Free Republic

Please welcome a new Freeper and make her feel welcome! We need all the help we can get and promote new members!! She is a N. Florida gal. Please post any suggestions and links you have for successful freeping. "Howudoing" is weak but we'll work on that.

The picture, looking at the polls, is predictably grim for O’Donnell; as Neil Stevens has catalogued here and here, polling shows fairly convincingly that O’Donnell isn’t even as popular with Republicans in the general election as Castle, even before you get to independents and Democrats. The PPP poll showing O’Donnell pulling to a within-the-margin-of-error 47-44 lead among likely primary voters may establish that she’s electable in a primary that doesn’t even draw all Republican voters to the polls, but it certainly doesn’t suggest that she’s a strong candidate: GOP voters are pretty sharply divided about O’Donnell as well. 45% have...

GOP foe casts Pelosi as 'Wicked Witch' By: Kasie Hunt September 13, 2010 05:50 PM EDT Ding, dong, the Speaker of the House is dead — in her opponent’s web ad, anyway. California Republican congressional candidate John Dennis is out with a new ad portraying Nancy Pelosi as “The Wizard of Oz’s” Wicked Witch of the West, the green-skinned villain from the classic 1939 film. But instead of the ruby-slippered Dorothy saving the day, it’s Dennis — a businessman challenging the speaker for her solidly Democratic San Francisco congressional seat — who steps in to rescue the Kansas girl and...

NEW YORK (AP) - Coming two weeks after Election Day, a book by President Barack Obama for some of the nation's nonvoters: inspirational profiles of American pioneers for children. Excerpted per FR posting rules

The imam leading the effort to build an Islamic community center and mosque near ground zero says there is a "misperception" that the proposed site is sacred ground. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said Monday that the location where the center would be built, two blocks from the World Trade Center, has a strip joint and betting parlors nearby. He says it's "absolutely disingenuous" to suggest that it is "hallowed ground."

Pop star Lady Gaga showed her support for gays in the military Sunday night by inviting four discharged soldiers — including a former West Point cadet — to be her entourage at the MTV Video Music Awards. Katie Miller, 20, thought she had gotten used to the spotlight since coming out of the closet in August and quitting West Point. But escorting Lady Gaga down the white carpet in Los Angeles marked a new height of hysteria, Miller told the Times Herald-Record. “I don't think I've ever had more than two or three cameras on me at once,” Miller said....

Listen at source link. http://www.wmal.com/article.asp?id=632848

If you plan to log into your Facebook account and announce to the world that you’re heading to the beach for the weekend, you might want to append the status update with a warning that your home is under 24-hour surveillance, you have a 140-pound Rottweiler who hasn’t eaten in a week and that you own a really good alarm system. If you don’t, you personal belongings could be fodder for some tech-savvy burglars. According to New Hampshire’s WMUR Channel 9 News, three local men, Mario Rojas, Leonardo Barroso and Victor Rodriguez, have burglarized more than 18 homes in the...

Synaxarion: Saint Helen, the mother of Saint Constantine the Great, when she was already advanced in years, undertook, in her great piety, the hardships of a journey to Jerusalem in search of the cross, about the year 325. A temple to Aphrodite had been raised up by the Emperor Hadrian upon Golgotha, to defile and cover with oblivion the place where the saving Passion had been suffered. The venerable Helen had the statue of Aphrodite destroyed, and the earth removed, revealing the Tomb of our Lord, and three crosses. Of these, it was believed that one must be that of...

Murray Ahead in Washington A new Elway Poll in Washington finds Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) leading challenger Dino Rossi (R), 50% to 41%. Said pollster Stuart Elway: "Although Murray is at 50% in this survey, there are enough 'soft' supporters for each candidate, plus undecided voters and supporters of other candidates -- not to mention time on the calendar -- to determine the eventual outcome." However, even if Rossi takes three-quarters of the undecideds in this poll, Murray would still lead 52% to 48%.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief Jim Albaugh told employees in an internal e-mail Monday that "beginning in 2011, non-union employees will be asked to pay a greater share of their health care costs." Health care coverage for Boeing's union employees is governed by contract agreements, but Albaugh said that cost hikes for them "will be discussed as those contracts are renegotiated."

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Candidate for California governor Jerry Brown apologized Monday for taking a swipe at fellow Democrat and former President Bill Clinton over his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The move came a day after Brown said his Republican rival Meg Whitman had used Clinton footage from the 1992 Democratic presidential primary to lie about Brown in a current campaign attack ad. In response to the ad, Brown took a jab at Clinton.

A bond is a contract to repay borrowed money within a specified term and with fixed-interval interest payments. Build America Bonds (BABs) were created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law by President Obama in February 2009, with the intention of providing a low cost means of borrowing for state, municipality and county agencies. Build America Bonds are taxable fixed-income securities that help these agencies finance capital expenditures through subsidized borrowing. (snip ) The Pros • 35% subsidy/tax credit • Interest rates comparable to corporate bonds - this means the bonds are typically high-yielding • Allow municipalities...

Fiscal Policy: House Majority Leader John Boehner suggested he would be OK with Democratic plans to raise taxes on those with the highest incomes. If he didn't misspeak, it was a huge mistake. Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," Boehner said: "If the only option I have is to vote for those at 250 ($250,000 in income) and below, of course I'm going to do that." Of course, it won't be the "only option" if Republicans don't allow it. So why give the opposition the idea that you would settle for less even before the negotiating begins? Given the strong...

Infant Found Dead Outside Planned Parenthood In Winston-SalemBy myNC.com, NBC17, 2 days, 5 hours ago Winston-Salem Police said Saturday that an infant was found in a storage bin outside a Planned Parenthood. The Winston-Salem Journal reports the body was found at the Planned Parenthood located at 3000 Maplewood Avenue. Police said the baby was a white female and taken to Wake forest Forest University Baptist Medical for an autopsy. Police are concerned about the mother of the baby, and are asking anyone with information about the incident to call police or CrimeStoppers at 727-2800.

BOSTON – An infectious-disease nightmare is unfolding: Bacteria that have been made resistant to nearly all antibiotics by an alarming new gene have sickened people in three states and are popping up all over the world, health officials reported Monday. The U.S. cases and two others in Canada all involve people who had recently received medical care in India, where the problem is widespread. A British medical journal revealed the risk last month in an article describing dozens of cases in Britain in people who had gone to India for medical procedures. How many deaths the gene may have caused...

Powerful Hurricane Igor is churning in the central Atlantic Ocean. The forecast calls for Igor to maintain major hurricane status, category three or higher, as it moves off to the west and eventually the northwest across the open Atlantic the next several days. While it appears Igor will have no direct impacts on the Leeward Islands, it is too early to determine what impacts the hurricane may bring to Bermuda this coming weekend. Large swells generated from Igor will arrive late this week and continue through the weekend along the U.S. East Coast. As a result, there will be a...

..... In his analysis accompanying the recently released Annual Report of the Medicare Board of Trustees, Richard Foster, Medicare's chief actuary, noted that Medicare payment rates for doctors and hospitals serving seniors will be cut by 30% over the next three years. Under the policies of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, by 2019 Medicare payment rates will be lower than under Medicaid. Mr. Foster notes that by the end of the 75-year projection period in the Annual Medicare Trustees Report, Medicare payment rates will be one-third of what will be paid by private insurance, and only half of...

Last week saw more bad news for Obamacare. So the Obama administration slipped on the brass knuckles. Health insurance premiums grew by a smaller increment in 2010 than in any of the past 10 years. But on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Obamacare appears to be turning that around: "Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming weeks, complicating Democrats' efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before the midterm elections. Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases...

WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 10 -- The US Environmental Protection Agency asked nine service companies to voluntarily supply information about chemicals in their hydraulic fracturing fluids for its study of the completion process’s possible effects on subsurface drinking water. It asked the companies to provide the information within 30 days and to report within 7 days whether they will be able to comply. EPA undertook its study in response to a 2009 congressional directive and has held public hearings, the final two of which are scheduled for Sept. 13 and 15 in Binghamton, NY. In its request, it also asked BJ...