Free Republic

A high-level British offer of help to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was rebuffed by America shortly after the accident, fuelling fresh fears of political tension between the two countries over the disaster. A few days after the BP-leased rig sank on April 22, the Cabinet Office made a direct offer to the US State Department to airlift half of Britain’s 1,200-tonne stockpile of chemical dispersants, The Times has learnt.

Senators confirmed the judicial nomination of Marisa Demeo, an openly lesbian candidate, late Tuesday. The 66-32 vote fell largely along partisan lines. Republicans opposed to Demeo have blocked her confirmation to the D.C. Superior Court bench since her March 2009 nomination by President Obama. n a letter by the socially conservative group Traditional Values Coalition, senators were urged to reject Demeo because she's openly gay. The letter, obtained by the progressive website ThinkProgress.org, was published Tuesday. “As an open, radical lesbian, Demeo has openly condemned the effort to amend our Constitution to protect marriage as a one-man, one-woman union,” the...

The eight a.m. NPR news update today included word of the fatal shooting of one soldier and the wounding of another outside an army recruiting station in Arkansas. The news reader, Nora Raum, outlined the incident and stated that the shooting appeared to have "religious motivations." She did not name the suspect, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, or tell NPR listeners what those religious motivations might be. In other words, it could have been a radical Unitarian who gunned down the soldiers, or possibly a violent Presbyterian. Why the shyness? Why not tell people what is actually happening in the world? We...

UC Davis researchers today described in unprecedented biochemical and anatomical detail how cigarette smoke damages the lungs of unborn and newborn children. The findings illustrate with increased urgency the dangers that smokers' families and friends face, said UC Davis Professor Kent Pinkerton, and should give family doctors helpful new insight into the precise hidden physical changes occurring in their young patients' lungs. "Smoke exposure causes significant damage and lasting consequences in newborns," Pinkerton said. "This research has a message for every parent: Do not smoke or breathe secondhand smoke while you are pregnant. Do not let your children breathe secondhand...

Snow: Flow of illegals not an 'invasion' Spokesman says Article 4 of Constitution doesn't apply to border issue Saying Mexico is "not the enemy," presidential press secretary Tony Snow today rejected the characterization of the constant flow of illegal aliens over the U.S. border as an "invasion." At today's White House press briefing, WND asked the spokesman: "Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution says, 'The United States shall guarantee to every state in the Union a republican form of government and shall protect each of them from foreign invasion.' My question is, does the president believe this foreign invasion...

[The rhythm method and embryonic death J Med Ethics 2006; 32: 355-6]The “rhythm method” may kill off more embryos than other contraceptive methods, such as coils, morning after pills, and oral contraceptives, suggests an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics.The method relies on abstinence during the most fertile period of a woman’s menstrual cycle. For a woman who has regular 28 day cycles, this is around days 10 to 17 of the cycle.It is the only method of birth control condoned by the Catholic Church, because it doesn’t interfere with conception, so allowing nature to take its course. It...

ATLANTA -- A widely reported government study that said obesity is about to overtake smoking as the No. 1 cause of death in the United States contained statistical errors and may have overstated the problem, health officials acknowledged today. The government is working on a rare correction to the study. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in March in a study co-authored by its director, Dr. Julie Gerberding, that a poor diet and physical inactivity were responsible for 400,000 deaths in 2000, a 33 percent jump from 1990. However, the CDC admitted today that it made an error...