Free Republic

NEW YORK – June 30, 2009 – For the first time ever, MSNBC notched a quarterly victory over CNN in weekday primetime for 2Q09 in both total viewers and Adults 25-54, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. MSNBC was also the number one cable news network among younger viewers, Adults 18-34, in primetime in second quarter. For 2Q09, MSNBC also beat CNN at 8 p.m. among both total viewers and A25-54 with “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.”

China postponed a plan to require personal computer makers to supply Internet-filtering software Tuesday, retreating in the face of protests by Washington and Web surfers hours before it was due to take effect.

Though Michael Jackson was wed to Prince and Paris' mother, Debbie Rowe, their biological father is Arnold Klein, Jackson's L.A.-based dermatologist and Rowe's former boss, multiple sources confirm to the new issue of Us Weekly. See photos of Michael Jackson and his kids. "He is the dad," says a Jackson insider. "He and Debbie signed an agreement saying they would never reveal the truth." See shocking photos of Michael Jackson's changing face over the years. Though neither Rowe nor Jackson ever confessed to their kids' true lineage, she did admit in 2002 that she carried his children as a personal...

It was billed as three days of peace and music, but the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was really the culmination of months of planning, begging, borrowing and countless hours of hard work. To mark the 40th anniversary of that historic concert, the man at the heart of it all, Michael Lang — the producer who co-created Woodstock — peels back the curtain and reveals the stories and the passion behind one of rock's most powerful moments. Lang and Holly George-Warren deliver The Road to Woodstock on June 30, but here they give RollingStone.com a first look at some of...

Hugo Chávez's coalition-building efforts suffered a setback yesterday when the Honduran military sent its president packing for abusing the nation's constitution. It seems that President Mel Zelaya miscalculated when he tried to emulate the success of his good friend Hugo in reshaping the Honduran Constitution to his liking. But Honduras is not out of the Venezuelan woods yet. Yesterday the Central American country was being pressured to restore the authoritarian Mr. Zelaya by the likes of Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, Hillary Clinton and, of course, Hugo himself. The Organization of American States, having ignored Mr. Zelaya's abuses, also wants him...

Title only.

Have the Obama administration's Middle East policies created stress for our friends at the National Jewish Democratic Council? One possible clue is that their blog just began regular cross-posting of blog posts from a site called "Neurotic Democrat." But more straightforward evidence can be found in a series of increasingly ludicrous "Fact sheets" that are about as convincing as the Wizard of Oz thundering "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." Last year, NJDC assured Jewish voters, “Obama believes Israel’s Security is Paramount” and highlighted Obama’s pledge to AIPAC leaders that if he was elected the U.S. would...

KNOXVILLE - A defense attorney for a University of Tennessee student accused of accessing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's e-mail account is asking a judge today to toss out the case.

HULK star Lou Ferrigno has spoken about his private training sessions with Michael Jackson — and insisted: "I'd never seen him look better." Muscleman Lou was helping Jacko get in shape for his gruelling series of shows at the O2 in London next month. And the stunned actor insisted the pop superstar left him in no doubt that he was ready for his massive headline-grabbing comeback. Two-time Mr Universe Lou said: "When he moved he convinced me that he was going to make the biggest come back in history. "He was great. I trained him on and off for 15...

The international community, including the United States, was quick to condemn the ouster of Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya as an assault on democracy. In fact, it was much more a last-ditch effort to protect the nation from the Hugo Chavez admirer's assault on democracy, according to Ray Walser, senior policy analyst for Latin American at The Heritage Foundation. After Zelaya was forcibly removed from office by the military on Sunday, President Barack Obama said the ouster was illegal and would set a "terrible precedent" of transition by military force. Obama's immediate and forceful response to events in the Central American...

FOX NEWS RECORDS UNPRECEDENTED TOP 10 OUT OF 10 PROGRAMS IN CABLE NEWS FOR 2ND QUARTER... ON PACE TO BE NETWORK'S BEST YEAR EVER... THE O'REILLY FACTOR 3,191,000 HANNITY 2,345,000 GLENN BECK 2,053,000 ON THE RECORD W/GRETA 1,950,000 SPECIAL REPORT W/BRET BAIER 1,889,000 FOX REPORT/SHEP SMITH 1,783,000 THE O'REILLY FACTOR (RPT) 1,579,000 AMERICA'S NEWSROOM BILL HEMMER & MEGYN KELLY 1,399,000 YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO 1,389,000 STUDIO B W/SHEP SMITH 1,169,000

The identity of the biological father of Michael Jackson’s children is being reported as that of his dermatologist, Arnold Klein. Klein reportedly fathered the children with Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe, who gave birth to Prince Michael and Paris Michael Katherine. The identity of the mother or father to Prince Michael II, known as ‘Blanket’, is unknown. Sources revealed Klein as the father to usmagazine.com, saying that "He and Debbie signed an agreement saying they would never reveal the truth." Los Angeles-based Klein is Rowe’s former boss. She previously worked as a nurse’s assistant. Rowe has reportedly reached out to the...

rom Richard Dawkin’s God Delusion to Bill Maher’s Religulous, the media is filled with half-truths and whole lies about what it means to be a believer in God, and more often than not, Christian. Dawkin’s argues that there is contradictory evidence to the existence of God while Maher pokes fun at the members of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, while simultaneously asking the usual theological questions. For example: Do you think that, if when you were a kid, they transposed the Bible stories with fairy tales, that you would know the difference as an adult? Yes Mr. Maher, I would. It...

The Obama adminstration has imposed financial sanctions on a company accused of involvement in North Korea's missile proliferation network.

A car bomb exploded in a crowded outdoor market in the northern city of Kirkuk on Tuesday, killing at least 27 people, police said, a deadly reminder of the challenges facing the Iraqi government even as it celebrated the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from cities. The bombing marred what had otherwise been a festive day as Iraqis commemorated the newly declared National Sovereignty Day with military parades and marching bands. It also came hours after four U.S. soldiers were killed in combat Monday in Baghdad. Although there were no immediate claims of responsibility, the bombing and the way it...

As a follow up to my previous posting (Cap n Trade Bill: Where Will You Be When The Lights Go Out?), I have been reading the cap n trade bill. I know that I'm not the smartest person however I majored in Economics and I still don't understand this bill. How can an American be taxed on individual carbon usage based on some complex formula that depends on a tree being cut in a jungle in Brazil or how many trucks are on the road in India at any given time, not to mention the Chinese industrial output. This bill...

  Editor's note: The following is Thomas Joscelyn's response to this letter from Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.Let’s be clear about the extreme position Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has taken here: Al Qaeda-trained terrorists pose no threat to the American people. This is obviously a disturbing stance - especially for a sitting congressman.Now, of course Mr. Rohrabacher pretends that his defense of the Uighurs detained at Gitmo is not a defense of al Qaeda-trained terrorists at all. But it is, for at least two reasons. First, Mr. Rohrabacher offers no rebuttal to the facts and evidence I cited. This body of evidence conclusively...

There is a popular myth that Al Gore invented the Internet. Never to be out done, he went on to be the father of Green, won a noble prize, Emmy etc. The man is a genius, so he thinks. Bob Metcalfe, is the inventor of Ethernet (as in he has the patent, not a noble prize) which is a critical foundational technology for the Internet. His classmates at MIT were key players in Email, FTP, TCP/IP, etc. And no, Al gore was not in their graduating class at MIT. Metcalfe's perspective on how to solve the energy problem is radically...

Right now, you might feel you don't need any insurance against a rise in the cost of living. Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, is running at negative-1.3% over the past 12 months; with oil and real estate down drastically, there are few signs of rising prices in daily life. But the cost of living mightn't fall for much longer. So it is a good time to look at inflation insurance, in the form of U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, or TIPS. The principal value of TIPS increases or decreases with the cost of living. Unlike normal bonds, TIPS...

Citing the cereal’s claim that incorporating Cheerios into a daily diet could lower cholesterol by up to 4% within 6 weeks, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced proposed regulations that would require buyers to obtain a doctor’s prescription before they would be allowed to purchase the product. “Lowering cholesterol is a medical outcome,” FDA spokesperson, Susan Cruzan pointed out. “As such, it comes under our jurisdiction. Other makers of cholesterol-lowering drugs must get FDA approval before marketing their products. To allow General Mills to skate on this would give them an unfair advantage.” Cruzan contended that “requiring consumers...