Free Republic

Dish Network Corp plans to close 300 Blockbuster stores in the United States in the coming weeks and could lay off as many as 3,000 employees, a move that comes days after the DVD rental firm's UK unit went into administration. Dish is trying to shed unprofitable Blockbuster outlets as online retailers like Amazon.Com Inc and download sites like Apple Inc's iTunes eat away at Blockbuster's business model. The potential job cuts represent about 40 percent of Blockbuster's U.S. workforce of 7,300 people. "We continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand and we will continue to analyze store-level profitability...

January 23, 2013 Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 Heb 7:1-3, 15-17 Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High,met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kingsand blessed him.And Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything.His name first means righteous king,and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace.Without father, mother, or ancestry,without beginning of days or end of life,thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. It is even more obvious if another priest is raised upafter the likeness...

Hoping to take the commercialization of space to a higher level, a second company has jumped into what the founders hope will be a lucrative emerging market, prospecting for raw materials among near-Earth asteroids using fleets of low-cost robotic spacecraft, senior executives said Tuesday. The long-range goal is to develop an in situ manufacturing capability, harvesting raw materials and building components in space using high-tech mini foundries built around sophisticated 3D printers. "This is about the future. This is about making something happen," company chairman Rick Tumlinson told reporters during a news conference in Santa Monica, Calif. "Deep Space Industries...

SAN BERNARDINO - Steve Johnson, Eisenhower High School's popular award-winning boy's basketball coach, remained in a Loma Linda hospital Tuesday night, recovering from gunshot wounds that he said were the result of a robbery at a local park. Johnson, 47, of Yucaipa, was shot several times in his upper torso, after stopping at Seccombe Lake Park on Fifth Street in San Bernardino Monday night before 8 p.m. to use the bathroom on his way to get gasoline, San Bernardino police said. Johnson said he was approached by three unidentified black men, Sgt. Gary Robertson said. The men demanded his wallet...

While much of the nation’s crops withered under last year’s punishing drought, Michigan State University researchers dramatically increased corn and vegetable production on test farms using revolutionary new water-saving membranes. The subsurface water retention technology process was developed by Alvin Smucker, MSU professor of soil biophysics and MSU AgBioResearch scientist. His invention uses contoured, engineered films, strategically placed at various depths below a plant’s root zone to retain soil water. Proper spacing also permits internal drainage during excess rainfall and provides space for root growth. “This technology has the potential to change lives and regional landscapes domestically and internationally where...

Agenda21Radio is hosted by Paul Preston and Chriss Street. The show airs Monday thru Friday from 9 to 10 PM Pacific Time on 1410AM Marysville, CA and is simulcast on MySYTV.comCall in questions and comments at 1-877-211-4525 or locally for Northern Californians in the Marysville, Yuba City, Chico area at 530-742-5555. Or e-mail Paul Preston at paul@edtalkradio.com http://www.mysytv.net/kmyclive.html

After a meeting with the chairman of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, the brother of Ellen Gregory-Robb says he’s optimistic that his sister’s killer will not go free next Monday as planned. The board has decided to release Rafael Robb after having served only half of his 5-to-10 year manslaughter sentence. Robb pled guilty to bludgeoning his wife Ellen to death in their Upper Merion home. Ellen Robb’s brother, Gary Gregory, said the meeting he and his brother had with the chairman of the Board of Probation and Parole Tuesday was mostly to discuss process, but that he’s...

Explanation: The North America nebula on the sky can do what the North America continent on Earth cannot -- form stars. Specifically, in analogy to the Earth-confined continent, the bright part that appears as Central America and Mexico is actually a hot bed of gas, dust, and newly formed stars known as the Cygnus Wall. The above image shows the star forming wall lit and eroded by bright young stars, and partly hidden by the dark dust they have created. The part of the North America nebula (NGC 7000) shown spans about 15 light years and lies about 1,500 light...

I have tried for several days to access anncoulter.com. Did I miss a memo?

(This was published back in July of last year.) The coming winter in the Northern Hemisphere looks to be shaping up for another massive event perhaps bigger than what we experienced in 2011/2012. The last winter coincided with the highest level of EUV and FUV since the beginning of SC24 which although low by normal standards the current UV level is trending quite a bit lower. In fact the current level is not far above the SC22/23 minimum. At present the EUV levels are less than half of the values recorded during the peak of SC23. There is strong evidence...

Prince Harry's remarks that his job as a co-pilot in an Apache attack helicopter required him to "take a life to save a life" may have disconcerted some squeamish westerners. But it was Captain Wales's somewhat blasé attitude to fighting the hardline rebels that has most riled the Taliban. An indignant Taliban spokesman said the young prince was a coward who ran away from fighting the mujahideen, or "holy warriors", as the militants like to call themselves. "I don't believe that he participated in the fighting," said Zabiullah Mujahid. "Maybe he has seen the mujahideen in a movie, but that's...

Compare and contrast one Prince Harry with another. This week, our own Captain Wales, in the PlayStation language of modern warfare, spoke of the ugly, deadly reality of service in Afghanistan. "Take a life to save a life, that's what we revolve around. If there's people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we'll take them out of the game." As a soldier, what mattered most was the safety of his mates. "I'm not here on a free pass … Our job out here is to make sure the guys are safe on the ground and if that...

A new study out by the Huntington Bank finds that nearly 60 percent of consumers in shale gas exploration regions are confident the industry will provide opportunity in their area. The Midwest Economic Index surveyed across Huntington Bank's service area – from West Virginia through Michigan. The new survey is the first of its kind conducted by Huntington. "Huntington commissioned the survey by an independent research firm because we are committed to helping our customers understand the economy in our markets," said Steve Steinour, chairman, president and CEO of Huntington Bank. "While many inside and outside of the energy industry...

IF AN ECONOMIC COLLAPSE HAPPENED TOMORROW WOULD YOU BE READY? If you woke up tomorrow morning and you couldn’t buy gas because you debit card wasn’t working, would you have cash on you to pay for it? What if you tried to take cash out of the ATM but all the ATM’s were not working? What if you try to go to the bank but ALL the banks are shut down due to a bank holiday (and yes, it HAS happened before on minor scale)? What if all forms of electronic transactions are shut down due to this? Do you...

In the midst of the growing controversy over the alleged embezzlement of public funds by California Democratic Party operatives associated with OBAMA FOR AMERICA, a Sacramento real estate developer once accused of defrauding an Indian tribe out of millions of dollars while conspiring with the tribe's attorney (Howard Dickstein), is now embroiled in a separate controversy dealing with the alleged embezzlement of public funds through and by means of fraud while conspiring with the wife of Howard Dickstein -- Sacramento-based lobbyist Jeannine English. Specifically, Mark Friedman of Sacramento-based Fulcrum Property Group -- an Electoral for Barack Obama -- has recently...

Hang Glider finds it's not as easy as it looks.

A new Associated Press-GfK poll has found that more than 60 percent of Americans now favor allowing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country.

Both the left and the right are wrong about Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis. He is neither the Jack Nicholson caricature of a Marine depicted in the 1992 movie A Few Good Men nor the callous and mad eccentric depicted by George C. Scott in the 1970 movie Patton. And Gen. Mattis didn’t just talk the talk; he walked the walk. He led from the front. Indeed, on at least one occasion that I know of, the General was bloodied from a firefight or improvised explosive device while out on patrol with junior, enlisted Marines one-third his age....

Gun Control: The president seeks a review of groups barred from gun ownership, while his attorney general asks the courts to keep hidden documents on running guns to drug lords sealed by executive privilege. Presumably the list of prohibited individuals include Mexican drug lords and their operatives who to this day continue to maim and murder with assault weapons and other semiautomatic firearms provided to them by this administration under the gun-running operation known as Fast and Furious. Attorney General Eric Holder has been tasked to review this list. Unfortunately, this representative of an administration that pretends to care about...

Freedom Is Not Free By Dr. Peter Jones As the Sixties cultural revolution reaches maturity, we need to remember that its fundamental rationale was the rejection of external authority and government control, for “sacred” individual liberty and independence, especially in sexual behavior. To our surprise, the cost of this freedom has fallen on everyone. In a recent article posted on The Aquila Report, Dr. Paul Kengor recalled the brilliant career of the recently deceased legal authority, Robert Bork. Bork’s book, Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline (2003),documented the decline of American culture, liberated from sexual restraints.We remember that...