Free Republic

Creeps who swiped a Statue of Liberty replica from a Brooklyn coffee shop last month have posted a sick Web video showing them sawing off the statue's blindfolded head. The YouTube video, which reportedly is being investigated by the FBI, ends with the slogan "Death to America" appearing on the screen. It evokes the terrorist-produced videos of the decapitations of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and American entrepreneur Nicholas Berg.

The average number of Filipino women who die yearly due to childbirth and pregnancy complications has doubled in the last four years, but this doesn’t seem to alarm lawmakers who continue to oppose the reproductive health bill, according to health and women’s groups. A study by the international reproductive health research group Guttmacher Institute presented Tuesday showed that 3,500 pregnancy-related deaths were recorded in the Philippines in 2008.... Dr. Junice Melgar, executive director of women’s health organization Likhaan, said pregnancy-related deaths could be prevented if pregnant women, especially those who are from the poorest families and living in the rural...

Microsoft Windows has enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the global computer operating systems market for the last 30 years. But one Korean company has dared to challenge the software giant. TmaxSoft launched Tmax Window in an attempt to create viable competition in the OS market. More than 300 researchers have developed the system over almost five years. The company claims that Tmax Window has a high rate of compatibility with Microsoft software titles and the chairman of the company says the system is more stable and suitable for many users. Microsoft has been criticized for unfairly stifling competition by packaging...

Videotapes for agents, secrecy for the Speaker. The last time the CIA and Nancy Pelosi were in the news together, the House Speaker was accusing the agency of lying about its briefings to Congress on the interrogation of al Qaeda detainees. This week, the Speaker's fellow Democrats are set to block public disclosure of what Ms. Pelosi was really told and when. Democrats recently marked up the 2010 intelligence bill, and Republican Pete Hoekstra offered an amendment in committee to require the CIA to make public an unclassified version of its records on Congressional briefings. It also would have required...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama promised to fix health care and trim the federal budget deficit, all without raising taxes on anyone but the wealthiest Americans. It's a promise he's already broken and will likely have to break again. Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress have already increased tobacco taxes _ which disproportionately hit the poor _ to pay for extending health coverage to 4 million children in working low-income families. Now, lawmakers are looking for more revenues to help pay for providing medical insurance to millions more who lack it at a projected cost of $1 trillion over the next...

The 46-year-old Dykstra, a former World Series champ with the Mets and spark plug with the Phillies, faces upward of 20 suits from creditors coast to coast, most related to The Players Club, a problem-plagued magazine he launched last year. Among those claiming they were stiffed by the player known as "Nails" are a pair of private jet rental companies, his brother, a Las Vegas printing business, a former lawyer and several former employees. Dykstra's wife is also suing him for divorce, and his $18 million California mansion is in foreclosure. "In a move that will shield his property from...

BAGHDAD — The historic Ibn Sina Hospital will return to Iraqi Government control this fall. In accordance with the Iraq Security Agreement, U.S. forces are scheduled to return the facility to the Iraqis, October 1. Currently operated by the U.S. Army’s 10th Combat Support Hospital (CSH), the staff will continue to provide quality healthcare for all patients throughout the next two months of transition. Col. Raphael De Jesus, 10th CSH Commander, wants to reassure servicemembers and civilians that they need not worry about care. "The mission of the 10th CSH is sustaining,” says De Jesus. “Our ability to provide excellent...

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<p>Dallas has scaled back some of the police protection it was providing at the home of former President George W. Bush — a cut some said was due to financial constraints.</p> <p>The city has been struggling with a $190 million budget deficit.</p>

Lt. Col. Michael Fadden, the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment commander, speaks with civilians hired to assist with the renovations of one of the water stations his civil affairs unit just finished renovating. Photo by Pfc. Jared Sollars, 145th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment. MOSUL — In the rural areas outside this city, U.S. Soldiers are helping local villagers obtain running water by repairing and building water pumping stations in eight different locations of the Qayyarah Sub-District in Ninewa province. Four of the water stations were completed June 27, which included a ribbon cutting ceremony at each of those stations.Lt. Col....

Mideast: As Iran continues to work on a nuclear weapon that will forever shift the world's balance of power, the U.S. position gets muddier by the day. What, exactly, is our policy?Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the "clock has continued to tick" on Iran, which so far has ignored the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.S., NATO and the European Union to proceed with its prohibited nuclear program. But what's it ticking down to? The U.S. has officially decided to give Iran until the end of this year to halt its nuclear program and...

Carol Browner, former Clinton administration EPA head and current Obama White House climate czar, instructed auto industry execs "to put nothing in writing, ever" regarding secret negotiations she orchestrated regarding a deal to increase federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-WI, is demanding a congressional investigation of Browner's conduct in the CAFE talks, saying in a letter to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA, that Browner "intended to leave little or no documentation of the deliberations that lead to stringent new CAFE standards." Federal law requires officials to preserve documents concerning significant policy decisions, so instructing participants in...

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk told several Republican leaders Wednesday he was set to run for Senate, GOP sources told the Daily Herald. Kirk of Highland Park has been debating a run for Senate or governor for months, but apparently made the final decision as Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced she was backing away from a run for U.S. Senate or governor in the 2010 election. Kirk spokesman Eric Elk declined to comment Wednesday on whether or not the congressman had informed GOP brass about an intention to run for Senate. Elk issued a statement from Kirk saying, "I will...

<p>Decades of lawmaking and court decisions restricting the flow of cash into U.S. elections are on the verge of coming undone, placing President Barack Obama in the unexpected position of presiding over the possible demise of the modern campaign finance regime.</p>

While attending a black fraternity party, I recently learned it’s a bad idea to profess one’s affinity for Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity...

Members of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity teach first aid to Iraqi Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts during a recent partnership session. Photo by Lt. Col. Pat Simon, 225th Engineer Brigade. BAGHDAD — "From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life." That quote from former tennis great Arthur Ashe is not just a famous saying, it's a way of life for a unique group of Soldiers deployed here.They are members of the college fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi, who meet every week at the Pegasus dining facility on Camp Liberty. They are fraternity "brothers...

MANILA - Local governments should come up with their own reproductive health policies to address the growing number of mothers dying from pregnancy-related complications, because the national government is obviously not keen on doing something about it. Aurora Governor Bellaflor Angara-Castillo, a former congresswoman, on Wednesday called on local officials that it’s their constituents who are suffering while Congress sits on the reproductive health (RH) bill. She said it is now time for the local government units (LGUs) to enact ordinances that would take the place of a national RH law. Among the LGUs that have passed ordinances on reproductive...

Alternative Energy: A government report says reliance on electric cars will do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and may merely shift our dependence on foreign sources from one set of dictators to another..."If you are using coal-fired power plants, and half the country's electricity comes from coal-powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?" asks Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report. The report itself notes: "Reductions in CO2 emissions depend on generating electricity used to charge the vehicles from lower-emission sources of energy."

WASHINGTON, July 8, 2009 – While devoting much of his National Press Club address today to efforts under way in Afghanistan, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was quizzed on a broad range of other defense issues ranging from the war in Iraq to the defense budget to possible revisions to the military ban on homosexuals. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addresses the audience at a National Press Club luncheon in Washington, D.C., July 8, 2009. Mullen discussed a multitude of subjects including the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the fiscal...

WASHINGTON – A plan to raise taxes on the wealthy is emerging as the leading option among House Democrats looking to finance health care legislation that President Barack Obama wants. Numerous officials say that under the proposal, an income tax surcharge would be imposed on individuals earning more than $200,000, with a higher threshold for couples. The same officials say earlier options under consideration have been abandoned. Among them was a proposal to raise the payroll tax that finances Medicare. The officials spoke anonymously to discuss private discussions.