Free Republic

China's Green Dam Youth Escort plans have been shelvedIn June news broke of an ambitious new campaign in China to filter it citizen's computers.  Titled the Green Dam Youth Escort, it required all new computers to come with filtering software.  While China claimed the move was to protect against pornography, many citizens feared further government monitoring and computer manufacturers didn't enjoy being forced to include the new software. Now China's government-run Xinhua news agency has announced that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology would "delay the mandatory installation of the controversial 'Green Dam-Youth Escort' filtering software on new computers." Wen...

The global economic crisis appears to be stabilizing, with recovery clearly under way in China and likely to commence in the U.S. over the next few months. The G-20 Summit in London in early April accomplished a good deal, especially in expanding the ability of the International Monetary Fund to counter the turndown in poorer countries and recommitting the major economic powers to refrain from protectionism. But this is no time for complacency on the international front. There remains a persistent threat of pressure in major countries to adopt new trade barriers and other mercantilist measures that could strangle the...

Featured Term (selected at random):IMPASSIBILITY Quality of the glorified human body in being free from every kind of physical evil, such as sorrow or sickness, injury or death. It may be defined as the impossibility to suffer and to die (Revelation 21:4). The inherent reason for impassibility consists in the perfect compliance of the body and emotions to the soul. (Etym. Latin in-, not + passibilis, able to suffer; impassibilis, incapable of suffering.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Nobel-Prize winning economist Paul Krugman said the nation is on course for a "prolonged jobless" economic recovery unless the Obama administration steps in with a second round of government stimulus money. "The fact of the matter is that the unemployment rate is much worse than the administration contemplated or that most people expected," Krugman told ABC News. "So the economy is much weaker than we thought it'd be, meaning, in fact, it could use more stimulus." Krugman: 'I'm Trying to Move the Debate' Criticizing the president's policies are nothing new for Krugman, 56, a frequent Roundtable guest and contributor on...

The Pentagon says it has put cooperation with the Honduran military on hold. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman says the United States has "postponed" joint operations in light of last weekend's military coup against that country's president.

The Hamas-founded Council on American-Islamic Relations has long pretended to be a civil rights organization, comparing itself at times to the NAACP, but a close look at its record reveals the real CAIR agenda to be – in common with all Islamists – promoting the Shari'a. This can be achieved two ways. The more circuitous method influences American public opinion through the educational system, the media, the arts, the courts, and the political process. The more direct method converts Americans to Islam. Route #1 is CAIR's stock-in-trade, what it does most of the time. But every so often it tries...

Tuesday June 30, 2009 LifeSiteNews' Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace Despite disappointing report, LSN still confident Canada's bishops will correct serious funding problems Editorial by John-Henry Westen and Steve JalsevacOTTAWA, June 29, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Yesterday, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) released their report concerning the Mexican partners of their international development arm - Development & Peace. Given the very clear and incontrovertible evidence made available by LifeSiteNews.com confirming that the groups have advocated for abortion, it was astonishing that the report whitewashed the matter, saying: "we believe the allegations by Lifesite News...

A popular alternative to hybrid buses and subways gets a boost Bombardier is well-known worldwide as a manufacturer of aircraft, snowmobiles, and personal watercraft. The company has annual sales of almost $20 billion USD, and is well diversified into multiple transportation markets. One of these markets is light rail vehicles, commonly known as streetcars.Many European cities have highly developed light rail/streetcar lines that both complement and supplement subway lines. New subway lines are extremely expensive and can cost over $1 billion per kilometer to build. They also require high urban densities and heavy passenger volumes to be effective.Light rail lines...

Democrat Al Franken, right, with his wife Frannie Franken smile as they meet the media at their house in MInneapolis Tuesday June 30, 2009 after the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Democrat in the Senate race against Republican Norm Coleman. (AP Photo/Andy King) Al Franken, the newest member of the U.S. Senate, will be the guest speaker at Sen. Tom Harkin's annual steak fry Sept. 13. Franken, who is expected to be seated in the Senate next week after winning recounts and court challenges in his upset of Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, will headline Harkin's 32nd...

Iran's embattled opposition leader urged his supporters Wednesday to keep pressing for their rights, and the country's reformist ex-president denounced what he called the regime's "velvet coup" against those contesting the outcome of last month's presidential election. Mir Hossein Mousavi said he considered Iran's cleric-led government illegitimate, and he demanded that it release all political prisoners and institute electoral reforms and press freedoms, while former President Mohammad Khatami lashed out at what he termed "a poisonous security situation" in the wake of violent street protests.

It looks like Joe Scarborough is trying to sell more books. I guess the endorsement his book received from Christpher Buckler, RINO who voted for Obama, didn't do the trick. Now he is back to taking cheap shots at Governor Palin. It seems he wants her to hide in Alaska and stay out of sight. Watch the video from his Morning Joe liberal talkfest. http://www.considerthisnews.com/index.php/site/thefeed/morning_joe_palin_a_circus_act_joke/

Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist and author of The God Delusion, has helped launch an atheist summer camp for children. Alongside the more traditional activities of tug-of-war, swimming and canoeing, children at the five-day camp in Somerset will learn about rational scepticism, moral philosophy, ethics and evolution. Camp-goers aged eight to 17 will also be taught how to disprove phenomena such as crop circles and telepathy. In the Invisible Unicorn Challenge, any child who can prove that unicorns do not exist will win a £10 note - which features an image of Charles Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory -...

It all began on July 4, 1776 in the city of Philadelphia when a small group of men, suffering under the restraints of a European power 3000 miles away, and acting as the Second Continental Congress, declared their 13 colonies to be free and independent of Great Britain. Knowing their proclamation would bring difficulties, they committed themselves and their constituents to what they believed was their “unalienable right” — freedom from tyranny. The Revolutionary War resulted from their declaration. It was a time of tremendous hardship for the new nation, but it ushered in a new era for the world....

A reader in the most recent Mark Sanford combox thread voices a familiar complaint from the previous ones. The argument goes like this: 1. Mark Sanford is a social conservative who advocated against same-sex marriage rights. 2. But by having an adulterous affair, he dishonored his own marriage vows. 3. Therefore it is hypocritical for him -- and by extension, other social conservatives -- to argue against same-sex marriage. 4. Because some opponents of same-sex marriage are unfaithful to their spouses, there is no good reason to oppose same-sex marriage. It's an absurd argument, but that doesn't stop more than...

A friendly suggestion to former McCain campaign staffers. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. Posted by Moe Lane (Profile) Wednesday, July 1st at 11:00AM EDT 14 Comments Background: Hot Air (Allahpundit), Hot Air (Ed Morrissey), The Weekly Standard, ConsiderThisNews (Pat Hynes), The Politico Since everybody else is piling on, let me add my own comment to the fray. If you were one of the people who participated in that Vanity Fair hit piece, and we find out your name, you will be a net drag on any national campaign for the rest of your professional career. Not because...

The bill proposes a massive and highly regressive tax on the U.S. economy, and could potentially cause not only extensive business failures, unemployment and privation within our borders, but starvation among poorer populations elsewhere. . . . According to a report issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in April, by 2015 the price of carbon emission indulgences required by the bill for industries to operate could be expected to run between $13 and $17 per ton of CO2 emitted. . . . [L]et’s stipulate the $15/ton midrange of the EPA estimate, and see what it implies. The United States emits...

[Quote]Presentments filed in D.C.!!! Working on the complete list now and will post as soon as we get it complete. July 1st 11:43 A.M. On Monday, June 29, 2009, the team met with and handed SuperAmericanGrandJury Presentments to: 1. Secret Service for the White House - SERVED 2. USDOJ - United States Dept of Justice - guards sent us instead to the FBI 3. FBI - SERVED PRESENTMENTS 4. District Court - U.S. Marshalls - We got new coverletters notarized and then the Clerks of the District Court TOOK PRESENTMENTS - a huge American THANK YOU NEEDS TO BE SENT...

There is growing unrest among the more prominent commentators and media outlets that usually cheerlead for Barack Obama. They are upset that Congress is being allowed to mangle beyond recognition the president’s vision. Yes, the stimulus bill was a bit of a legislative disaster, but something needed to pass while the global economy teetered on the brink. However, that is no excuse for the same happening to the flagship plans on climate change and health. Here, Clive Crook in the Financial Times and David Brooks in the New York Times start to vent their frustration at the way in which...

In Georgia, summer brings not just sweltering days and holidays on the Black Sea, but also the lurking fear of invasion and attack. The Caucasus mountains, for so much of the year the country’s stalwart defender while heavy snow cuts off the only road linking South Ossetia and Russia through the Roki Tunnel, are powerless to deter attack from May until the snows come again around mid September. Pavel Felhgenhauer, columnist and defence analyst for Russia’s opposition Novaya Gazeta newspaper has written extensively about his belief that Russia is likely to finish off this summer what they started last year...

Compiled by the Mercatus Center, a nonprofit public policy research center affiliated with George Mason University, using a wide swath of comparative data to determine personal freedoms, including alcohol and drug laws, asset-forfeiture rules, and education regulations. 1. Maryland 2. Illinois 3. New York 4. Rhode Island 5. Ohio 6. New Jersey 7. Massachusetts 8. Alabama 9. Georgia 10. South Carolina