Free Republic

Oct. 13, 2008 -- Vocal cords were overrated anyway. A new Army grant aims to create email or voice mail and send it by thought alone. No need to type an email, dial a phone or even speak a word. Known as synthetic telepathy, the technology is based on reading electrical activity in the brain using an electroencephalograph, or EEG. Similar technology is being marketed as a way to control video games by thought. "I think that this will eventually become just another way of communicating," said Mike D'Zmura, from the University of California, Irvine and the lead scientist on...

"If the Head had to suffer such torture, anguish, misery, and pain, how shall his servants, children, and members expect peace and freedom as to their flesh?" "The error of the cursed sect of the Anabaptists … would doubtless be and remain extirpated, were it not that a former priest Menno Symons … has misled many simple and innocent people," complained a letter to the regent of the Netherlands in 1541. "To seize and apprehend this man we have offered a large sum of money, but until now with no success. Therefore we have entertained the thought of offering and...

Friends, & Fellow--Citizens. The period for a new election of a Citizen, to Administer the Executive government of the United States, being not far distant, and the time actually arrived, when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person, who is to be cloathed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those, out of whom a choice is to be made. I beg...

Cases show fraud exposers have been vilified, fired, or detained for weeks One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted. Or worse. For daring to report illegal arms sales, Navy veteran Donald Vance says he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods. Link to MSNBC

In light of all the things I've been hearing about bad imports from China and also in light of all the saber rattling and outcry against China that I've been hearing for years from well-meaning people here in the U.S., I thought it might be time to put down into writing some things about China that most people in America would never know and which I myself have seen and experienced. For starters let me say that this is a subject which I have particular knowledge of, since I spent the last two years ('05-'06) living in mainland China. I...

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Pvt. Odell Sharpe, killed during World War II, is finally coming home. The remains of Sharpe — presumed slain on Christmas Day 1944 when he as only 19 — were recently identified from a skeleton found in a foxhole near the Belgian-German border. . . . READ MORE AT www.foxnews.com

PARIS (AFP) - In sombre ceremonies, world leaders and war veterans paid tribute to their war dead on the anniversary of the end of World War I, a conflict remembered only by a rapidly dwindling band of survivors. In London, Queen Elizabeth led a two-minute silence, a tribute especially poignant with British troops still in conflict -- and dying -- in Iraq. As the Last Post sounded in the shadow of London's Westminster Abbey, the queen laid a cross at a special grass plot next to where relatives and friends of the dead will plant 20,000 tiny wooden crosses. Each...

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist was released from the hospital Friday and is recovering from treatment for thyroid cancer. The 80-year-old Rehnquist, the second-oldest of the nine members of the Supreme Court, is expected back on the bench Monday when the court returns from a two-week break. A court spokesman announced his release after a week at National Naval Medical Center in suburban Bethesda, Md. He underwent a tracheotomy last Saturday at the hospital as part of his cancer treatment. During a tracheotomy, a tube is inserted into a patient's throat to relieve breathing problems. The type of...

Arnold Schwarzenegger says he would like to at least be able to entertain the thought, but the U.S. Constitution prevents foreign-born people from holding America's highest office. So the Austrian-born governor of California tells Correspondent Morley Safer he favors a constitutional amendment to enable him to run for president. Safer's interview with Schwarzenegger will be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Oct. 31, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. "Yes, absolutely (I would like to be eligible to run for president)," Schwarzenegger tells Safer. "Why not? With my way of thinking, you always shoot for the top." Schwarzenegger favors an amendment that would...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Republicans lost an attempt Friday to restart hearings on thousands of voter registrations the party has contested, and the court's decision could mean the hearings will never be held. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati turned down several Republican appeals, clearing the way for a lower-court judge to decide whether to extend her temporary order stopping the hearings. The court action could prevent the hearings from ever taking place because they must be held within two days of the election, state Republicans have said. Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, who filed one of the appeals,...

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell advised Israel on Wednesday that diplomacy and not force is the way to deal with Iran's nuclear weapons program. Two decades ago, Israeli warplanes destroyed an Iraqi reactor to prevent Saddam Hussein from developing nuclear weapons. With Iran now moving in that direction, Powell said "there was a lot of speculation and horror stories and other stories about what this might lead to in the way of crisis, and part of that speculation is that the Israelis might do something or not do something." "I have no information on that," Powell said on...

With all the degradation the left heaps on our soldiers, airmen, seamen and guardsmen today I thought it would be good and refreshing for us here on FR to honor the brave people in our own families who have fought for this country. I thought it would be especially interesting if we included those from past wars and told a bit about them and their participation in the conflicts. You don't have to call them by name if you want (in fact for security's sake it might be best if living family servicemembers are not named), just tell about them...

CHICAGO — In Muslim neighborhoods in Canada, some women fear the legal power handed to their religious leaders. As long as the country's law is followed, religious leaders can play a role in Canada's legal system. But a controversy has erupted over whether Muslim law should be used.

It's making the rounds on the Internet: Texans, If Kerry Should Win--Let's Secede Please note that Texas is the only state with a legal right to secede from the Union (please refer to the Texas-American Annexation Treaty of 1848). We Texans love y'all, but we'll have to take action if John Kerry should win this presidential election, over George W. Bush. And we'll miss you all, too. Texas has given all those complainers plenty of time to get used to the results. After seeing the whiners along the campaign route, the folks from Texas are considering taking matters into our...

Well, here it is: installment number two of the "Letters From the Enemy" series. It's not really an article this time---it's a flyer. Read it and think. This is what's happening in our own land, and we should be aware of it. It is interesting to mention that one of the speakers they're having is W.D. Mohammad, the son of the famous Elijah Mohammad and a big friend and ally of Louis Farrakhan. ICNA-NJ presents The Great Muslim Adventure Day at Jackson, NJ on Sept. 17, 2004 Special Discounted Ticket Price: $20 (includes all rides and wild safari park) Guests/Speakers...

It's encouraging to log on to Free Republic and see all the good folks out there who are concerned for the future of our freedoms and our republic. It's good to see people who are willing to speak out against the enemies of all that is good in this nation. I do wonder sometimes, though, if we conservatives and libertarians are even fully aware of exactly what it is that our enemies think and do. For that very purpose, I decided to start a series of threads called "Letters From the Enemy." These are articles and such that I have...

Security has reached the subcutaneous level for Mexico's attorney general and at least 160 people in his office — they have been implanted with microchips that get them access to secure areas of their headquarters. It's a pioneering application of a technology that is widely used in animals but not in humans. Mexico's top federal prosecutors and investigators began receiving chip implants in their arms in November in order to get access to restricted areas inside the attorney general's headquarters, said Antonio Aceves, general director of Solusat, the company that distributes the microchips in Mexico. Attorney General Rafael Macedo de...

Now that it seems certain that we know who the Democrats are putting up for President, it seems only right that we should next question who will be the VP running mates---not only for the Democrats but also for the Republicans. I'd like to know what everybody else is thinking out there. As for me, I've got a few possibilities. For Kerry, I'd say he'll pick either Hillary, John Edwards, or Bob Graham. If he picks Hillary or any female or minority, Bush will probably go with Condoleeza Rice. If not Bush will either go with Bill Frist or stay...

Since the Vietnam War is so much in the news these days, I thought it might be good to start a thread in which Vietnam Vets or, as in my case, children of Vietnam Vets can swap war stories about their or their parent's experiences in Vietnam. I guess I'll go first. My father was a Sgt. in the Air Force during Vietnam. In April of 1969, he was flying along with 220 other troops from the Air Force, Army and Marines over to Vietnam on a super DC-8 or a "stretch 8" belonging to Seaboard World chartered by the...

WASHINGTON - American officials say U.S. forces will be needed in Iraq long after a sovereign government is restored this summer, but they have yet to work out the terms of a continued presence. The U.S. administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, has also urged Italy and other countries to keep their troops in the country at least until December 2005, an Italian newspaper reported on Friday.