Free Republic

The economic crisis has taken a toll on nearly every corner of the American economy, including the financial position of US states. With tax revenues decreasing and spending on the rise, some states are considering drastic measures.

<p>Several black unmarked cars escorted Barbara Bush, 83, and President George H.W. Bush to the hospital because she had been feeling ill for about a week.</p> <p>HOUSTON -- It has been reported that Former First Lady Barbara Bush was taken to the emergency room at Methodist Hospital.</p>

We need some new thinking to get us out of the wilderness as soon as possible....like in two years. We can definitely do it. Here are a couple of my thoughts. I encourage Republicans to think out of the box on ways to repackage and reposition without giving up any core values or pandering. A SHADOW CABINET We need to adopt the British model. Establish an official, high profile, Republican shadow cabinet that issues press releases on what they would do differently if they were governing. Whoever is in this shadow cabinet should be in campaign mode for the next...

JONESBORO, AR (KAIT) - Region 8 News has received reports of some riot-like activity in Jonesboro. It happened at The Grove apartment complex just off the Arkansas State University campus on North Caraway. Officers from Jonesboro, Brookland, Bay, Craighead County Sheriff's Department and the State Police all responded to this incident. From what we've been told, at least one police officer has been injured. Region 8 News has a live truck on the way to the scene and will bring you the latest on kait8.com and on KAIT as it happens.

Sea kitten and chips, filet-o-sea kitten and sea kitten fingers would replace fishier dish names on restaurant menus, under proposals from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The rebranding is aimed at altering the “slithery and slimy” public image of fish, by highlighting their similarities to cuter, more popular animals.

Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said last night that Washington could "ultimately" contemplate the idea of negotiating with the Taliban to secure a political settlement in Afghanistan, if the Afghan government were to pursue such talks. In comments that add to the growing sense across Nato that the alliance will never achieve a comprehensive military victory in Afghanistan, Mr Gates said a political settlement with the Taliban was conceivable.

Down 722 - 7% and falling so far. Asian stock markets plunged Wednesday as recent steps by the world's major economies to fortify credit markets failed to stem escalating fears that the spreading financial crisis could spawn a global recession.

"Sarah, I'm calling you a liar" wrote blogger ArcXIX. "And not even a good one. Trig Paxson Van Palin is not your son. He is your grandson. The sooner you come forward with this revelation to the public, the better. " Do you have to be sure what you are saying is false for slander? How long after slander does someone have to file a suit? I think you have to prove intention to harm. Could effort to influence election negatively for you be considered intention to harm? Just wondering how good a case either Sarah or daughter would have...

ANKARA (AFP) — Washington has made no formal request from Ankara to allow two US hospital ships to sail through the Turkish Straits to Georgia, a US diplomat said Saturday, following reports that Turkey was dragging its feet on making a decision.

Andy Card has resigned.

Can't post the original story because Clarion-Ledger is a blocked source. But reports are the Beauvoir, a national historic landmark site and Biloxi tourist attraction, has been destroyed. Life and survival are priorities at the moment, but the destruction of historic sites in New Orleans, Biloxi, and elsewhere, cannot be replaced and will affect all future generations of Americans in some small way. Beauvoir was the site where Confederate President Jefferson Davis lived at the end of his life and was/is the site of the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library. Reports are that the home itself has been reduced to rubble...

I was looking for protest photos. I noticed that one of them was protesters against the "exiled dissident" Osama bin Laden. I did a search on "Osama + dissident" and there were a few more. Poor Osama, just an exiled dissident soul.

Abu Mus'ab Al Zarqawi, on whom the U.S. put a bounty of US$10 million, has been arrested in the Iraqi city of Baakuba, the Emirate newspaper al-Bayane reported on Tuesday citing Kurdish media. According to Al-Bayane’s correspondent in Iraq, the report on Al Zarqawi’s arrest was also reported by the Kurdish media, the first to announce Saddam’s seizure. However, no official report on arresting Al Zarqawi, declared by the U.S. occupation authorities as its "target number one" in Iraq has yet emerged. The real name of Al-Zarqawi, 38, Jordanian is Ahmad al-Khalayleh. Al Zarqawi’s armed group's has divided Iraq into...

What did all you Freepers get for Christmas? Did you get what you wanted? (I did a search, sorry if this question has been raised previously)

News Cop Fired While On Active Duty Wants Job Back By Terry Groover TIMES RECORD • TGROOVER@SWTIMES.COM A former Mulberry police officer who was fired while on active military duty says he wants his job back, and the U.S. Department of Labor has agreed. However, Mulberry Mayor Jeff Marvin says Jerry W. Cunningham cannot return to work as a Mulberry officer. Cunningham, who is serving near Baghdad with the 39th Infantry Brigade, was fired from the Mulberry Police Department on June 24, 2003. At the time, Cunningham was on active duty with a National Guard unit and was serving Homeland...

BAGHDAD, Iraq Baghdad's governor says gunmen have killed his number-two man. He says the deputy governor (Hatim Kamil) was on his way to work Monday when he was assassinated in a drive-by shooting. Another Iraqi official says two of the man's bodyguards were wounded in the attack. Insurgents have killed dozens of Iraqi politicians and government workers in recent months in a bid to destabilize the country's reconstruction.

This hasn't been posted in quite some time and maybe some Freepers have missed it. Wizbang has put up a Kerry Sloganator so you can make your own Kerry campaign signs. Also, they have a gallery displaying a bunch of the ones that have been created by others and some are very funny. Kerry Sloganator GalleryKerry Sloganator

We just had three folks ring the doorbell. Asked us if we were registered voters and if we would like to register to vote, then informed us about the dates/times and locations of early voting, then asked us if we would support Kerry-Edwards.

LINGUISTS and proctologists from around the world are stunned by a Detroit man's unique gift ... he is able to speak fluent French out of his buttocks. Jason Jablonski, a 40- year-old furniture salesman, began speaking French out of his butt six months ago and has been unable to stop ever since. According to medical records, he was awakened one night last January in his bedroom by a strange voice that seemed to be coming from under his sheets. "I listened, but was afraid to move," explains Jablonski. "I thought an intruder may have gotten into bed with me. I...

Forget waiting for ET to call -- the most likely place to find an alien message is in our DNA, according to an expert in Australia. Professor Paul Davies, from the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at Macquarie University in Sydney, believes a cosmic greeting card could have been left in every human cell. The coded message would only be discovered once the human race had the technology to read and understand it. Writing in New Scientist magazine, Davies said the idea should be considered seriously. For more than 40 years astronomers have been sweeping the skies with radio telescopes hoping...