Free Republic

'There were two days a couple of weeks ago when the call-ins stopped," says Menashe Amir, Israel Radio's Farsi broadcaster, whose shows have attracted millions of listeners in Iran for the past 50 years. "But then they resumed." The going-on-70-year-old, who officially retired five years ago, yet continues to transmit on a daily basis, attributes this to the courage of his former countrymen (Amir made aliya in 1959). In a September 2006 interview in these pages, Amir asserted that a majority of Iranians opposed their regime, yet were helpless in the face of the repression under which they were living....

In a high-stakes move to reclaim his post, ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya tried to fly to this Central American nation on Sunday. The provisional government said it would turn the aircraft away, even as it signaled a new willingness to negotiate a solution to the region's biggest political crisis in years. Honduras' civil aviation director said Mr. Zelaya's plane was being redirected to El Salvador. Mr. Zelaya, a leftist kicked out by Honduras' army last week in his nightshirt, departed from Washington to Tegucigalpa on an aircraft believed to belong to Venezuela's government. He was accompanies by the U.N....

http://www.pnwcc.info There's a new site up for you Freepers in the Pacific Northwest. Not attempting to take anything from FR, here, but to augment your ability to accomplish things. If you want a state or region based chapter or association to help you make a difference, I've built the site for you. It offers: 1. Forums 2. Blog space 3. Topical Archives of information 4. Real file storage It's time we got more active, and less "readers" than "doers". The site is currently configured for WA, OR, ID, but we'd be happy to add MT or AK if need be....

-Megabanks may be slimmed down, told to prepare plans for own demise They are the biggest of the big — the Citigroups, the Goldman Sachses, the AIGs and other financial behemoths. The Obama administration doesn't want so many around anymore. Financial regulations proposed by the president would result in leaner and simpler institutions that don't carry the weight of the system on their marble columns. Around Washington and Wall Street they have come to be known as TBTF — too big to fail. It's not just size, though. These companies are so far-flung, so intertwined and so precariously leveraged that...

As research for an upcoming column on the many drawbacks of the cap-and-trade bill now before the Senate, I spent some time speaking with Christopher C. Horner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Horner is author of "Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats Fraud and Deception to Keep You Misinformed." Our discussion went on at some length and Horner made many excellent points about the hype over the threat of anthropogenic (man-made) global warming. That discussion can go on forever and I can't include much of it here. But I will point to an interesting little item that's...

Is Gary Kao a renegade physician, or a sacrificial lamb - or maybe just a doctor who was allowed to get in over his head? Kao is the only person whom officials have identified in the unfolding scandal over substandard radioactive seed implants at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center ---snip--- From top to bottom, that report concluded, there was a lack of concern for safety and accountability. That's a chilling denunciation, considering that the VA worked with eminent institutions -

There is something about a Down syndrome child in plain view which has exposed the moral and emotional bankruptcy of the left-wing of the Democratic party. And they hate Sarah Palin because deep down, they hate themselves for being who they are. I don't know why Sarah Palin resigned, what her plans are, or whether she has or wants a political future. I do know why the left hates her so much. And it keeps coming back to Trig. Yes, some people hate Sarah Palin because she doesn't have the traditional pedigree, she isn't one of them, she is too...

After listening to the Democrats screech for the last two years about the rule of law, this Jake Tapper report should be surprising …. but it’s not. Apparently, Barack Obama finds treaty ratification a little too complicated, and so he figures he can just commit the US to nuclear disarmament and bypass Congressional oversight: With the clock running out on a new US-Russian arms treaty before the previous Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires on December 5, a senior White House official said Sunday said that the difficulty of the task might mean temporarily bypassing the Senate’s constitutional role...

Plunging squarely into one of the most sensitive issues in the Middle East, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. suggested on Sunday that the United States would not stand in the way of Israeli military action aimed at the Iranian nuclear program. The United States, Mr. Biden said in an interview broadcast on ABC’s “This Week,” “cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do.” "Israel can determine for itself — it’s a sovereign nation — what’s in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else," he said, in an interview...

In THOUGHTS this week we follow a couple of local Delaware yet very national political players. Mike Castle, Mr. Republican Cap and Trade, is our Bad Guy of the Week. Our President-to-Be sometime in our future, Beau Biden, gets in his first pot of hot water and we're following this young man as he prepares for the Oval Office. A couple of Quips of the Week that'll leave you in stitches and we know that young women in bikinis sell stuff handily. But fireworks?

In his landmark 1942 book, "Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy," economist Joseph Schumpeter emphasized the key role that creative destruction plays in generating long-run economic growth. It is the driving force of capitalism. There have been numerous accusations that President Barack Obama is intent on reforming America as a socialist nation. Obama himself may have fed the beliefs with his own words, saying, as he did, that he believes government should "spread the wealth around." He also said, in 2003, that he favors a single-payer system for American health care.

And so the Michael Jackson post-mortem circus rumbles on: footage of him rehearsing for his live shows with all the enthusiasm of a puppet trying to dance while its strings are being cut one by one; the news that Diana Ross is planning a Candle in the Wind moment at his funeral, singing You Are Not Alone in memory of a man who kind of was, and preferred it that way; even the news that Bubbles the chimp, Jackson's onetime bezzie mate, will not be allowed to attend the funeral as he is "too violent", and instead will spend the...

The Bachelorette Jillian's down to four finalists that might be her husband in the near future. One of them is a snake but fear not, I've got the reason why this guy remains even though he readily admits, on camera, to his snakiness. Also, he left and now he's back and again, my inside scoop on why Ed bailed out precisely during Home Town visit week. All with pics and video you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.

In Moscow have already arrived «Boeing» from the «good squad» American delegation. . In one of them - incredibly navorochenny Presidential «Cadillac» with two machine guns (see detailed map). It was, however, does not mention an important piece - say that in the bottom of the machine is «special metallic liquid», which, in the event of a disaster or disruption of the car will not let him roll. During the flight «Boeing» Obama over Russia will be vigilant of our on-call forces the Air Force and Air Defense. The airfield landing now comes in a double ring «environment» air defense...

Heh. Surely the producers of The Philanthropist meant this show to be a comedy. Surely? It's a liberal's dream show, as far removed from truth and reality as…well most liberal ideas. We've got a tongue-in-cheek, pokey-fun review. Also, America's Got Talent continues on and the acts being sent through just boggle the mind. 75 dancing little girls donned in little orphan annie wigs? The judges think they can win this thing? HGTV's "Showdown" quickly review and dismissed. All with pics and video you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.

It's time for yon readers to put their money where their mouth is. We have genuine odds on the remaining contenders for 2009's The Next Food Network Star" along with my own sure bet recommendation. Teddy the liar finally went home and we narrow down to a field of six in this summer foodie contest that has us all rooting for....who? With pics and video you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.

The toaster-pocketbook was Drew Parker's fashion idea. She also came up with the living crucifixion of a town smoker as example of what happens to those who dare light up. Here's a funny fictional(?) story of the discovery of the genius of Drew Parker and how she'll go far from the outrageousness and satire she brings to cherished political ideals. It's "The Empress Wore Weird Clothes".

The New York Times has this report. An important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment. A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition...

The summer is a great time to load up the family and head to the water. Children love to catch fish and that is one of the keys to creating the next generation of outdoor aficionados. In order to hook them for life a father or mother's job is to make sure they catch fish and lots of them. The best way to do that is to go light. Using light tackle turns the common bluegill into a formidable adversary, science project, and all around mystery for a child. As a parent you get to be the one who introduces...

An umpire has died after being struck on the head by a ball in a freak accident during a local cricket match. Alcwyn Jenkins was officiating a game at the St Helen’s ground in Swansea yesterday afternoon when he collapsed after the blow. The 72-year-old from the Sketty area of the city was airlifted to hospital but died shortly afterwards. The game between Swansea and Llangennech in Division One of the Antur Insurance South Wales Association was later abandoned. Witnesses said a batsmen hit the ball to a boundary where a fielder threw it back to the wicket. But Mr...