Free Republic

The weather on Mars was much balmier in the recent past than scientists have previously thought, according to a new interpretation of the formation of certain landforms on the surface. The finding could have implications for the possibility of finding signs of life on Mars.

ROSEBURG, Ore. -- A Sutherlin man who shot and killed a man his wife found asleep on their couch last year will serve 19 months in prison as part of a plea deal. Keith Cramer, 35, pleaded no contest to criminally negligent homicide with a firearm. In exchange, the district attorney dropped a charge of second degree manslaughter. The charges stem from a shooting inside Cramer's home in Sutherlin, where Cramer's wife discovered a man sleeping on their couch last June. She told police she went to a local tavern to get her husband, and the intruder, Michael Shane Smith,...

At a tea party in Lakewood Ranch Florida, I invited all veterans to join me on stage as I sang “God Bless the USA” in tribute to them. It was truly a moving experience. Veterans, old, young and active service men and women came forward. The audience applauded wildly expressing their love for them. Such tributes NEVER happen at left wing secular progressive events. Their goal is ALWAYS about tearing down America, as opposed to Celebrating America, which I do in my original song, “Celebrate America”. Regarding the “hyphenated American issue”. I begin every rally/tea party with, “I am NOT...

Judiciary: The Supreme Court's overturning of high-court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's ruling in the New Haven firefighter case exposes what lies at the core of her misguided philosophy: stark racial favoritism.Thanks to the court's ruling Monday in Ricci v. DeStefano, all the YouTube video clips from Judge Sotomayor's old speeches and conferences take on a clearer meaning now. Her claims that she was cheated when she took the racially skewed SATs, her contention that a Latina judge is morally superior to a white male judge, her mock sotto-voce declaration that appellate courts make policy — they have all been distilled and...

Incredible graphic commentary by the great Michael Ramirez.

So on the week America celebrates its 233rd birthday, the PGA Tour makes a stop in our nation's capital as the famed Congressional Country Club hosts a star studded field led by the tournament host, Tiger Woods.All the usual suspects will be in attendance using this event as a final warmup before heardin to Turnbury and the Open Championship in only 2 weeks time. Returning champion Anthony Kim, last week's winner and #1 in FedEx point standings, Kenny Perry, jim Furyk, Stewart Cink, Vijay Singh will all be on hand.....Chris Smith, Ken Green and Phil and Amy Mickelson are in...

Today, gay activists visit President Obama and the nation marks 40 years since the watershed event that is usually referred to as the Stonewall Rebellion: After police raided New York's most popular gay bar, gay people resisted for six consecutive days - ushering in the gay liberation phase of the gay civil rights movement and fixing the issue of gay civil rights on America's political map for all time. That Stonewall has hit its fourth decade is only part of the reason that the media are giving this anniversary attention. The other reason is that there is a sense of...

    ~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Patrick Air Force Base, Florida Patrick Air Force Base (IATA: COF, ICAO: KCOF, FAA LID: COF) is a United States Air Force Base located between Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach, in Brevard County, Florida, United States. Patrick AFB is home to the 45th Space Wing, whose Officers and Airmen manage all launches of unmanned rockets at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). These rockets include satellites for the US Military, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the National Security Agency, as well as scientific payload launches in support of NASA, weather satellite...

Yemeni airliner crashes in Indian Ocean 150 people reportedly on board; fate unknown BREAKING NEWS o MORONI, Comoros - An airliner belonging to Yemeni state carrier Yemenia Air crashed in the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean with 150 people on board, a senior government official said Tuesday. "We don't know if there are any survivors among the 150 people on the plane," a senior government official told Reuters.

Congressman Baird was so outraged at the quick passing of the appropriations bill without it being read that he sponsored House Resolution 544. Bills are available on line for 72 hours before being voted. Congressman Baird had no problem Friday voting on something he didn’t have time to read as long as he got his cut of the deal.

Most of us on the right fully admit that leftists hate America as we know it. Well they do not even hide it. Watch as Democratic NY State Senators will not stand for our Pledge of Allegiance, and even stop one from doing so. Like President Obama, they are truly a disgrace to America.

De Sousa, 53, insists she is not a CIA agent and was not involved in the kidnappingAn Indian American former consular official at the U.S. consulate in Milan is suing the U.S. government for protection under diplomatic immunity against charges by Italian prosecutors of involvement in the kidnapping of a Muslim cleric in Milan in February 2003. Italian prosecutors accuse Sabrina De Sousa of being a C.I.A. officer, covertly operating under a diplomatic guise, who, with 24 other CIA officers, kidnapped the cleric Abu Omar off a Milan Street for rendition to Egypt, where he claims he was tortured. De...

Americas: During his campaign, President Obama made a big deal of criticizing leaders who are elected democratically but don't govern democratically. He's had a chance to show that it mattered in Honduras. He didn't.That's the sorry story as Honduras' now ex-president, Mel Zelaya, last Thursday defied a Supreme Court ruling and tried to hold a "survey" to rewrite the constitution for his permanent re-election. It's the same blueprint for a rigged political system that's made former democracies like Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador into shells of free countries. Zelaya's operatives did their dirt all the way through. First they got...

Hope you have a nice Fourth of July. Maybe you'll watch the fireworks, grill a few hot dogs, give a little thanks to those keeping watch — now and then. Dave Cohea knows where he was on the Fourth of July in 1944: on board the USS Boston, which was shelling the island of Iwo Jima, softening it up for invasion the following spring. The Boston was Cohea's second ship, the first having been blasted out of the water 18 months earlier at Guadalcanal. "We were torpedoed. The ammo blew up, and fuel was all over me," says Cohea, 85,...

Lisa Marie Presley said he was a passionate lover. So what WAS the truth about Jackson's sexuality? By J RANDY TARABORRELLI and ADAM DAWE 30th June 2009 They met as children and for 40 years, he was Michael Jackson's confidant. Now, in this deeply personal series, J. Randy Taraborrelli writes exclusively of the Michael `Jackson he knew. Yesterday, he told the story of his friend's fall as he witnessed it first hand. Here, he examines Jackson's sexuality, investigating his questionable relationships with children - and providing a fascinating glimpse into a very passionate marriage with Elvis Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie......

By GORDON G. CHANG From today's Wall Street Journal Asia. At this moment the Kang Nam, a North Korea tramp freighter, is on the high seas tailed by a team of American destroyers and submarines and watched by reconnaissance satellites and aircraft. On board, its cargo could be plutonium pellets, missile parts or semi-ripe melons. In any event, Washington wants to know what is in the rusty ship's hold. Why the interest in this particular vessel? The Kang Nam is a "repeat offender" and known to carry "proliferation materials." As an unnamed American official told Fox News this month, "This...

A 620-year-old skeleton discovered under the floor of Stirling Castle has shed new light on the violent life of a medieval knight. Archaeologists believe that bones found in an ancient chapel on the site are those of an English knight named Robert Morley who died in a tournament there in 1388. Radio carbon dating has confirmed that the skeleton is from that period, and detailed analysis suggests that he was in his mid-20s, was heavily muscled and had suffered several serious wounds in earlier contests. He appears to have survived for some time with a large arrowhead lodged in his...

President Obama is taking your questions this Wednesday in a special online health care townhall event. With healthcare at the top of the President’s agenda, he is opening up the White House to questions via YouTube. Create a 20- or 30-second video question and submit it as a reply video to the video below (go here to get started). He’ll answer some of the most popular questions during the event, which we’ll stream live from the White House YouTube channel. This is your chance to speak directly to the President, so don’t miss this opportunity to upload your video now....

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is vowing to sign climate change legislation and overhauls in health care and financial regulations this year and is dismissing his critics as naysayers. Obama warned more than 400 of the Democratic Party's top fundraisers Monday evening that winning policy fights will become more difficult. Obama ran through a list of successful administration initiatives, including a $787 billion economic stimulus, a budget resolution, a fair-pay bill and a reversal on a ban on federal funding of stem cell research.

America, Japan, China and India have all begun what the Wall Street Journal calls ‘The new race for the moon’ (1). No doubt their motives aren’t wholly pure; but it is those who attack the whole idea of lunar missions who most deserve criticism right now, for they too are in the ascendant. A popular, of-the-moment example is the new anti-capitalist movie, Moon. Describing it as a warning ‘that couldn’t be more timely’, a contributor to the influential online magazine Slate insists, simply, ‘Stay off the moon!’ One thing unites the critics of lunar exploration. Forty years after man first...