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Did Beijing just take China off the “vampire” tourism circuit? And end state-sanctioned mass murder? Last Wednesday, the official China Daily reported the launch of pilot projects in ten areas that will eventually lead to a nationwide organ-donation system. The system is intended to stop “transplant tourism,” which in recent years has created an outcry among Chinese citizens who have seen foreign “vampires” troll their country for body parts, easily outbidding locals for transplants. Health Vice-Minister Huang Jiefu, at the time he announced the pilot projects, indicated that China is getting out of the business of taking organs from executed...

Think this downturn was rough on manufacturers? Some analysts believe the sector's woes may worsen when demand for industrial products rebounds -- and manufacturers discover key suppliers cannot rebound with them because they are effectively -- but not yet officially -- out of business. Call them zombie suppliers. Analysts say the speed with which major manufacturers cut output in this recession put unprecedented strain on thousands of small manufacturers that supply the industry with critical parts.

Yemen has called the Iranian ambassador to protest against Tehran's support for the Houthi rebels in northern parts of the country. Yemen's Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told the Iranian envoy that if Iran continues to back the rebels in Saada this may force Yemen to take "serious diplomatic decisions" over the Yemeni-Iranian ties. According to SABA news agency, the Yemeni minister said Iran's attitude toward the crisis in the north could harm the Yemeni-Iranian ties. He also complained about the Iranian media coverage of the conflict. In an interview with the Al-Methaq newspaper, the minister affirmed his ministry called...

Earlier this year, public outrage boiled over with news of eye-popping pay to top executives on Wall Street. White House officials later acknowledged they had misjudged the velocity and volume of furor triggered by "bonusgate," which raised the profile of corporate executive pay. Could that happen now in health care? Some of the known salaries are pretty big. Last year, the head of Cigna (CI, Fortune 500) made $11 million and the head of United Health Group (UNH, Fortune 500) made $9.4 million, according to the Corporate Library. Fifty-two health and accident insurance companies have until Friday to turn over...

Former President Bill Clinton, left, speaks with President Barack Obama as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, center, looks on prior to the Roman Catholic Funeral Mass for Sen. Edward Kennedy at Our Lady of Perpetual Hope Basilica in Boston, Saturday, Aug., 29, 2009. Kennedy died late Tuesday after a battle with cancer. He was 77.

It was almost the 'sorry' that Poland has waited seventy years for. But just as Vladimir Putin inched towards an apology for Russia's invasion of Poland in the wake of the Nazi-Soviet pact in 1939, he pulled back from the precipice, placing the blame for the outbreak of the Second World War squarely on Britain and France. At a ceremony marking the outbreak of the war in Gdansk, Poland today, Mr Putin downplayed Russia's responsibility, emphasising instead the Soviet Union's role in fighting the Nazis. And in an article published in Poland yesterday he argued that Britain's policy of appeasement...

I think it's time for the country to face reality. Our President is lost. There's not one major issue that we can reasonably say he has a good handle on. Instead, on every major issue, it appears as though there's a grand piano hanging over him being held up by a small string. What the president needs is to find some direction, and quickly.

In a 10-page letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Project on Government Oversight claims problems among guards hired to protect staff at the U.S. embassy in Kabul have led to a breakdown in morale and leadership, compromising security. WASHINGTON -- Guards hired by the U.S. State Department to protect diplomats and staff at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan live and work in an environment that finds them subjected to hazing and other inappropriate behavior by supervisors, a government oversight group alleged Tuesday. In a 10-page letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Project on Government Oversight...

George Washington Bridge Worker Dozes on Job Monday, 31 Aug 2009 MYFOXNY.COM - A security worker on the George Washington Bridge was apparently sleeping on the job, according to a northern New Jersey news Web site. The Cliffview Pilot , which covers Bergen and Hudson counties, posted photos of a guard apparently dozing inside a guard booth near the New York side of the bridge Monday morning. A bicyclist said he saw the man sleeping in the booth at 10:15 a.m. and snapped the photos. Joey Lepore said it was the third time he has seen an attendant sleeping inside...

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Nice guys finish last—at least that seems to be the lesson Mike Huckabee has learned from losing the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. The former Arkansas governor made headlines last week when he suggested on his radio show that the Democrats’ health-care bill under debate in Congress wouldn’t have covered Sen. Ted Kennedy in his final days of battling cancer. “Proponents deny that the bill would devalue older people’s lives, or encourage them to accept less care to save money. But it was President Obama himself who suggested that seniors who don’t have as long to live might want to just...

Passions run high in the vegetable beds A gardener in Torquay has let his competitive instincts get the better of him – no surprise to Clive Aslet. By Clive Aslet 01 Sep 2009 In Wallace and Gromit: the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, it was the depredations of an oversized bunny that threatened to disrupt the vegetable show. Now police are seeking another saboteur, thought also to move on two legs but with smaller ears. Pumpkins have been punctured, cabbages are kaput, dahlias desecrated. This dirty work has been perpetrated at, of all places, Torquay, the soporific Queen of the Riviera,...

I was the first pundit to predict that Barack Obama would become president. Here's what I think we can expect from this administration in the next six to eight weeks. Never has an administration had more political firepower at their disposal yet been set to so totally fail in the next six to eight weeks. It is nearly a foregone conclusion. It is nearly unavoidable. And it defies all logic given the sizable majority the administration has in both houses of Congress. Since I was the first pundit to predict Obama's presidency (back in December 2006) it behooves me to...

Pacman to play for Winnipeg in CFL ESPN.com news services Cornerback Pacman Jones, released by the Dallas Cowboys in February, has agreed to a one-year deal with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL. "It'll be a good experience for me to get back in game shape and compete and play football, which I like to do," Jones told SI.com, which first reported the story. "I'm real happy for the opportunity that's been given to me. Of course it's disappointing to me to not be playing in the NFL. But things happen and you have to adjust." Jones, 25, chose...

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Call it “Strippergate” with a twist, a scam and a fall. Four Mountlake Terrace men decided to extend a bout of heavy drinking early Saturday by ordering up erotic dancers they found advertised on the Internet, Mountlake Terrace police Sgt. Doug Hansen said. The men, ages 22 to 46, or “old enough to know better,” as Hansen said, found an advertisement on Craigslist for strippers. They pooled their cash — $440 — and found some women who looked appealing to them, Hansen said. Around 5:45 a.m., three dancers arrived at the home of one of the men...

Michael Steele Speaks To The Masses.

Here is video of President Obama's "Green Jobs Czar" speaking this past February (2009) in Berkeley at an Energy Resources Cooperative Meeting" where he openly mocked "Capitalism," saying "How's that Capitalism working for you this year" to a member of the audience. He makes the comment toward the end of the video. Also toward the end of the video, he called Republicans "A**holes," and essentially said Obama Supporters need to intimidate the two or three senators that can swing legislation on key votes. He said: "Some of us need to figure out which 2 or 3 Senators need to have...

At the end of Sunday’s Face the Nation on CBS, host Bob Schieffer fondly remembered Ted Kennedy, exclaiming: "In a sense he was the classic American hero, the imperfect man who was sorely tested and yet in that testing found a way to overcome personal flaws and go on to accomplish great things." Schieffer began his commentary by noting how Kennedy: "...crashed and crashed again during the early turns of his life, but somehow he kept on going through the sorrows and tragedies over which he had no control and the self-destructiveness over which he did. And in the final...

Over ONE MILLION copies sold! On the NYTimes Bestseller List for 19 weeks, 12 weeks at #1!Buy it… read it… live it!“Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and TyrannyWelcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811