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DALLAS – Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, the father of the "green revolution" who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in combating world hunger and saving hundreds of millions of lives, died Saturday in Texas, a Texas A&M University spokeswoman said. He was 95. . . . more at link

Crist's popularity as governor doesn't always extend to members of his own Republican Party, and that might make him vulnerable as he runs for U.S. Senate. BY ADAM C. SMITH Charlie Crist is swimming in campaign money, and polls consistently show him to be among the most popular politicians in America. But something ominous and unpredictable is brewing in Florida, and a growing number of Republicans are starting to consider the unthinkable: the people's governor could lose his campaign for U.S. Senate. "It's rare that I talk to anyone that's got a good thing to say about the governor right...

A MAN on a September 11 flight from Brisbane to the US used the aircraft's in-flight chatroom to tell his fellow passengers "I have a bomb". Philip Kirsch, 21, yesterday pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates Court to a charge of making threats regarding aviation security after his "joke" onboard V Australia flight 007 to Los Angeles on Thursday. Commonwealth prosecutor Sara Parga yesterday told the court that the flight captain took the threat very seriously – particularly because it was the anniversary of the airliner-based terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon in 2001. The fact that...

Return to the Article September 13, 2009Barack Obama Jumps the SharkBy Stuart Schwartz Barack Obama has jumped the shark. This past week was when the forty-fourth president of the United States tugged on his leather jacket, strapped on his water skis, roared off behind a motorboat and fearlessly jumped over a live shark The term "jump the shark" comes from a late seventies Happy Days episode when the series, desperately trying to stop its ratings slide, had the character Fonzie, in his trademark leather jacket, water ski over a shark during a visit to Hollywood. Since then, a show...

Please take the linked poll. The answers will be used to help with the attendance analysis going on in this thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2338391/posts?page=1

(IsraelNN.com) U.S. President Barack Obama is tempting Iran with a $2.5 billion airplane purchase deal if it is willing to negotiate on its nuclear ambitions, Iran’s FARS news agency reported Saturday. “Obama's messages for delivering these airplanes to Iran were sent after the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran's president,” a source stated. He said that the deal includes the sale of 20 brand-new Boeing passenger airplanes and plane parts.

Officials in Costa Rica have said that a boat with 54 African migrants on board has been intercepted off the country's Caribbean coast. A security ministry spokesman said three men on the boat had been charged with trafficking offences. Officials said the boat was in a poor condition and that those on board had not eaten anything for several days. They believe the 54 migrants, including seven women, came from Eritrea and had paid traffickers to reach the US. Several boats bringing migrants from the Horn of Africa and Guinea have been seized in the area in recent months. The...

Watching the local powerhouse 10 o'clock news here in the Bay Area and they opened up with the following stories. 1) Biden's visit in SF to support Boxer 2) Local lightning fires that started 1/2 small locag grass fires 3) A Richmond gang related shooting 4) An Oakland drive by shooting 5) Another Richmond shooting 6) A teen relationship story 7) A local healthcare townhall meeting 8) Obama in MN. 9) FINALLY, at 10:15 they reported the 9-12 protest in DC and spent a grand total of about :27 seconds reporting on it.

During the POTUS' joint session of Congress speech, he addressed the issue of his Health Care plan funding abortions. He said: "Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place." Congressman Bart Stupak, (D-Mich) said he believes the bill would fund abortions and that he will refuse to vote for it unless he is allowed to offer an amendment banning abortion funding on the House floor. Stupak said: "You're funding the public option; it will be part of the public option; and the Treasury will write checks to plans...

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is preparing new rules that would give hundreds of prisoners being held by the U.S. military in Afghanistan the right to challenge their detentions, according to published reports. The guidelines would for the first time allow about 600 prisoners held at an American-run prison at the Bagram Air Base to call witnesses and submit evidence in their defense, The Washington Post and New York Times reported in stories Saturday on the Web.

Friend of Angelo who got sweetheart deals trails Simmons Also trailing the other GOP candidate Foley...

Police in central London are on the alert today amid fears of more violence between anti-Islam protesters and Muslims. Hundreds of supporters of the right-wing English Defence League are expected to descend on Trafalgar Square today. Tensions were simmering yesterday after a Cabinet minister raised fears of a return to 1930s fascism, comparing modern right-wing groups to Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts. Communities Secretary John Denham's comments came as he announced a drive to prevent white working class people being 'exploited' by extremists. He singled out protests being organised by the English Defence League, some of which have turned violent over recent...

WASHINGTON -- In many ways, President Barack Obama's address to Congress on Wednesday was aimed at lawmakers like Georgia Reps. Jim Marshall and Sanford Bishop -- fiscally conservative Democrats who represent rural enclaves and small towns in ideologically moderate to conservative Southern districts. "In my opinion, the demographics of the Blue Dog Coalition reflect more accurately the demographics of the entire United States of America ," Bishop said. "Most Americans are centrists. Where I come from the values are God, country, family, work and guns, and not necessarily in that order."

In the current health care debate, much of the Republican opposition has centered around various objections to the cost. It is certainly legitimate for our elected representatives to concern themselves with a properly balanced budget - indeed, it is their clear fiduciary responsibility. However, there is a danger in focusing solely on such arguments, because debates about cost really really amount to debates about how to nationalize health care, rather than whether to do so, and the latter is the debate we should be having. Just as a hypothetical, say the Democrats reached into their magic top hat and pulled...

Frank Darabont, the director of The Shawshank Redemption, has words for the millions of people who believe his 1994 prison drama is the greatest film of all time. “I think that’s a little crackers, to be honest, especially when you think of the other films on the list.” He means films such as The Godfather, Citizen Kane, Lolita, Vertigo and foreign-language contenders like Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist, Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt, Luis Buñuel’s Belle de jour or Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. But, hey, pointy-headed film critics can have their high­falutin’ crushes. There’s no getting round...

Dear Newsweek, I have subscribed to your publication for 21 years, subscriber number #########, and have decided to allow my subscription to end as scheduled December 13, 2010. As can be told from both the length of my subscription and expiration date I have renewed early and often. However I can no longer welcome a magazine so contrary to my personal and family views into my home on an ongoing basis. First it was having to digest your skewed polls with MSNBC, fine, everyone needs a media partner and having sold television advertising for the better part of my professional...

There are many groups of political crazies out there, you have the "truthers" those who believe that 9/11 was created by George Bush like former Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones, then you have the birthers, those people who believe that they can have the POTUS removed from office because they believe he was born in another country. Probably the most destructive of the three are the sick minds that believe that everybody who disagrees with President Obama is a racist, they are called "racers." Charlie Rangel, for example is a Racer. Last week at a town hall in Washington Heights...

At a packed town meeting of over 1,000 people hosted by Democrat Sen. Mark Warner in Fredericksburg, Virginia, a woman prefaced her question by expressing a broader concern: “For the first time I don’t believe the President we have is a patriot. I think a lot of the concern and discontent is less about health care than trusting the agenda of this administration.” Sen. Warner harshly rebuked her, calling the remark offensive and declaring Obama “a great patriot.” Yet judging by the storm of applause that greeted her comment, she echoed the feelings of many others in the hall. What...

SNIPPET: "Whatever the number is, at some point you must assume that the people admitting online that they wish to emulate the 9/11 conspirators represent a larger pool of people who not only wish this, but who are at some stage of the process leading to "martyrdom". I'm not saying Google's lax policies in policing this kind of file filth will lead directly to another 9/11 style attack. But it is clear that one of the common denominators between all -- and I mean all -- homegrown jihadis is that they like to spend their free time watching these types...

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