Free Republic

Atheists strategize against book on God Online plot reveals plan to give Christian writing low rating The Christian author whose book "You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence but You Can't Make Him Think" bumped atheist Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" on Amazon.com's best-seller list says he's uncovered a conspiracy to attack his work...

With the help of a MacArthur “genius” grant, von Ahn set out to make amends. Now a growing number of websites, from e-commerce (Ticketmaster) to social networking (Facebook) to blogging (Wordpress), have implemented the precocious professor’s new tool, dubbed recaptcha. If you’ve visited those sites, your squiggly-letter- reading ability has been harnessed for a massive project that aims to scan and make freely available every out-of- copyright book in the world, by deciphering words from old texts that have stumped scanning software. The largest scanning centre in this project, directed by a San Francisco–based non-profit called the Open Content Alliance,...

Washington Post Reporter Eli Lake is Reporting that An independent inspector general will look into the foreign financial ties of Chas W. Freeman Jr., the Obama administration's pick to serve as chairman of the group that prepares the U.S. intelligence community's most sensitive assessments. According to Lake three different congressional aides have confirmed that Office of the Director of National Intelligence's inspector general, Edward McGuire will look into Mr. Freeman's potential conflicts of interest. Lindsay Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Rep. Steve Israel, a Democrat from New York who sits on the House Appropriations Committee's select intelligence oversight panel that funds...

There is a great list posted over at the The Power Hour for those of you who are as a precaution preping some emergency stores. http://www.thepowerhour.com/news/items_disappearfirst.htm

We need action – and action now. That is why I have asked my economic team to develop an economic recovery plan for both Wall Street, Main Street and the Hood that will help save or create at least 12 and a half million jobs. President Barack Obama and Vice President Biden Tuesday announced the release of $28 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to states and local transportation authorities to repair sidewalks, Nascar tracks and build highways, roads and bridges to nowhere. This investment will lead to 9,950,000 jobs saved or created by the end of...

The financial meltdown, through the eyes of the father of capitalism ___ In the middle of the nineteenth century, Robert Owen, a British mill operator who sought to overturn the nascent capitalist system, found his collectivist schemes crumbling. He turned for support to the dead, proclaiming that he had the backing of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Shakespeare, Shelley, Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington, and the prophet Daniel — not to mention the dearly departed Duke of Kent, whom Owen complimented for never being late for a seance. Owen was an important figure in the development of anti-capitalist sentiment. Marx and...

Baucus And Tester Send Warning Shot To Protect 2nd Amendment Tuesday, March 3, 2009 (Washington D.C.)- Montana’s U.S. Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester sent a simple and clear message to Attorney General Eric Holder today: any new gun restrictions are a non-starter. In a letter to Holder, Baucus and Tester emphasized the need to enforce current laws on the books instead of passing additional laws which could infringe on Montanans’ 2nd Amendment rights. “We oppose reinstating the ban on the sale of assault weapons, and we call on the Department of Justice to enforce existing laws before it considers...

The third and most devastating leg of the great American meltdown of 2009 is the derivatives leg which reveals trillions of dollars of unsecured debt and credit default swaps which cannot be covered and has ushered in the PANIC phase of our economic collapse: Allen L Roland The first leg in the great bear market of 2008/09 was the sub prime mortgage debacle which led to the current credit card crisis leg, which is still adding tremendous pressure to mainstream banks, but the final leg is the derivative leg which represents trillions of dollars of unregulated credit default swaps and...

The trade agenda of US President Barack Obama, released on March 2, appears to include more obstacles to free trade than incentives. His team brands the troubled Doha Round of talks “imbalanced”, while new trade agreements must satisfy tough standards on workers’ rights and environment. Obama’s agenda praises the benefits of free trade, but in practice his policies could prove protectionist. For one thing, the administration appears to regard free trade as unpleasant medicine to be taken only when necessary. Obama's attitude to Doha, objecting to the US “giving” obvious benefits away while its “opportunities” are unclear, is a case...

So the Obama goons think we should throw Rush Limbaugh overboard do they? I’m going to say that again. The liberals are encouraging we, conservatives, to abandon Rush…because they don’t like him? Here comes one of my favorite phrases: You’ve gotta be [bleeping] kidding me! Man, there really is a right time for the F-bomb isn't there? I wouldn't ditch a kidney stone to appease those liberal jackasses! So liberals don’t like Rush Limbaugh? Well, that’s a pretty compelling argument against him isn’t it? Fine, I don’t like Hugo Chavez, so when can I expect a liberal to “distance themselves”...

KABUL, Afghanistan: Eight years ago, Mahmoud Karzai was running a handful of modest restaurants in San Francisco, Boston and Baltimore. Today, Karzai, an immigrant waiter-turned-restaurant owner, is one of Afghanistan's most prosperous businessmen. The older brother of Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, Mahmoud Karzai has major interests in the country's only cement factory, its dominant bank, its most ambitious real estate development, its only Toyota distributorship and four coal mines. He and a business partner run Afghanistan's national Chamber of Commerce — which has far more clout than its American counterpart — allowing him to broker deals and lure foreign...

What happened to Dave? Embarrassingly, I used to love him back in the good old days of the 80s and early 90s. Maybe I was just naive and foolish. For the record, screw Katie Couric! She is a hack!

Last Friday, Vice President Joe Biden and seven White House cabinet members traveled to Philadelphia to kick off the inaugural gathering of President Obama's Middle Class Task Force. The task force will convene monthly in cities across the country to confront the problems faced by average Americans. It's an admirable goal; with rising costs, stagnant wages and job cuts, a Pew Research study found that 78% of self-described middle class Americans have trouble maintaining their current standard of living. Still, the middle class may have a better shot at making ends meet than at influencing the Middle Class Task Force....

A lesbian couple have won their battle to get help from their local health authority to have a baby. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC) initially refused to offer them help at a specialised conception service as they were not classified as an infertile couple. The pair, named in reports as Caroline Harris and Julie McMullan, took their case to the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Thursday and a judicial review of the decision was due to take place at a later date. The women, of Maryhill, Glasgow, claimed the decision amounted to discrimination and are suing the board...

Pregnant women are being denied epidurals during labour it has emerged. The strong anaesthetic which is injected directly into the spine, is a popular choice with mothers-to-be to help them cope with the extreme pain of childbirth. And up to 60 per cent of first-time mums opt for an epidural in some regions. But now new guidelines have categorised the procedure as unnatural in a bid to boost the number of women having traditional births.The aim is to reduce the number of women having epidurals or caesareans by up to 40%. The recommendations are contained in a guidance document, Making...

From the Illinois Code: ARTICLE 7. THE MAKING OF NOMINATIONS BY POLITICAL PARTIES 10 ILCS 5/7-2) (from Ch. 46, par. 7-2) Sec. 7-2. [...] A political party, which at the municipal election in any other municipality or political subdivision, (except townships and school districts), for municipal or other officers therein then next preceding a primary, cast more than 5 per cent of the entire vote cast in such municipality or political subdivision, is hereby declared to be a political party within the meaning of this Article, within said municipality or political subdivision, and shall nominate all municipal or other officers...

Like Robert Stacey McCain, I’m frustrated with the “moderates” who voted for Obama in the desperate hope that he was not what the evidence - and by evidence, I mean his words, his associates, and even his extremely limited legislative track record - clearly proclaimed him to be: a far left Chicago thug politician whose goal was to move us into a more socialist state. David Brooks, Christopher Buckley, Peggy Noonan, Kathleen Parker, Doug Kmiec… you led the RINO cheerleading squad that helped this man become our President. Serious scrutiny of Obama’s admittedly scant record would have told you all...

CHEATING husbands will be open to divorce-style litigation from their mistresses under new laws. Mistresses can now claim income maintenance, property and even superannuation funds under the Family Law Amendment (De Facto Financial Matters and Other Measures), dubbed the "mistress laws", which were passed by the Senate last November and came into effect today (March 1). The main objective is to remove same-sex discrimination from the Family Court system, but they have left the door open for a raft of de facto relationship claims. The laws declare that de facto couples who satisfy basic criteria - such as being in...

My youngest daugter was profiled in LCSO 911 NewsLetter :)

A 73-year-old Wyomissing man plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal in a case involving child pornography that was found on his computer when he took it for servicing. Kenneth F. Sodomsky's case had been scheduled for disposition today in Berks County Court, but prosecutors said his lawyers notified them of the appeal. The state Supreme Court in December agreed with a Superior Court ruling that Sodomsky of the 100 block of Leisure Court lost his right to privacy when he took his computer to a Wyomissing electronics store for servicing. Those rulings reversed Berks Judge...