Free Republic

D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles filed a motion in U.S. District Court Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit brought by four gun advocates who are seeking the right to carry their weapons outside their homes. Mr. Nickles argues that current city gun laws, which allow licensed gun owners to keep weapons in their homes for their personal protection, fall under the category of "reasonable restrictions" permitted by the court. The current laws were enacted after the Supreme Court struck down the District's decades-old gun ban in its June 2008 ruling on the District v. Heller case. "The District's regulation of...

Sergeant First Class William "Brian" Woods was a Team Medical Sergeant of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne). On August 14th, Brian was shot and killed by small arms fire in Ghazni, Afghanistan. At 32 years old, Brian had done multiple tours of duty in the War on Terror. He enlisted in the Marine Corps and served four years before joining the Army and becoming a Special Forces Soldier. He leaves behind a wife, Elizabeth, and two daughters in Chesapeake, MD.

With a political arms race in full force, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) has raised almost $750,000 in less than 48 hours since his shout of "You lie!" to President Obama during the Wednesday address to Congress, almost matching the Internet-fueled haul of his likely Democratic opponent. A senior GOP official said Wilson, who apologized to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel after the health-care speech but has since refused a more public apology, has turned his own previous sleepy campaign machine into an Web-friendly effort. Just as liberals have poured cash into the campaign of Rob Miller, who lost...

Suggesting that President Obama is creating a private army to seize complete control of the government and declare himself dictator might be considered fighting words in Democratic circles. But in Northeast Georgia, all it means is U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Athens, gave another speech. Local Democrats say Broun embarrasses them, and some Republicans say he's making them look bad, but in general, Broun's latest warning about Obama's alleged secret totalitarian plans elicited little more than a yawn. "He's really gone off the deep end," Democratic Party of Georgia Chairwoman Jane Kidd said. "People just say, 'Well, crazy Paul is talking...

You’re in luck. For their senior project, two Cornell University computer-engineering whizzes recently built a machine that does just that. After learning in class how breathalyzers work, Robert Clain and Miguel Salas assembled a fart detector from a sensitive hydrogen sulfide monitor, a thermometer and a microphone and wrote the software that would rate the emission. A “slight perturbance in the air” near the detector sets it to work measuring the three pillars of fart quality: stench, temperature and sound. Temperature, Clain explains, is critical. The hotter a fart, the faster it spreads. “It beeps faster if it’s a high...

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — Space shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts took a cross-country detour and landed safely in California on Friday after stormy weather prevented them from returning home to Florida for the second day in a row.

The moon belongs to everyone The best things in life are free, The stars belong to everyone They gleam there for you and me. --From the 1927 musical Good News Star-gazing may be free, but the Human Space Flight Plans Committee, a panel of luminaries and experts appointed by President Obama to assess the future of America's manned space efforts, has found that space exploration is not. The gist of the committee's imminent report: Our current levels of expenditure will not support a return to the moon, a journey to Mars, or much beyond keeping the space station operating. This...

If you saw Glenn Beck today, you would know that he was livid over the lack of attention that the MSM has paid to the ACORN revelations recently over at Big Government. Heput up a chart of the major media including the three networks, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, and the Washington Post and their coverage of the undercover video. Among all of these media, CNN lead the pack with a total number of mentions of three.

Built into the internet giant Google's marketing identity is the quirky, distinctive way in which it incorporates little symbolic ‘doodles' into its logo on those days it deems socially significant....So what touching, compassionate memorial have these creative denizens produced in tribute to this century's most devastating and deeply felt American anniversary? Nothing. You read that right. Google have apparently concluded that 9-11 is not a date of sufficient significance to warrant a gesture. Michael Jackson's birthday, yes. First hot air balloon flight? They had it covered. But the fatal flight of those four airliners does not warrant so much as...

Whats one more trillion dollars between friends. At least it seems that's what the POTUS thinks. While everybody has their eyes on the Health Care Issue which will add up to one trillion dollars to the national debt, the President has been maneuvering to have the government to to take over the student loan business. Starting next year the President wants to bar private lenders to make government backed, student loans. This take over will add another trillion dollars to the debt over a ten year period.

Obama decides to impose tariffs on Chinese tire imports for 3 years WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has decided to slap punitive tariffs on all car and light truck tires entering the United States from China. Obama had until Sept. 17 -- next week -- to accept, reject or modify a U.S. International Trade Commission ruling that a rising tide of Chinese tires into the U.S. hurts American producers. A powerful union, United Steelworkers, blames the increase for the loss of thousands of American jobs. The federal trade panel recommended a 55 percent tariff in the first year, 45...

2722 Damn Yankees. :)

No one wants to think about being attacked - but it happens. An estimated 1.9 million women in America are physically assaulted each year. What can you do to protect yourself? Be prepared. What is self-defense? Self-defense is about protecting your personal space and preventing people from hurting you. It involves preventing or surviving aggressive behaviors from verbal assaults to physical attacks. Self-defense can include using weapons like pepper spray to protect yourself. Being prepared can improve your chances of surviving an attack. The following methods can help you prevent disaster: Learn to set boundaries. Let others know acceptable and...

MELBOURNE, Australia — An Emirates jetliner carrying more than 225 people slammed its tail into the runway as it took off from Australia, sending smoke into the cabin and forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing, officials said Saturday.No one was hurt, but passengers described being terrified after learning something was wrong soon after the Airbus A340 took off from the southern city of Melbourne about 10:30 p.m. Friday, bound for Dubai.After the strike, which reportedly left debris strewn on the runway and knocked out some runway lights, the pilot flew over the sea, dumping fuel, before returning to...

Designer Jason Wu was already a rising star of American fashion, but when Michelle Obama chose to wear a gown he designed to the balls on Inauguration Day, Wu’s career soared. And when he showed his collection for spring and summer 2010 on Friday at New York Fashion Week, the industry elite — including Vogue Editor Anna Wintour — turned out in force for the show at the St. Regis hotel on Fifth Avenue.

The film maker guy with her is quite impressive too. But she is as close to a total package as you will come across. She's very well spoken and is morally developed so fare beyond her young peers, that I didn't even notice her porcelain doll complexion and saucer eyes.

NEVER FORGET Remembrance Archive: Free Republic Threads From 9-11-01

The president’s chief economic adviser warned Friday that the nation’s unemployment rate could stay “unacceptably high” for years to come — a situation that would seriously complicate Barack Obama’s ability to convince Americans that he’s beating back the recession. “The level of unemployment is unacceptably high,” National Economic Council Director Larry Summers said Friday. “And will, by all forecasts, remain unacceptably high for a number of years.” Summers’ comments came in a briefing with reporters ahead of Obama’s speech in New York City on Monday, marking the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, an event widely regarded as...

On May 7, President Obama announced the formation of a U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee with, in the words of the committee’s website, “the goal of ensuring that the nation is on a vigorous and sustainable path to achieving its boldest aspirations in space.” Norman Augustine, former CEO of Lockheed Martin, was named as the committee chairman, which at least yielded the committee a less unwieldy monicker than USHSFPC, allowing us to simply call it the “Augustine Committee.”

Everyone marvels at Barack Obama's rhetorical prowess. But don't be overly bedazzled. With these 13 easy steps, you, too, can give a Barack Obama speech. 1) Create a false center. In his speech to a joint session of Congress, Obama positioned himself between the Left's calling for a single-payer system and the Right's agitating to end employer-based health insurance. Presto - he's the very definition of a centrist. Anyone advocating almost any position can benefit from the same insta-centrism. 2) Scorn ideology. Obama warned against "the usual Washington ideological battles." Message: He has no philosophical commitments himself. He's pushing a...