Free Republic

In a top secret mission, a team of the Research and Analysis Wing tracked down an absconding accused in the Bangalore serial blasts case in Muscat, and sneaked him out of Oman, since India doesn't have an extradition treaty with that country. Sarfaraz Nawaz, 32, who allegedly played a major role in financing the Bangalore blasts, had sought refuge in Muscat. Investigating officials told rediff.com that a RAW team managed to track down Nawaz in Muscat. They added that Nawaz was 'smuggled into' Bangalore on a chartered aircraft. The entire operation was so secretive that even the Air Traffic Control...

Provoked by the Palestinians' escalating missile campaign, on Sunday evening the Ashkelon Parents Association voted not to send their children to school on Monday. Ever since the outgoing Kadima government ended Operation Cast Lead in Gaza on January 20, the Palestinians have steadily stepped-up their missile war against Israel. Over the weekend the IDF acknowledged that six weeks later, daily Palestinian missile barrages against Israel have returned to pre-Operation Cast Lead levels. Moreover, the IDF warned that over the past six weeks, Hamas and its sister terror groups have rebuilt their missile arsenals both through imports of Iranian arms from...

[photo] Irish demonstrators have had enough. They’re tired of U2 rocker Bono haranguing world leaders to increase taxes when the hypocritical Hibernian band won’t pay its fair share of taxes. While the band staged an concert on the roof of BBC headquarters, a group of demonstrators staged a protest on the street below. They chastised the band for moving its business to the Netherlands to avoid increased Irish taxes. The protesters’ placards read “Bono: pay your taxes” and “Bono: don’t be a banker” and the poetic “We’ll downl’d it 4 free and give the money to charity.”... ...continued

I was watching the presser and of course by the time a reporter asked a question about Rush LImbaugh and Michael Steele, both of my twins woke from their naps screaming so I missed D.C. Bob's response...I thought I heard him say that the head of the RNC had apologized to the head of the Republican party right before D.C. Bob literally RAN from the room full of journalists?? That's the new WH buzz now, attack Rush as the 'head of the Republican party'? Anyone who has ever actually listened to Rush knows better--but flyover America might be misled!

I don't do PhotoShop, but I think this would be a good one.

[...] So we are faced with Obama’s ambition and the Democrats greed . . . evil twins working to end this country’s greatness while stomping on the Constitution. But do we have to endure this wholesale destruction of our economy until the next election; maybe not There may be a way to stop the hemorrhaging of confidence and dollars from the U.S. treasury. Obama’s presidency needs to be aborted. Let me very clear. I am not advocating anything other than a lawful removal of the Usurper and the end of this fraudulent presidency. How? In point of fact, if we...

(CNN) – Alaska State Sen. Kim Elton, one of the leading officials to pursue an investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin during the heat of the presidential campaign, has taken a high-level job in the Interior Department. Palin reacted in a short statement Monday, the day Elton announced his move to Washington. “Senator Elton pledged his allegiance to President Obama last summer,” said the governor. “We wish him well as he moves on and hope that he uses this job for Alaska’s benefit.” Palin was the target of an official investigation last year over charges she improperly dismissed a public safety...

We all can agree the Detroit automakers have cried wolf at least one too many times in response to safety and environmental requirements. If their most dire warnings had come true, the seat-belt mandate of the mid-1960s, the conversion to unleaded fuel in the 1970s, and the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards that have troubled the minds of auto executives since 1975 would have wiped out the industry decades ago. Still, today's automakers aren't the same flush, ebullient group that once invited us to see the USA in a Chevrolet, asked if we'd driven a Ford lately, and dared to...

A Jacksonville police officer was reading her in-car laptop moments before her cruiser rear-ended an empty gasoline tanker truck Monday morning, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Officer Amanda Meyer, 29, was driving west in the 1500 block of Zoo Parkway about 8:30 a.m. when her car struck the truck, said Lt. Bill Leeper, a Highway Patrol spokesman. Leeper said the truck had stopped at a railroad crossing, as required by state law, and was about to head across when the accident occurred. Leeper said Meyer had briefly glanced at her in-car laptop, which is mounted to her right, before the...

Reid: Senate GOP wants Obama to fail By: Alex Isenstadt March 3, 2009 02:53 PM EST Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put it in no uncertain terms today: Senate Republicans want Barack Obama to fail. “It’s very clear they’ve made a decision they want President Obama to fail,” Reid told reporters, listing of a series of Obama proposals Republicans have lined up against, including the $410 billion omnibus spending package before the Senate this week. When asked to name specific Senate Republicans who wanted Obama to fail, Reid would only say a “number of Republicans.” “It’s very clear,” Reid said....

The tale of private investment bank Northern Trust Corporation of Chicago, criticized because it sponsored a golf tournament, with proceeds to charity, followed by a private performance starring such popular acts as Earth, Wind and Fire and Sheryl Crow for its top clients and employees, should serve as a warning to other companies--and even private individuals--on the dangers of accepting government money. Learning its lesson, Northern, which received $1.5 billion in government bailout funds, plans to repay the government "as quickly as prudently possible" while promising future standard practice corporate entertainment will be "appropriate, given the current environment." Leading the...

The Helix Nebula from La Silla Observatory Credit: WFI, MPG/ESO 2.2-m Telescope, La Silla Obs., ESO Explanation: Will our Sun look like this one day? The Helix Nebula is one of brightest and closest examples of a planetary nebula, a gas cloud created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. The outer gasses of the star expelled into space appear from our vantage point as if we are looking down a helix. The remnant central stellar core, destined to become a white dwarf star, glows in light so energetic it causes the previously expelled gas to fluoresce....

A 65-year-old Texas grandmother says she chased down a man who had just snatched her purse, hit him with her car and held him until police arrived. “I was madder than hell is what I was,“ Val Renfro said. “I didn’t think about anything else except, ‘He’s not going to get away with this.‘“ Renfro had just finished shopping at Office Depot in East Fort Worth on Sunday afternoon and was getting in her car when Ricky Lee Sample stole her purse. “The next thing I know, somebody just blindsided me,“ Renfro said. She grabbed her cell phone, which...

Even though President Barack Obama has repeatedly pledged to ban congressional earmarks, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has 16 such projects, worth about $8.5 million, in the bill the Senate is considering this week. The earmarks include funds for Adler Planetarium and west suburban Franklin Park. Obama has been relentless in criticizing the use of earmarks; in his address to Congress last week, he boasted how the economic stimulus package was "free of earmarks." By the end of this week, however, he's likely to sign a separate $410 billion spending plan that keeps most domestic programs funded through...

Canadian Arab Federation calls Harper a 'whore' It's never smart to call a federal cabinet minister a "*****" - not when you depend on him for money. But Khaled Mouammar, president of the Canadian Arab Federation, is a fearless man. At a recent anti-Israel rally, he referred to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney as a "professional *****" for supporting Israel. "Ouch"!!! That's gotta Hurt! You know they say "Sticks and Stones will break your Bones", but calling the Government "*****s", especially the same Government Ministry which previously gave you close to $500,000.00 every year in Canadian Taxpayers Multicultural and Diversity Funds,...

This is what is going to happen, as I noted in BlogTalkRadio yesterday afternoon, if "The Bezzle" is not removed from our system NOW. Take a look at that folks. That's a snapshot of today's volume for June GE $2.50 PUTs. That's over 52,000 contracts traded today, controlling 5.2 million shares. They were purchased for about 30 cents, which means that the price has to be under $2.20 for them to go "in the money". This is a bankruptcy bet on General Electric by the third week of June. That's right - General Electric. Folks, this is precisely what I...

The Senate on Tuesday shot down a Republican measure that would have frozen federal spending at 2008 levels for the current fiscal year, preferring to stick with an omnibus package that increases spending by about 8 percent. Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat, said during the debate that the spending-freeze amendment would have been the same as "looking backward, going in reverse. It doesn't make sense." Democrats said higher sending was vital to responding to the economic crisis. The amendment, which Sen. John McCain offered to replace the $410 billion omnibus bill that would fund most of the government until the...

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has a blunt message for the White House on the issue of earmarks: Back off. On Monday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs hinted that the White House would be pushing for earmark reform, telling reporters: "I think that you'll see that the president is going to draw some very clear lines about what's going to happen going forward. But Hoyer made clear Tuesday that he would have none of it. While the White House can “suggest ways for us to reform,” Hoyer said, “I don’t think the White House has the ability to tell...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday denied offering Russia a deal in which Washington would slow deployment of a missile defense shield in Europe in exchange for Moscow's help in a nuclear stand-off with Iran. The New York Times reported that Obama had sent a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last month suggesting he would back off deploying a new missile defense system if Russia helped stop Iran from developing long-range weapons. "The report that was in The New York Times didn't accurately characterize the letter," Obama said after meeting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for...

At 3, Hannah Faith Butler read — not just any children's books, but ones recommended for fourth graders. In kindergarten, her mother started her on pre-algebra lessons. Today, the Rotella Interdistrict Magnet School fourth-grader with pinkish glasses and a room full of Barbies digests high-school concepts and performs virtual surgery in down time. She looks adorably stunning, with a button nose, dark doe eyes and a thick head of lustrous black hair befitting a model. But Hannah wants to be a surgeon. "You have to help people out, take out their problems and make people feel better," Hannah, 9, explained...