Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) - In retrospect, President Barack Obama now says, he should have offered more details about health care proposals a few months ago, rather than give critics all summer to criticize them, often with baseless claims. Such missed opportunities are one reason for Obama's prime-time speech to Congress Wednesday night in which he hopes to salvage his top domestic priority. The summer was marked by several risks and dubious decisions that have forced the high-stakes speech.

Former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card will address members of the state GOP at a committee meeting tonight in Newton, potentially signaling his intention to run for the Senate seat vacated by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Herald has learned. Card, 62, a Holbrook native, will attend the meeting at the Newton Marriott, according to a Republican source with knowledge of the logistics. Card’s appearance follows an announcement by GOP gubernatorial hopeful Christy Mihos this morning that he will not quit his quest to unseat Gov. Deval Patrick and make a bid for the Senate. Mihos...

Melissa Harris-Lacewell: His Resignation As "Green Jobs Czar" Is A Setback For Environmental Justice In March, I wrote here on The Notion in celebration of the appointment of Van Jones. I am both politically committed to and academically interested in issues of environmental justice. Jones' appointment was a clear victory for the EJ movement. The modern environmental justice movement emerged more than three decades ago. Its fight has been centered on two important issues: the disproportionate impact of local decisions that site polluting industries and undesirable land uses in poor and minority communities, and the damaging health effects of urban...

NEAR BUCKLEY, Wash. - From the air you can see a dark cloud at the base of a diversion dam on the White River near Buckley. But look closely and you'll see that cloud is really a mass of fins, tails and humped backs - wild pink salmon, more than anyone can remember seeing here, literally climbing over each other to get upstream. But they can't get past here without some human help. The Army Corps of Engineers traps the fish here and trucks them around the even larger obstruction upstream, the Mud Mountain Dam. In normal years, when 30,...

German researcher Peter Jäger revealed earlier today that he's named a new Malaysian species of spider after David Bowie – the fetchingly titled Heteropoda Davidbowie. But what other animals have been named after famous music stars?

COLLIER COUNTY — A “peep show” in a bowling alley followed a Golden Gate woman’s arrest for disorderly intoxication on Saturday, according to Collier County deputies. Veronica Hope Viani, 22, 3030 Golden Gate Blvd., managed to expose her breasts while handcuffed, according to an arrest report. She yelled that she was offering a free peep show, a deputy wrote. Viani was arrested at Nemo’s, a bar in Woodside Bowl, 8525 Radio Lane, where she had been disruptive earlier in the night, according to the report.

Mysteries in the MountainsA real-life Twilight Zone may exist in Southeastern Arizona near the Mexican border. by Ron Quinn May 15, 2003 Deep in the mountains close to the Mexican border, a mysterious place exists where time is altered at random. A joke? Not according to Ron Quinn. Quinn first submitted his stories to The Weekly's former editor, Michael Parnell, in November 2002. Upon his departure in January, Parnell passed them on to current Weekly Editor Jimmy Boegle. The Weekly staff decided to publish them; after all, they are quite compelling. Plus, Quinn's got some credibility; a life-long treasure hunter,...

Drought, Poaching Kill 100 Elephants In Kenya Threatened animals draw 1 million tourists each year to country's savannah Pornchai Kittiwongsakul / AFP-Getty Images Thai custom officials on Aug. 21 display elephant tusks confiscated at Bangkok airport. The 1,700 pounds of tusks, worth more than $500,000, were found on a flight that had arrived from Kenya and Uganda. The wildlife trade is the third-largest illegal trade in the world after guns and drugs. Learn who is buying and selling and see the species put at risk by the trade. Sept . 9, 2009 NAIROBI, Kenya - Poaching and drought-related hunger have...

Of all the Obama cheerleaders in the MSM, could there possibly be one more devoted than Dr. Nancy? On her MSNBC show today, Snyderman bemoaned to a White House aide that the push for ObamaCare had been "going so well" till it was hijacked by rumors, innuendoes and "lies." Snyderman was chatting with White House advisor Melody Barnes, who didn't seem to take the possible defeat as hard as did her host . . . View video here.

An example of Auerbach's contribution to public health is The Little Black Book: Queer in the 21st Century, a homo-erotic how-to for young men, including a directory of gay bars in Boston. Published by the AIDS Action Committee of Mass., it thanked two governmental groups he ran or worked with for their help: The Boston Public Health Commission and the DPH.) Auerbach has pledged his support for the homosexual and transgender propaganda in the Massachusetts public schools. MassResistance reported in December 2008: Commissioner Auerbach replied that he wants to advance "transgender health" while they have the opportunity. He applauded the...

President looks to harness public support for health care reform after month of driftPresident Barack Obama said the highly anticipated health care speech he will give before Congress tonight aims to help clarify his proposal and show he's open to fresh ideas when it comes to reform. "I'm open to new ideas," Obama told "Good Morning America" in an interview that aired ahead of the speech Wednesday. "But we do intend to get something done this year." Obama's 35-minute speech to Congress on health care will “answer all the major questions” on the contentious issue that has become Obama’s top...

Sarah Palin hit Barack Obama and his crew with a double dose of good old common sense on Tuesday. She opened the day from her powerful Facebook page with a reprint of written testimony she has given the New York State Senate. In her testimony, addressed to Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz, Chair, New York Senate Aging Committee, Sarah gives a point by point breakdown of what is wrong with the proposed Obamacare bill as well a stinging rebuke of our old buddy, Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, Dr Death to our readers. She again lays out the case that Dr Death’s plans...

Many of the congregations among the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ are captivated by the so-called “prophetic ministry” of David Reagan. He is welcomed into the pulpits of some of our largest congregations. One Christian church preacher admitted that neither he nor his congregation knew anything about Bible prophecy, but he invited Reagan to speak because he had heard Reagan elsewhere and he “sounded convincing.” The people fill the pews and accept his brand of biblical interpretation as the standard. The purpose of this epistle is to issue a warning to those who “have ears to hear.”

Cambrian rock layers contain fossils that represent almost every modern phylum of animal, plus many that are now extinct. One animal fossil in particular would win the weird prize, if there were one. Paleontologists have been piecing together this strange creature’s body parts, which look as though they were taken from an array of totally different sea animals. This variety of features eludes an evolutionary explanation. The parts of this particular fossilized animal had previously been described separately and given different names, as though they belonged to different creatures. But a recent study revealed that all these parts came from...

CLEARWATER — Both the barber and his customer agree that their Saturday altercation started over price haggling, but the two tell different stories about what happened next. Raymond M. Stewart, 36, who owns Trend Citi Fades, was arrested Sunday on a charge of felony battery after, police said, he attacked a customer who wanted a deal on two haircuts. But Stewart said Monday that he never attacked anyone and that it was his customer, 25-year-old Quazi Rahman, who was out of control. According to the Clearwater police arrest report, Stewart put Rahman in a headlock and punched him in the...

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Former Army reservist Lynndie England is suing the biographer who wrote the book she hoped would tell her side of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and salvage her image. ... "The book is not selling well," said Winkler, of Fincastle, Va. "I think there's this impression I've been sitting on this cash. I wish it were true. ... Nobody's getting rich here. I'm in the hole."

Financial Crisis Revisited - this is a political Satire song about Lehman Bros. (sept. 15 is the anniversary of their bankruptcy btw) and the recession. It was made by Ryan Stotland, a 22 yo Canadian, who is currently doing a 12,000 Km bike-ride is South America to raise money for charity (skin cancer center) Financial Crises Revisited watch on YouTube

Big Labor resisted change and now remains stuck with a 1960s operating model. * * * Its coverage of America's non-governmental employees still holds steady in absolute numbers but has decreased dramatically in share of the workforce over the last four decades. Its culture is sclerotic, and its leaders blame their failures on the world, Republicans, free trade, right-to-work laws and any number of other red herrings. Organized labor continues to rely on a model of using friendly politicians to set rules that maintain the status quo. Employees in 28 states can be compelled to pay for union representation. *...

Have you ever noticed that every great artist has a trademark signature? Signatures can be an indicator of authenticity. As impressive as some artistic creations may be, there is no artist ever whose work can compare to that of Jesus Christ. Have you ever noticed how intricately things work together. It really is amazing. Collosians 1:17 states "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." There is no more amazing evidence of this than in the case of laminin. You see laminin is a protein molecule that holds the very cells of our body together. Without...

China to send 'harmony makers' to Urumqi 7,000 officials being sent to Urumqi after last week's deadly protests "Harmony makers" meant to ease tensions after demonstrators clashed with police Demonstrators were demanding better police protection after attacks Han Chinese accuse Uyghurs of attacking people using hypodermic needles (CNN) -- China is sending 7,000 officials to the western city of Urumqi after last week's deadly protests over a strange series of syringe stabbings, state-run media reported. The officials, known as "harmony makers," are meant to ease tensions after demonstrators, demanding better police protection, clashed with police for two days. The unrest...