Free Republic

Capt. Sara Woods, chief of Civil Affairs Team 31, unscrews a lid to check a water pump filter in a sunflower field near Mahmudiyah, Aug. 9. Photo by Sgt. Jon Soles, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. BAGHDAD — Capt. Sara Woods calls it "sweet water;" the clean, potable ground water that hides under the dusty farmland here at a depth of about 20 meters. That sweet water is the key to helping many rural Iraqis enjoy greater health and raise much more productive livestock. Woods is the chief of Civil Affairs Team 31, currently attached to the North Carolina National Guard's...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2009/s09040025.htm Friday, April 3, 2009 Extremists Try to Murder Missionary; Attack Well-Drilling Team Gospel for Asia For Immediate Release ASIA (ANS) -- A mob of anti-Christian extremists tried to murder a Gospel for Asia-supported missionary working at a Jesus Well drilling site on Tuesday. The pastor escaped unharmed, but they badly beat a ministry intern and one of the men drilling the well. Jesus Wells are tangible evidence of God's love for the people of Asia. The incident occurred Tuesday when the well-drilling team arrived in the village where missionary Bala Nunwate serves....

...Embarrassed Darwinists The next for consideration is Jonathan Wells and his Icons of Evolution. A stinging critique of ten familiar textbook evidences for evolution, Wells’ book provoked shrill cries of dismay from Darwinists, including Jerry Coyne and Eugenie Scott. Wells’ reply is highlighted as a rhetorically powerful rebuttal in which he catches his critics in scientific carelessness and in the debate tactic of ‘shifting the goalposts’. An example is the issue of embryonic homology—the Darwinian claim that embryos in various vertebrates look alike at various stages of development, and that this indicates common ancestry. Wells pointed out the extensive dissimilarities...

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20081207/peggy-noonan-lesley-stahl-and-friends-raise-more-money-wThe purse strings haven’t completely closed for start-ups looking to raise money–even niche Web sites that hope to stay afloat by selling advertising. Wowowow.com, a site launched earlier this year, which targets women over 40, has raised a $1.5 million round led by Bob Pittman’s Pilot Group and the Rhime Group. No word on valuation, but I’d guesstimate Wowowow.com’s investors peg its value in the high 9-figure range. The company has now raised $3.1 million in less than a year. The five founders–former publisher Joni Evans, “60 Minutes” reporter Lesley Stahl; New York Post gossip columnist Liz Smith; ad exec...

Leo Donofrio filed a solid lawsuit. Hard to get behind Berg, his was not a good lawsuit. This, OTOH, is. Do I think it should be pursued, yes? Do I believe Obama was born in Hawaii? Probably. Is there something on Obama's birth certificate he does not want us to see. Foe shizzle. Should a President of the United States have to present his vault copy to take office? Absolutely. I don't know what is on the birth certificate- I do know Obama does not want us to see it. But with Obama - there is no law. It's Alinsky...

A tractor-trailer careened into a busy local train station here during the evening rush hour on Friday, killing two people and injuring nearly two dozen others just south of downtown in Chinatown. Witnesses described hearing a deafening screech then the tremendous roar of the truck slamming into the street-level waiting area of the elevated train station, a bustling stop on the Red Line which runs a north-south route through the downtown Loop. The truck crashed through the glass front of the station, Cermak-Chinatown, and caused the escalators to collapse. Eleven people, four of them children, were in critical condition...

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — This country, famed for its development of sugar-cane-produced ethanol, soon could become one of the world's great oil powers — if its state-controlled energy company, Petrobras, can tap a potentially massive deposit beneath the South Atlantic Ocean. Experts believe the deposit, in the Tupi field 180 miles off the southeastern Brazilian coast, holds up to 8 billion barrels of light oil and natural gas. If confirmed, the deposit would be the largest petroleum find in seven years and would propel Brazil to the No. 12 position in oil reserves, after the United States and ahead...

With Fort Worth sitting on one of the nation's largest natural gas fields, 150-foot drilling rigs are rising over golf courses, churchyards, even tree-lined neighborhoods. "If you don't have a gas well ... get one!" a billboard urges commuters zipping along a busy interstate near downtown. But not everyone is celebrating the natural gas bonanza here, despite the 55,000 new jobs and extra $5.2 billion it brings to the North Texas economy each year. Once confined to the lonely prairies, oil and gas exploration has gone urban. In Fort Worth, Los Angeles and other densely populated places, that sometimes pits...

KREIDI — U.S. forces joined local Iraqis to celebrate the opening of new water wells in Kreidi and Mualih Hasso, two villages near Forward Operating Base Qayyarah in the Ninevah province. Soldiers with 5th Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment and Company B, 431st Civil Affairs (CA) Battalion participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony in Kreidi put on by leaders from both villages to commemorate the occasion. “Today is a good day,” said Dr. Mohammed Ismael Ahmed, a local physician and a tribal liaison for multiple small villages in the area. “The water from these wells will be used for washing,...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Feb. 21, 2007 — An Afghan construction company completed six water wells in six villages southwest of Kandahar with the assistance of the U.S. National Command Element February in an effort to make water accessible in this region. The Humaun Aziz Construction Company together with the 405th Civil Affairs Battalion constructed the new wells, which will benefit approximately 75,000 villagers who had difficulty finding a source of water. “The village elders were involved and actually requested the water wells due to very high levels of E-coli in the water, causing high incidents of illness recently,” said Army Lt....

The president's political guru—and counselor Dan Bartlett—have been subpoenaed by Scooter Libby's lawyers. What it means for the most-watched trial in Washington—and who's next on the witness stand. - White House anxiety is mounting over the prospect that top officials—including deputy chief of staff Karl Rove and counselor Dan Bartlett-may be forced to provide potentially awkward testimony in the perjury and obstruction trial of Lewis (Scooter) Libby. Both Rove and Bartlett have already received trial subpoenas from Libby’s defense lawyers, according to lawyers close to the case who asked not to be identified talking about sensitive matters. While that is...

There are relatively few individuals today who would not take offence to being called a fascist. This was not always so; for before and during the 1930’s even though Western liberal societies in general rejected philosophies of fascism, the term had nowhere near the stigma that it does today, and many were drawn to the concept. One individual who embraced the ideas of both fascism and liberalism was HG Wells. Before Hitler and Mussolini brought infamy to the term fascism, Wells referred to himself as a “liberal fascist“ and put forward a theory of revolutionary praxis centered around a concept...

Police hunt for terror training camp at a faith school in Tunbridge Wells By Sean Rayment (Filed: 03/09/2006) Anti-terrorist police were last night searching a Muslim school at the centre of an investigation into terrorist training camps being run in Britain. Officers were scouring the Jameah Islamiyah faith school, set in 54 acres of woodland near Tunbridge Wells, East Sussex, after arresting 14 men in London who are suspected of organising "suicide bomber" training camps. Anti-terrorist officers were concerned that young men were being prepared to launch attacks on busy parts of London Security sources told The Sunday Telegraph...

I remember reading about some law that required that if an oil well was drilled before a certain year, the gasoline generated from it had a maximum price associated with it. The oil companies didn't want to pump oil from these wells because they could not sell at the current high price. Does anyone know the name of the law that references this situation? I believe it was during the 70's or the 80's. Was this law ever repealed?

Lady of Wells reveals her secrets The current bishop wants to restore the throne room A mysterious medieval wall painting found beneath the floor of the Bishop of Bath and Well's bedroom has given up its secrets. The painting, which shows a partly-clad woman wearing a transparent dress, dates from between 1460 and 1470. It was part of the decoration of the throne room of Bishop Thomas Beckynton. Dr Mark Horton, of Bristol University, who researched the painting discovered it is most likely to be part of a scene representing a medieval paradise. "It was rather like something out of...

Back to the Future Part IV / Time After Time 2By J. Neil SchulmanA movie I would love to see but am never going to be allowed to write.--JNS While traveling through the American southwest, Sherlock Holmes1 is hired by the railroad to investigate the hijacking and destruction of a locomotive that was deliberately crashed, apparently senselessly, off an unfinished railroad bridge into Shonash Ravine 2, Hill County, Texas. During his investigation Holmes sees a flying locomotive engineered by a white-haired man and a dark-haired woman2, which Holmes initially attributes to a cocaine-induced hallucination3. However, further investigation of forensic...

NOTE: This is a vastly expanded and updated version of a prior review from this group, which includes a host of quotes from those behind the film. It came via the group’s e-mail list, where the site itself appears to be down for the moment. WAR OF THE WORLDS: Steven Spielberg and H.G. Wells on Occupations, Empires, and "Current Relevance" Updated Final, SPOILERS New Republican Archive. Movie Reviews. July 11, 2005. (Contact: newrepublicanarchive@juno.com). War of the Worlds is not only a tense portrayal of the terror and horror of war, particularly for those on the losing side of a modern...

In keeping with the fact that FR has the most relevant postings of any "blog," an FR posting last night led me to Bartleby.com where I was able to read the entire 1898 novel "War of the Worlds" in 6 hours. I was surprised by how conservative a liberal HG Wells was. It must have been a time when most liberals were like Zell Miller...holding tons of respect for the military and abhorring "decay" in society. If any of you are thinking "I wouldn't want to read a 107 year old book that is probably stupider than the movies" please...

War of the Worlds: Steven Spielberg and H.G. Wells on War, Revolutions, Occupations, and Christianity New Republican Archive. Movie Reviews. July 4, 2005. The new Tom Cruise vehicle titled War of the Worlds is not only a tense portrayal of the terror and horror of war, particularly for those on the losing side of a modern one, but also a deeply political film. Director Steven Spielberg has gone to great lengths to "spin" this classic story with contemporary political allegories. What else should we expect from a film directed by Spielberg and co-starring Tim Robbins? Indeed, we should expect nothing...

Tales of a nation under attack, which recur when public anxiety rises, multiply at theaters and on TV. Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" is acutely attuned to the zeitgeist of post-9/11 America. In this adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel, Earth is still the most desirable piece of real estate in the Milky Way, the envy of the galactic neighborhood. But this retelling of the alien-invasion story, set in modern-day New Jersey rather than Wells' Edwardian London, tacitly acknowledges American fears of an attack on US cities. A principal aspect of the film is the way a nation unites...