Free Republic

The historic vote in Japan's recent national election, in which the Liberal Democratic Party which ruled nearly continuously for more than six decades has lost control of the government, is testament to deep undercurrents of discontent in a country whose economy is no bigger today than it was in 1996. The victorious Democratic Party, which touts Keynesian stimulus and more protections for Japanese firms, didn't inspire confidence among voters, according to polls, but the party carried the day anyway with an electorate hungry for change. But change will come slowly for Japan because the roots of its economic problems are...

The mayor of Mount Vernon has made it official. Mayor Bud Norris says he will give the key to his city to conservative talk show host Glenn Beck on September 26. Norris says Beck will deliver a short talk that night and become the first person to receive a key to the city in the six years Norris has been mayor. Protesters from the Skagit County Young Democrats walked outside city hall Tuesday with protest signs, one reading "Change the locks!"

BP said in a statement on Wednesday that it had made the find at its Tiber Prospect in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The well was drilled in Keathley Canyon block 102. Further appraisal will be required to ascertain the volumes of oil present, BP said, but a spokesman said the find could be bigger than its Kaskida discovery which has over 3 billion barrels of oil in place. The find highlights the potential in the Gulf of Mexico and bodes well for other exploration in the area, including at Royal Dutch Shell Plc's (LSE:RDSA.L - News) Great White field,...

Carrollton couple finds support to deal with unborn son's terminal condition Editor's note: Facing death can be hardest for a family expecting new life. Perinatal hospice offers choices and resources for parents when an infant's death is imminent. "We're so grateful that God chose us to be his parents, because he is such a special little boy," Deidrea told the congregation as T.K. nodded beside her. "We're telling God, 'Thank you – thank you for this gift.' "

If conservatives don't know about this guy, they should. He is biting, funny, and not at all fond of liberalism. To fully appreciate the humor, go back a few days and work your way up to today's strip. His strip on the "snitch" website is fantastic.

Indian Navy Mulls Northrop Advanced Hawkeye Sep 2, 2009 By Neelam Mathews NEW DELHI — Last month’s export authorization from the U.S. government now permits Northrop Grumman to have discussions with the Indian navy on the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, a platform that provides a highly adaptive form of airborne early warning and control (AEW&C). A U.S Navy representative, E-2 New Business Manager John Beaulieu, last week made an eight-hour presentation to the Indian navy on the E-2D after a request for more technical clarifications following a request for information last year. “We’ve been building up to this ... The partnership...

If health care reform occurs, it is likely to include an individual mandate — a requirement that every American have health insurance. In theory, health coverage would work something like the requirement that drivers buy auto insurance. But everyone knows someone who has been hit by an uninsured, and sometimes even an unlicensed, driver. So just how would an individual health insurance mandate work? “I have difficulty understanding how we’d police the mandate,” said Truman Medical Center Chief Executive John Bluford. “It’s near impossible. People will game the system.” Even so, an individual mandate appears to be the best way...

AUSTIN – At the end of his first term as president of the Texas Republic, Sam Houston had to leave office before seeking another term three years later. Under the republic’s constitution, the storied Texas hero was barred from serving two consecutive terms. Nearly 170 years later, the on-again, off-again question of term limits for Texas chief executives is now emerging as an ingredient in the roiling Republican primary battle between incumbent Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. In seeking to retire the state’s longest-serving governor, Hutchison wants to limit Texas governors to eight years in office,...

Youssef Megahed was freed this evening after a judge dismissed the deportation case against the former University of South Florida student. Megahed was driven out of a detention facility by his father about 6:30 p.m. He is expected to return home to Tampa on Saturday. "I'm very happy for this," Megahed said, smiling and surrounded by his family. "This was the only correct decision the judge could have given." He said he wants to return to USF to take the remaining class he needs for his engineering degree. Megahed said he holds no bitterness toward the government but described his...

Well it is no surprise that at Tuesday night's White House Ramadan dinner, Obama took the opportunity to once again push Islam on America. He continues to talk about mutual respect between Muslims and non-Muslims, can someone please wake me when the Islamic world actually reciprocates?

You can bet your grandma's iron lung that under ObamaCare neither she nor you nor I will receive the end-of-life care provided to Kennedy... Democrats have proposed that health care reform legislation be named after Kennedy, to memorialize his voluminous efforts for nationalized health care. If so, conservatives should take note of another, darkly appropriate chapter of Kennedy's life and demand that any end-of-life provisions be called the Mary Jo Kopechne Rider.

Japan's next prime minister might be nicknamed "the alien," but it's his wife who claims to have had a close encounter with another world. "While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus," Miyuki Hatoyama, the wife of premier-in-waiting Yukio Hatoyama, wrote in a book published last year. "It was a very beautiful place and it was really green."

Did American Idol Help Barack Obama Get Elected? Is Barack Obama the Taylor Hicks of the US Presidency? Remember Hicks? He was the gray-haired, good natured singer who shockingly beat out the likes of Chris Daughtry, Elliot Yamin and Katherine McPhee to win the American Idol crown. After Hicks won, did the millions of people who voted for him, run out and buy his album? Nope. HIs album was a complete flop and his recording career never took off. Every seasons, millions of American Idol viewers vote over and over for contestants they have no intention of spending money on...

President Obama's spokesman accused congressional Republicans on Monday of "stepping away" from attempts to reach a bipartisan agreement on overhauling the U.S. health-care system. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs took issue with Sen. Mike Enzi's national radio address Saturday, in which he warned that Democratic proposals would allow for the "intrusion of a Washington bureaucrat in the relationship between a doctor and a patient" and "will actually make our nation's finances sicker without saving you money." Enzi (Wyo.) has been one of three Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee negotiating a possible bipartisan health-care compromise, and Gibbs called his...

A Chinese family who refused to move for a government project have been left high and dry - after their car was left stranded on a 50ft column of earth.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Worker productivity, the single biggest factor determining living standards, grew at the fastest pace in nearly six years in the spring while labor costs fell by the most in nine years, as companies slashed costs to survive the recession.

Link Only.

Discovery's Rainbow Explanation: Just one minute before midnight EDT, Friday, August 28, the Space Shuttle Discovery began a long arc into a cloudy sky. Following the launch, a bright and remarkably colorful trail was captured in this time exposure from the Banana River Viewing Site, looking east toward pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. On STS-128, Discovery docked with the International Space Station Sunday evening. The 13-day mission will exchange space station crew members and deliver more than 7 tons of supplies and equipment. Of course, the equipment includes the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT).

On Monday evening I had the double pleasure of attending my first Log Cabin Republicans meeting (and dispelling a world of biases!) and hearing Texas Gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina speak. One of the major topics that Mrs. Medina spoke on was her stance on personal property rights and gun rights, which drew a strong, supportive applause from the attendees. However, after asking her a question on the topic, and further discussing with Jerrod Atkinson, a big Ron Paul and Debra Medina supporter, afterwards, I am still not convinced that her position is the right one. First of all, it is...

A magazine claimed that Jennifer Aniston got a lunchtime boob jab, which gave her a curvier figure. The actress was believed to have Macrolane injections and boosted her bra measurements by a whole cup size.The procedure involves filler being injected into each breast and takes just half an hour but complications can occur if there are hard lumps or if the body recognizes it as foreign object.