through the spin cycle and hanging them up to dry with clothes pins alongside sheets and items of clothing. It's the best solution _ apart from rubber gloves or disinfectant wipes _ in a...

The Hundred Dollar Car WashBy Paul Harwood April 27th, 2010 8:59 PM If there are two things I enjoy doing, they’re watching Countdown and catching interviews with Michael Moore, so I got a two-fer last Friday when I watched the podcast of Thursday night’s edition of Countdown. (Please: Don’t tell Keith Olbermann that I watch the podcast rather than the broadcast. Let that be our little secret.) I caught Lawrence O’Donnell interviewing Michael Moore about health care. Because I’m unemployed and so have time on my hands, and because there were so many bizarre claims about the contents of the...

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) -- Glenn Beck's visit to his hometown in Washington state this weekend seemed simple enough on the surface, with a ceremonial key to the city awaiting him and the mayor naming the day in the Fox News personality's honor. But this being Glenn Beck, nothing is that easy. Groups have demonstrated on the streets and in city council meetings over the conservative commentator's visit. Petitions have been collected calling on the cancellation of the visit. A small business owner put up a sign that says: "Glenn Beck & Hatred not welcome here." And the leader of...

PLEASE SAY A PRAYER AND FORWARD THIS. The Department of Defense announced today the death of four soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died from wounds suffered when two OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters crashed Jan. 26 in Kirkuk, Iraq. They were assigned to the 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y. Killed were: Chief Warrant Officer Philip E. Windorski, Jr., 35, of Bovey, Minn. Chief Warrant Officer Matthew G. Kelley, 30, of Cameron, Mo. Chief Warrant Officer Joshua M. Tillery, 31, of Beaverton, Ore. Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin H. Todd,...

Dr. Mom Was Right -- And Wrong -- About Washing Fruits And VegetablesA new study shows that irradiation could be key to removing hard-to-reach pathogens inside fruits and vegetables. (Credit: Courtesy of USDA-Agricultural Research Service, photo by Stephen Ausmus) ScienceDaily (Apr. 13, 2008) — Washing fresh fruits and vegetables before eating may reduce the risk of food poisoning and those awful episodes of vomiting and diarrhea. But according to new research, described recently at the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, washing alone -- even with chlorine disinfectants -- may not be enough. Studies show that certain disease-causing...

The would-be president is messing with ire January 13, 2006 Fans-turned-critics say Hillary Clinton is sacrificing principle in the hunt for votes, writes Anne Summers. It is still more than two years before the major parties in the United States decide upon their candidates for the 2008 presidential elections, and it is widely assumed that the Democratic Party candidate will be the junior senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton. You might expect the political conversation among Democrats to be along the lines of "Is Hillary electable?" (given the preponderance of red states on the American political map) but many...

HUSAYBAH, Iraq (Dec. 8, 2005) -- Western Iraq, along the Syrian border, is a far cry from the mountains of Washington and sunny days and summer afternoons partying on a lake. The physical distance is measured in thousands of miles, but the difference in atmosphere, environment and mentality may as well be a galaxy away. Corporal Jason L. Johnson, a reservist from Auburn, Wash., closed that gap when he volunteered for mobilization and assignment June 2005 to 6th Civil Affairs Group, out of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C. It brought him to this small, dusty city in Iraq’s Al...