Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate voted Monday to block the Housing and Urban Development Department from giving grants to ACORN, a community organization under fire in several voter-registration fraud cases.The 83-7 vote would deny housing and community grant funding to ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The action came as the group is suffering from bad publicity after a duo of conservative activists posing as a prostitute and her pimp released hidden-camera videos in which ACORN employees in Baltimore gave advice on house-buying and how to account on tax forms for the woman’s income....

A team of scientists based at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden have made a "revolutionary" discovery about how hydrocarbon is formed, learning that animal and plant fossils are not necessary to form crude oil.> The article, titled Methane-derived hydrocarbons produced under upper mantle conditions, and published in Nature Geoscience, states that "Whether hydrocarbons can also be produced from abiogenic precursor molecules under the high-pressure, high-temperature conditions characteristic of the upper mantle remains an open question. It has been proposed that hydrocarbons generated in the upper mantle could be transported through deep faults to shallower regions in the Earth’s...

The arguments aren't new. They echo from the '60s when some people wondered aloud whether the money being spent to visit the moon wouldn't be better spent on the nation's crumbling cities, or to help other dire problems of the day.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama waited over 48 hours before finally releasing a very short statement condemning the Friday shooting of pro-life advocate James Pouillon. in hours of the shooting of late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller, Obama had a statement, but he drug his feet on this incident. As LifeNews.com reported, Pouillon, 63, was shot Friday morning as he protested abortion outside a local hospital in Owosso, Michigan.Local officials have detained 33-year-old Harlan Drake, who told police he killed Jim Pouillon because he didn't like how he would protest abortion in front of the school.Obama's brief statement is...

A Ballard couple are in shock after they were attacked by a raccoon in their own backyard. Now, they're both undergoing painful rabies treatments as a precaution. Mark Silverstein says he still vividly remembers the sounds of his wife's screams and his dog's agonized yelps on the night of the attack. "I heard her screaming and the dog screaming. It was like blood-curdling, terror, like you've never heard before," he says. The bizarre episode began with a normal backyard potty break for their little dog, Bee. With no warning, a furry bandit went on a rampage, biting and clawing the...

How far have we come in this nation that when fraud is uncovered, when taxpayer FUNDED organizations are found to be willing to collaborate in setting up a BROTHEL for under-age illegal immigrants from El Salvador and the “Attorney General” of a major US City actually threatens the people who uncovered the corruption? We support LIFE, we support LIBERTY, and we support the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, in short, we support Human Dignity, and we know that immorality, corruption, and betrayal of common sense values, including protecting the life of the unborn and the sanctity of marriage, are the prime ingredients...

The Augustine committee’s findings are good news for commercial launch providers. Most of the committee’s exploration scenarios would rely on the private sector to carry both cargo and crew to low Earth orbit. The committee recognized, however, that there is risk in such reliance, so they urged the development of new and stronger incentives for the launch industry. Former NASA administrator Mike Griffin offered a blunt assessment of this commercial approach, calling it “irresponsible” in a widely-read memo after the report’s release last week and, in earlier remarks to the committee, declared that the private sector shouldn’t be entrusted with...

Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected. To begin with, much of what has been said about the law and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying. The law does provide for...

Members of the Bomb Squad dismantled a suspicious device found in a vehicle on Markham Road Monday, ending a lengthy evacuation that affected thousands of people. Police, fire, and a HAZMAT team rushed to the scene of a towing yard at 2671 Markham Rd.just north of Finch following the discovery of a cube van containing suspicious and possibly explosive substances. An area of about 1.6 squared kilometres, bordered by Steeles, Finch, Middlefield and Morningside, was evacuated after reports that the van was in close proximity to a large propane tank at Williams Towing Service Ltd. "We've had officers go door...

While the U.S. economy remains in a slump, and sales for most products are at a five-year low, there is one industry that is unable to meet the demand for their products. Both guns and ammo are in short supply, and factories are running around the clock to meet the demand for both guns and ammunition. With gun owners fearing that Obama’s White House will soon restrict their gun rights, they are buying up guns and ammo in a never before seen demand, outstripping the ability of manufacturers to provide suppliers, and leaving many shelves empty. "We can’t stock enough...

ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Friday 11 September for cooperation in the field of space transportation. The agreement was signed at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

using actual science and not bloviating. Using Ohio Stadium as a reference, capacity (102,000) Open google earth and use the ruler tool. Ohio stadium minus the playing field is about 500,000 square feet of seating. give or take a little. So about 5 square feet per person. The park service uses a similar number, so we are on par so far. NOW,,, Lets measure the actual lawn space in downtown DC.. Take the measure tool and measure the actual space of the Capitol lawn. using a block to keep it simple, the maximum area is 517,000 square feet. that is...

That headline needed to be written. Somewhere, anywhere. And it needs to stand because it's true. Glenn Beck has been without a doubt the tip on the spear here. Sure, all of us helped. From further getting the word out to digging up small tidbits. Breitbart played a major part. But it was GB with his radio show and his TV show and the never ending drum beat who made all of this happen. Thank you Glenn. May your family be safe. You are such a huge target now that we all fear for yours and your family's lives.

Those who claim that President Barack Obama's speech on health care this week wasn't a glorious success are fooling themselves. A Washington takeover of health care never sounded so enticing or fun. Just ignore the specifics, because when the president says he welcomes substantive new ideas, he means that if you have the nerve to offer any ideas—as Whole Foods' CEO, John Mackey, did in The Wall Street Journal last month—his allies will attempt to destroy your business and reputation. And when the president says he welcomes bipartisanship, what he means is that he hasn't met with a single Republican...

A sign of desperation? Can't see it any other way. The idea that Obama's political opponents are motivated by racism will apparently now be "mainstreamed" into the Democratic party's talking points against conservatives. It's one thing for liberal bloggers and pundits to casually drop the "R" word in trying to smear administration opponents. But it appears that the race card will become an official meme of the Democrats when attacking their opponents.

This story has everything you could ever want – corruption, sleazy actions at tax-funded organizations, firings, government ties, sex, hookers. It is a network news director’s dream. Imagine the ratings. But almost no one is covering it. Bruce Springsteen once wrote: “From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come).” I doubt he expected that story of love gone wrong would become ideal political commentary for the group known as ACORN. The small scandal showing an embarrassing video of Baltimore ACORN staffers looking like they were giving tax advice on how to set up a brothel, is now national news. --...

In the open desert outside Baiji, Iraq, a naked man with a thick black beard crouched in the dust of a railroad culvert at twilight. Hours before, he had been mumbling and praying in Arabic. Now he spoke few words. Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna stood over him in the grainy darkness, his Glock pistol racked and pointed down at him. "If you don't talk, I will kill you," Behenna said. The night was warm and ragged from the dust storm that had turned the afternoon an eerie ocher. Only one light could be seen, far off, along the road....

For the third time is less than 6 days, a video showing ACORN workers giving advice to a pimp and a prostitute was released by the good folks over at BigGovernment.com. This video features New York City ACORN workers giving advice on how to hide prostitution profits in a tin can buried in the back yard, how to lie when applying for a housing loan and ways to shelter the money for tax purposes. The New Zealand Herald actually put out a story on the third video before CNN did. (The last article on CNN.com about ACORN was four days...

The economy's mild second quarter contraction has many proclaiming the recession over. Now is therefore a good time to survey the current recession so frequently compared to the Depression. It's natural to ask: how do these economic heavyweights measure up? When prizefighters step into the ring – a tale of the tape – a comparison of their primary physical attributes is revealing. A comparison of the economic and fiscal attributes is equally illustrative here.

A great explosion is about to come , Destroying things not of my kingdom , Prophecies told about to unfold , Things new wiping out the old , The storehouses of God's lightning released , Disturbing things now resting in peace , Ancient walls suddenly cut down , Nothing left but burnt glass on the ground , As paper mache burnt and blown away , A prophecy of the past happening in one day , A blink of the eye and nothing left to see , Yet all the nations witnessing God's majesty , A turning point in a war...