Free Republic

On Thursday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reacted to a statement by the Deputy Leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood that it would “not recognize Israel under any circumstances” with a mind-bogglingly naïve reassurance that we shouldn’t worry: “We’ve seen this press report. I would say that it is one member of the Muslim Brotherhood. We have had other assurances from the party with regard to their commitment not only to universal human rights, but to the international obligations that the Government of Egypt has undertaken.” Riiight. So, according to the State Department, we should believe the private assurances...

One of Illinois' new laws requires consumers to reach for their identification as well as their cash when they have a clogged drain. 

The law that took effect Sunday requires a valid identification to buy products containing chemicals listed within the Federal Caustic Poison Act in concentrations that require the warning "causes severe burns" on the packaging. Targeted substances include hydrochloric and sulfuric acids. 

Purchasers also must sign a log with their name and address. 

"We're looking at Drano, Liquid-Plumr -- those are the big ones," Rep. Rich Morthland, R-Cordova, said. 

The law was proposed after acid was used as...

Georgia Agricultural Commissioner Gary Black is preparing to release the results of a long-awaited report about whether the state can legally create its own guest worker-program. Black is expected to release the report at a 2 p.m. news conference Tuesday at the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s headquarters office in downtown Atlanta. His report could help set the tone of the debate over illegal immigration in the upcoming state legislative session. Last year, Black said his department would consult with officials in Utah, which has enacted a law to allow illegal immigrants to get permits to work there. There is sharp...

Snips from Excerpt only website: A lockout late Sunday of about 465 workers at a Canadian locomotive factory owned by a Caterpillar unit has renewed debate in Canada about the labor impact of foreign ownership. The action came after the employees in London, Ontario, rejected a contract proposed by Electro-Motive Canada. The Canadian Auto Workers union said the proposal would cut wages in half, substantially reduce benefits and end the current pension plan. But some of the union’s executive members have suggested that Caterpillar’s contract demands were intended to provoke a shutdown of the Canadian factory as a prelude to...

By now we're sure you're aware that SOPA is more than just a tomato-based noodle soup. The Stop Online Piracy Act's been stirring controversy with its intentions, and it'll most likely continue in this path until we hear a final decision. Go Daddy wasn't shy -- before retracting -- about its support for the bill, and things have changed drastically since we first heard some of the "top dogs" express their feelings. But who else is behind it, who's got your back, and who's had a change of heart? The answers await you after the break. The following are just...

They might want to check the batteries first. Second-hand pacemakers from dead Americans are being cleaned up and implanted into heart patients in the Third World. And according to doctors the practice is 'very safe and effective'. The pacemakers - small devices which use electrical impulses to regulate the beating of the heart - have been inserted into 53 patients in India who had severe heart rhythm disorders called heart block and sick sinus syndrome.

LONGMONT -- The closing of Longmont's Butterball plant at the end of the year marks the end of a 51-year run for Longmont's turkey plant. More importantly, it means 349 people are joining the ranks of the unemployed. One of them is Abundio Canales, 63, a Longmont resident who has operated machinery at Butterball for 19 years. Both he and his wife work at the plant, and both will start the new year looking for work. Canales said he plans to learn English better and would like to take some computer classes, but he's concerned about his wife being able...

SEATTLE -- She lives in a beautiful waterfront home on Seattle’s Lake Washington. Yet, she's on welfare assistance.   This week federal agents moved in to put a stop to it. They raided her south Lake Washington home armed with a search warrant.   KING 5 News is not naming the woman or her husband because they have not been criminally charged.   Search warrant documents unsealed Friday in federal court reveal that she received more than $1,200 a month in public housing vouchers, plus monthly cash from the federal and state government for a disability, as well as food stamps.  ...

PEORIA — Ryder has canceled all truck rentals for the coming week due to credible but unconfirmed threats of terrorist attacks in the wake of the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

A customer who did not want to be identified told the Journal Star that she had been informed by Ryder of the cancellation by phone call Friday. A Ryder representative told the Journal Star all local rentals for the weekend had been canceled, though that person declined to elaborate on the reason.

Further questions were referred to the head of rentals for the local arm of the company. That person did not...

Excerpt only website: A Glasgow-based company has installed its first commercial "alkaline hydrolysis" unit at a Florida funeral home. The unit by Resomation Ltd is billed as a green alternative to cremation and works by dissolving the body in heated alkaline water. The facility has been installed at the Anderson-McQueen funeral home in St Petersburg, and will be used for the first time in the coming weeks. It is hoped other units will follow in the US, Canada and Europe. The makers claim the process produces a third less greenhouse gas than cremation, uses a seventh of the energy, and...

Snips from Excerpt only Website: Honda said the plant will open in 2014, with the capacity to produce 200,000 vehicles annually. It will employ 3,200 workers in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, the same region where Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T) plans to build a new assembly plant. "There are still a lot of vehicles being sold (in the United States) and obviously some of the cheapest places to make parts or assemble vehicles is south of the border," he said.

Snips from Excerpt only website: But the IDs originating from one Chinese company are nearly flawless to the untrained eye, officials said. They copy more of the security features that appear on the real thing -- holograms, bar codes, magnetic strips that can be scanned, and ultraviolet images. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Chicago this year have seized more than 1,700 Chinese-produced phony driver's licenses for the states of Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, Georgia, and South Dakota.

Snips from excerpt only website: Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will close its U.S. emissions derivatives platform, the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange, after the first quarter, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company is shutting the exchange down as it is losing money and the chances of a federal carbon-reduction plan being put into place look slim, the Journal said.

BANFF, Alta. - One of the most popular hiking and biking trails in Banff National Park is bringing in restrictions at the height of the summer tourist season due to fears of bear attacks. The Lake Minnewanka Trail has been a favourite haunt for hikers and mountain bikers for decades. There are over three million visitors to the park each year and many of them take to the 32-kilometre trail northeast of the Banff townsite.Until Sept. 15, it will be mandatory for hikers to travel in groups of at least four. At least one of the individuals will be required...

Political pollster Nate Silver summarized the results of a recent Gallup poll this way on Thursday. "In case there weren't enough reasons to be depressed about the country: Popularity of beer at record low." OK, it's not crystal clear that a record has been shattered, but the nation's adoration of beer has dropped to its lowest point in the past 20 years among adults, according to the poll that was released Wednesday. Among those asked which alcoholic beverage they would most often drink, 36% said beer was their pick. Beer just beat out wine as the top choice. Wine was...

Snips from Excerpt Only Website: When Liu Li boarded a plane for the United States, she had a little bit of makeup on, was wearing a loose dress, and had her hair up. She tried to hold her handbag in front of her belly in a natural way, just as the middleman had taught her. She was trying to look as calm as any wealthy Chinese lady would look when travelling abroad. But Liu Li couldn't help feeling terribly nervous: she was six months pregnant when she left for the United States, where she wanted to give birth to an...

Excerpt only site: Cities like New York, Miami, Las Vegas and Los Angeles may be some of the most popular and exciting cities in the U.S., but they also happen to be the dirtiest. A list of the most filthiest cities in America has been compiled by Travel and Leisure magazine. Most of the places that made the top ten were some of the most popular in all of the country, perhaps something to do with the number of tourists who frequent there or the street parties and events that attract hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.

Olga sez, "The U.S. Dept of State is proposing a new Biographical Questionnaire for passport applicants: proposed new Form DS-5513 asks for all addresses since birth; lifetime employment history, personal details of siblings; mother's addresses prior to your birth; any "religious ceremony" around time of birth, circumstances of birth including names (as well as addresses/phone numbers) of persons present, & more. Failure to answer can mean denial of passport, & govt reserves right to use this info for 'routine uses.'" Update: Commenters note that this form is specifically intended in lieu of a birth certificate with a passport application; but...

MALICIOUS hacking software that could force a passenger jet to nosedive has been developed. Security representatives at the Asia-Pacific Aviation Security conference, which included representatives from Qantas and Virgin Airlines, said that cyber attacks were the second biggest risk to the aviation industry after natural disasters. Ty Miller, of Australian security firm Pure Hacking, said the risk was no longer "something out of a movie" but had become more likely with the dawn of the Stuxnet virus. An unknown attacker last year used the software to sabotage one of Iran's uranium enrichment plants. "The stereotypical Die Hard 2 airport attack...

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained a shocking video produced by a extremist Hispanic group attacking civil rights activist Ted Hayes with racist smears and death threats. The video was posted to the internet on YouTube after Mr. Hayes testified, by invitation of Maryland Delegate Pat McDonough, on March 15 before the Judiciary Committee of the Maryland House of Delegates against providing taxpayer dollars for in-state tuition benefits for illegal aliens. The video begins with the message “[expletive] you ‘Mayate,’” which is reportedly a racist and derogatory term...