Free Republic

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2009 – President Barack Obama yesterday signed a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Air Force Service Pilots of World War II, the first women in American history to fly military aircraft. President Barack Obama signs a bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Air Force Service Pilots, established during World War II, in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., July 1, 2009. From left, the pilots are: Bernice Falk Haydu, Elaine Danforth Harmon and Lorraine H. Rodgers. U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida is at far right. Behind the...

Hundreds, probably thousands, have been arrested in Iran since the presidential election on 12 June. Human rights and campaign groups such as Human Rights Watch, the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and Reporters Without Borders have been collecting and publishing the names of those dead or detained. We have brought those lists, and reports from trusted media sources, into a database that we are asking readers and those elsewhere on the internet to contribute too.

The cause for beatification of Pope John Paul II has moved a step forward, according to a report by Andrea Tornielli of the Italian daily newspaper Il Giornale. Tornielli-- who has accurately predicted several recent developments inside the Vatican-- says that theological consultors working with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints have delivered a positive verdict on the positio, the full case in favor of a pronouncement that the life of John Paul II was marked by "heroic virtue." The positio will now be forwarded to the full Congregation for the Causes of Saints for a vote later this...

John Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6 am. While his coffeepot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor. (MADE IN HONG KONG) He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA) designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA) After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA) he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA) he got...

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2009 – It’s “so far, so good” in Iraq since U.S. combat forces withdrew from the country’s cities and towns, the commander of Multinational Force Iraq said yesterday. “It’s going fine -- no problem at all,” Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said on the PBS program “Newshour With Jim Lehrer.” Iraqi troops and police are manning checkpoints and stations by themselves, the general added. Baghdad and Kirkuk have seen bomb attacks, but Iraqi forces have been able to handle the situations, Odierno told news anchor Judy Woodruff. U.S. forces have been moving out of the cities and...

BOSTON, Mass, July 1, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - General Electric has announced that it will use embryonic stem cells provided by Geron Corporation for the purpose of testing toxic effects of drug treatments.GE issued a statement, attempting to preempt criticism over the decision, saying, "We acknowledge the considerable debate and take very seriously the ethical and societal issues associated with research using stem cells derived from embryonic or fetal tissue.""We conduct our research in an ethically and scientifically responsible manner," the statement said.However, embryonic stem cells have been the center of heated controversy since harvesting the cells requires the destruction...

U.S. President Barack Obama holds a roundtable briefing with journalists from the Catholic press and the Washington Post in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington July 2. The briefing was held in advance of the president’s scheduled meeting with Pope Benedict XVI July 10 at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Lawrence Jackson, White House) WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama told a round table of religion writers July 2 that he continues to be profoundly influenced by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, whom he came to know when he was a community organizer in a project partially...

Feeling a little overwhelmed by the amount of media attention the networks have given to Michael Jackson? You're not alone, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll, and that fact puzzles MSNBC contributor Touré. Touré and David Wilson of TheGrid.com appeared on the July 2 broadcast of Nancy Snyderman's MSNBC's show "Dr. Nancy" to examine the premise that Michael Jackson's death was getting too much attention. Snyderman cited statics from the Pew Research Center for People & Press July 1 poll about the Jackson coverage. ...more (w/video)...

Virtual currency is turning into a multi-billion dollar economy, and much of that money sits in virtual banks that exist outside normal government regulation. So what happens when fraudsters wake up to the laissez-faire virtual economy? And worse, what if the one of those fraudsters happens to be the bank CEO? Something bad is what happens. Reuters has the blow by blow of the recent news that the CEO of a bank in the game EVE Online stole $5100 from his depositors in order to pay some real world debts. Ricdic, the CEO's character in the game, "embezzled about 200...

  MSNBC.com On marriage: Let’s call the whole thing off Author Sandra Tsing Loh is ending her marriage. Is it time you did, too? By Sandra Tsing Loh The Atlantic updated 6:27 a.m. PT, Mon., June 22, 2009 Sadly, and to my horror, I am divorcing. This was a 20-year partnership. My husband is a good man, though he did travel 20 weeks a year for work. I am a 47-year-old woman whose commitment to monogamy, at the very end, came unglued. This turn of events was a surprise. I don’t generally even enjoy men; I had an entirely manageable...

ANSA) - Rome, July 2 - Defenders of wartime pope Pius XII have ''nice surprises'' in store, the keeper of the Vatican's secret archives said Thursday. The controversial pope, who has been criticised for not speaking out clearly against the Holocaust, ''even ran personal risks'' to save Jews, said Msgr Sergio Pagano, Prefect of the Secret Archives. ''When the archives can be published there'll be some nice surprises,'' he said. ''I can't tell you any more,'' Pagan said, fending off eager reporters during a press conference on Galileo.

John Bolton has a compelling and courageous analysis in the Washington Post today, making the case that Israel should bomb Iran’s nuclear installations and do so quickly. He argues that diplomacy has no chance of working, leaving only one serious option on the table if Iran is to be prevented from going nuclear. He adds a new and important point:

Michael Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe broke her silence Thursday and declared she wants custody of the two children she had with the late King of Pop. "I want my children," Rowe said during a 90-minute phone interview with NBC-LA early Thursday. Rowe, who married Jackson in 1996 and filed for divorce three years later, told the station she is willing to submit to DNA testing to prove maternity and psychological testing. Rowe had initially signed a contract with Jackson surrendering her parental rights, but an appeals court threw out that contract in 2006, ruling that Rowe remained the legal parent...

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2009 – Iraqi officials are learning to accept modern inspectors general in their government, and the coalition-backed investigative program is ready to stand on its own, a senior leader in that effort said. Marine Corps Col. Robert Schroeder, inspector general special staff assistant to the commander of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq, spoke with bloggers and online journalists during a June 30 “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable about the support his office provides. The command has dedicated IG advisors to Iraq’s ministries of Defense and Interior, Joint Headquarters Staff and Counter-terrorism Bureau, Schroeder said. “Each of the advisors and...

Gibbs: 'Stimulus plan is working' despite job losses By Sam Youngman Posted: 07/02/09 02:24 PM [ET] Despite losing almost a half-million jobs in June, the economy is showing signs or recovery, the White House said Thursday. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president joins the American people in being "impatient for results" as Republicans are howling that Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan has done nothing to halt job losses. "There's a sense that beginnings of stabilization are taking hold, and hopefully the worst job loss is behind us," Gibbs said, adding the president was "deeply disappointed by the...

The Significance of Ayn Rand's Novel Atlas Shrugged From The Ayn Rand Institute "I refuse to apologize for my ability -- I refuse to apologize for my success -- I refuse to apologize for my money." The U.S. economy is in shambles, with every nightly newscast bringing word of new government interventions. Americans are alarmed and desperate for answers: How did we get here? How will we recover? That might sound like a description of today's world, but in fact it's also a sketch of the world Ayn Rand created in her classic novel Atlas Shrugged. The tea parties testify...

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2009 – North Korea’s launch of four short-range missiles yesterday didn’t surprise Defense Department officials, a Pentagon spokesman said today. “What’s fair to say is that North Korea, [and its] behavior, continues to be unpredictable,” Bryan Whitman said, noting the activity “was not unexpected.” Whitman said he doesn’t know of any specific violations of a June 12 United Nations Security Council nonproliferation resolution on North Korea associated with the launch. North Korea has been the subject of near-universal condemnation since conducting a nuclear test in April. It also has tested intercontinental and intermediate-range missile technology. A defense...

A sixth auction by an eBay seller who has claimed to have an original birth certificate – from Kenya – for President Obama has been scrubbed by the giant corporation, and doubts have begun to flourish as a promised YouTube video about the issue also failed to appear. There also has been no response from the seller to WND's multiple attempts to make contact, except a written promise on the sixth auction description to meet with the news website. All this despite written assurances from the YouTube poster known as "InspectorSmith" that work on the project was under way. "We...

Below is a list of serial killers who were homosexuals. This list is intended for reference purposes only and does not imply a causal relationship between homosexuality and serial killing. Although incidents of serial killing are widely reported in the media because of the heinous and unusual nature of these crimes, there are actually very few serial killers relative to the general population. Research into this phenomenon is ongoing, and a small industry has sprung up around the practice of "profiling" serial killers in order to assist in their apprehension. But, law enforcement officials agree that each serial killer is...

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2009 – A giant, unmanned airship capable of hovering at about 70,000 feet promises to give future warfighters an unprecedented eye on the battlefield. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Integrated Sensor is Structure program, ISIS for short, will provide a detailed, real-time picture of all movement on or above the battlefield. Defense DoD graphic courtesy of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Integrated Sensor is Structure program, ISIS for short, will provide a detailed, real-time picture of all movement on or above the battlefield, explained...