Free Republic

http://www.birthersummit.org/ returns a 501 error. The word about town is that it's off. Anyone know the story?

"How come the president doesn't thank me for doing what I can for the economy?" Arpaio continued. "I never get any thanks from the White House -- that's okay, it doesn't bother me." Of course, that's the same president who's under "investigation" by Arpaio and the "birther" gang. Arpaio said he took on the "investigation" into Obama's eligibility to be president because he was "doing him a favor" by intending to clear his name. He didn't say which way the conclusion to that "investigation" is going to go, as we'll all have to wait for the results show on March...

Obama is NOT using a Stolen or Fraudulent Social Security Number “xxx-xx-4425” is Obama’s Legal Social Security Number Barack Obama a/k/a Barry Soetoro is NOT Constitutionally Eligible to be President of the United States Due to His Lack of U.S. Natural Born Status (Lafayette Hill, PA – 12/07/11) – Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the first Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama on August 21, 2008 challenging Obama’s lack of “Constitutionally Eligibility” to serve as President of the United States stated that Barack Obama a/k/a Barry Soetoro is not using a fraudulent or stolen Social Security Number. Barack Obama...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A research team is attempting to discover the origin of a cast bronze artifact excavated from an Inupiat Eskimo home site believed to be about 1,000 years old. The artifact resembles a small buckle, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder said in an announcement. How it got to Alaska remains a mystery.

The Right-Wing Complaint of 2008 In 2008, the following was the general right-wing argument against Obama’s candidacy: a) The self-professed “uniter” Obama had, in truth, little record of uniting disparate groups. From community organizing to politics, his preferred modus operandi was rather to praise moderation, but politick more as a radical, and sometimes go after opponents as unreasonable or illiberal. Thus the most partisan voting senator in the Congress, who talked grandly of “working across the aisle,” also urged supporters to “get in their faces” and “take a gun to a knife fight.” Acorn, Project Vote, and SEIU were not...

It's like something out of science fiction or a horror movie or both: in order to facilitate transplants, we can now keep human hearts alive and beating and toasty warm inside a special electromechanical box full of fresh blood. Up until this point, live organs have been transported from donors to patients in coolers, buried in ice to keep them "fresh." This only works for about six hours, which is why private jets, helicopters, and ambulances are used to speed these irreplaceable and lifesaving items around the country as quickly as possible. Now, if I where a disembodied heart, I'd...

Found out about this yesterday. It looks interesting. I want to go... I really want to go... But... I cannot. Boo! For any of you other aficionados here in the Pacific Northwest, I thought you might like a heads up. www.SeattleCigarExpo.com If you get there, let me know what you thought so I might live vicariously through others.

Link to PDF at CAAFLOG: http://www.caaflog.com/wp-content/uploads/Lakin-order.pdf Substance: Appellant, after consultation with his appellate defense counsel, requests withdrawal of his case from appellate review. NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED: That withdrawal of this appeal pursuant to Article 61(b), Uniform Code of Military Justice, is granted. The record of trial is returned to The Judge Advocate General for action pursuant to Rule for Courts-Martial 1112. DATE: 28 July 2011

This weekend’s sampling: A Rocky Patel Renaissance Toro. While it isn’t along the lines of my usual taste for Maduros, this was a truly excellent cigar. An Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper around a Nicaraguan/Honduran blend. I’d call it a medium strength. While I missed the peppery bite of the Maduro wrapper, the subtlety of the Renaissance was a pleasant change from my usual fare. An earthy taste, but not the taste of dirt. Maybe kind of nutty with a hint of coffee. Very smooth with a pleasing amount of buttery smoke. I will probably never go out and buy a box,...

Today's cigar was a PDR 1878 robusto that I purchased as part of a variety pack. The wrapper is Brazilian, the binder is Dominican and the long filler is a Dominican & Nicaraguan mix. It's been sitting in the humidor for about a few weeks waiting for this nice sunny Saturday in Oregon. Appearance wise, it was quite nice. A dark Maduro wrapper that I enjoy so much and an impressively wrapped pigtail. Well wrapped and with a rather piquant bite to the smell of the cigar. The guillotine cutter was used to remove the cap as the pigtail interfered...

A Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve Robusto with a maduro wrapper I've had this kicking around in the humidor for a month and decided to bring it in to work with me today. I had to finish up the latest impossible task and start planning the next impossible task, so I'd need some thinkin' time. This beauty lit right up and had the smooth draw that I've come to expect from the RP line. Oddly enough, I can deal with off flavors more readily than I can with a poor draw, but I digress.I'll forgo any pretentions of saying...

Scale model awesomeness! Check out: http://madshobbithole.wordpress.com/

Folks, I’d like to make a prayer request on behalf of Buckeye Texan’s mother. She was in a car accident this morning. BT tells me that: “The car in front of her slammed on his brakes. She slammed on hers and avoided hitting him by pulling into the left turn lane. The car behind her did the same but he rear-ended my mom and pushed her out into cross traffic. She was t-boned at 45 - 50 mph. Her car was totaled, but thank God all of the air bags deployed and saved her life. She’s not paralyzed. She can...

It's Friday. We need some cigar pron. One thing that has befuddled me some is the wide variety out there in size and shape. Personally, I find that I gravitate towards robustos and toros with the occasional belicoso. The big churchills I just don't seem to find as pleasant. And the skinny stuff burns too hot for me. How about yous guys? Discuss. Pic related

The weekend is here, so we need another cigar thread. On the last cigar thread, someone broached the topic of making their own cigars. The idea is intriguing, but I doubt that I would personally have the patience to properly cure the tobacco. A couple of interesting links I have stumbled upon: 1) http://www.coffinails.com/cigars.html This site looks quite interesting. They seem to have a good cross selection of instructions, other links, tobacco seeds. I had no idea that there was much of a following for home grown tobacco, but apparently there is. I'm skeptical that my climate would provide good...

The long and short of it being that I've recently discovered that I rather enjoy the occasional cigar. As if I didn't already have enough bad habits... Sadly, it seems that I've made the mistake of trying out a selection of some more expensive cigars, and now I realize that I must begin to evaluate the market for more cost effective options. So far I have found that I really enjoy the Padron 3000 and Rocky Patel Decades. But at those prices, they will certainly be a sometimes thing. And so I call upon the denizens of Free Republic! Cigars!...

Anyone who has kept up with politics lately is no doubt aware that certain intellectual attitudes and habits recur no matter what the subject under discussion. The rise of the Internet has democratized what was once the purview of the professional opinion journalist, policy analyst, or historian and thus made certain tendencies in the debate over domestic and international politics into full-blown categories of bad thinking. By my count, there are five main varieties of these without which there would be far fewer cable news channels, blogs, documentary filmmakers, and entries on The New York Times bestsellers list for non-fiction....

Currently, I am in my third month of self-study of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). I am, of course, being confronted with the usual challenges of learning Arabic. I hope to use this thread as a resource for both myself and others who are also traveling down this oddly scripted road. A hearty welcome to all who might join me in my quixotic effort. First off, why am I doing this? 1) I am greatly concerned about the not-so-distant future we face. I will plainly say that a culture that does not understand a potential adversary cannot confront it. And no...

LOS ANGELES - A handwritten draft of John Steinbeck's novel "Sweet Thursday," along with an unpublished story and other works, will be auctioned by a writer who says they were sitting in a closet for 50 years. "This stuff was unbelievable — just laying in a box," said Joel Eisenberg. "I had this `Aha!' moment when I realized not only what I had here, but what I had the responsibility to do." He said the material belonged to a friend, the late theater producer Ernest H. Martin. Martin's widow asked Eisenberg in 2004 to sort through a box that had...

Three young brothers, Salam, 4, Ahmed, 7, and Osama, 9, were gunned down outside their school on the morning of December 11. They had just arrived by car when they and the driver died in a wild spray of gunfire. Four other schoolboys who happened to be nearby were wounded. It was an assassination attempt, and it failed. The target was the boys' father, Bala Ba'lousheh, but he wasn't in the car. He was a senior Fatah official with the Palestinian Authority's intelligence service in Gaza City, and his would-be assassins were almost certainly from Hamas, the rival Palestinian political...