Free Republic

What do you think? Is access to guns too easy for most Americans?

WASHINGTON - Arrogance is a common vice in presidential politics. A person must be more than a little self-important to wake up one day and say, "I belong in the Oval Office." But there's a line smart politicians don't cross — somewhere between "I'm qualified to be president" and "I'm born to be president." Wherever it lies, Barack Obama better watch his step. He's bordering on arrogance. The dictionary defines the word as an "offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride." Obama may not be offensive or overbearing, but he can be a bit too cocky for his own...

A video has surfaced of Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama talking on his plans for strategic issues such as nuclear weapons and missile defense. The video is incomplete, and its origin is unknown, although some have speculated it may have come from someone within the Hillary Clinton campaign. The full text from the video, as released, reads as follows: ...I'm the only major candidate who opposed this war from the beginning. And as president I will end it. Second, I will cut tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending. I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems. I...

Algeria will return 15 MiG-29SMT -- Fulcrum -- fighters, purchased from the MiG Corp in 2006-2007, to Russia. The deal on the return was signed shortly before Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika visited the Russian Federation. This is an unpleasant incident not only because Algeria has thereby expressed its dissatisfaction over the quality of Russian exports. This brings into doubt the entire military-technical cooperation between the two countries with a price tag of $7 billion. This is the sum of the contracts signed by Russian representatives during President Vladimir Putin's visit to Algeria. This is the first demonstrative return during Russia's...

PHILADELPHIA -- Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania have developed nanowires capable of storing computer data for 100,000 years and retrieving that data a thousand times faster than existing portable memory devices such as Flash memory and micro-drives, all using less power and space than current memory technologies. Ritesh Agarwal, an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and colleagues developed a self-assembling nanowire of germanium antimony telluride, a phase-changing material that switches between amorphous and crystalline structures, the key to read/write computer memory. Fabrication of the nanoscale devices, roughly 100 atoms in diameter, was performed without...

Boeing has been awarded a U.S. Army contract valued at approximately $7 million to begin developing the initial phase for a truck-mounted laser weapon system that destroys rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds. Under the High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD) Phase I contract, awarded Friday, Boeing will develop and complete a preliminary design of a rugged beam control system (BCS) on a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck. The contract contains options that, if exercised, will call for Boeing to build and test a significant component of the HEL TD system, comprised of the BCS integrated on a vehicle...

US AMERICANS ARE EXPENSIVE. They eat more food, use more petrol and create more greenhouse gas than the rest of us. So when they go to work they need a hefty salary. Not so Indians or Chinese, or Filipinos. Or Cubans or Iraqis come to that. You can get three or four of most of these for what you might have to pay an American. This is why tech firms are keen to ship workers into the States to get them to work for them, rather than some equally-qualified but expensive hamburger-muncher from down the road. But immigration laws pertaining...

Suppose a handful of leftist activists in America were to position themselves to levy an unlegislated tax on the American public. This tax would amount to hundreds of billions of dollars a year and a substantial part of the proceeds would be sent to potential enemies and those who speak unfavorably about the United States, some of whom would use the money to produce atomic weapons. What should be the reaction of so-called "red-blooded" Americans? Outrage. Every day America imports 10 million barrels of oil from foreign nations, paying an artificially set price per barrel established by a cartel (OPEC)...

Is somebody getting taken to the cleaners? A $10 dry cleaning bill for a pair of trousers has ballooned into a $67 million civil lawsuit. Plaintiff Roy Pearson, a judge in Washington, D.C., says in court papers that he's been through the ringer over a lost pair of prized pants he wanted to wear on his first day on the bench. He says in court papers that he has endured "mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort." He says he was unable to wear that favorite suit on his first day of work. He's suing for 10 years of weekend car rentals...

An Israeli company has recently tested one of the most shock-resistant materials known to man. Five times stronger than steel and at least twice as strong as any impact-resistant material currently in use as protective gear, the new nano-based material is on its way to becoming the armor of the future. A year ago IsraCast reported on the development of the first commercial nano-based lubricant which was developed by the Israeli company ApNano materials. A year later we find ApNano working also on a wholly different application of their technology - shielding and protection. In recent research lead by Prof....

This brief blog entry takes you through a series of negotiations over time between peacemakers and terrorists: A peacemaker walks up to the left side of a line. A terrorist walks up to the right side of the line. The peacemaker introduces himself. The terrorist kills him. A peacemaker walks up to the left side of the line. A terrorist walks up to the right side of the line. The peacemaker asks, "why did you kill my friend?" The terrorist kills him and rapes his wife. A peacemaker walks up to the left side of the line. A terrorist walks...

WASHINGTON -- In the past week, Karl Rove has been promising Republican insiders an "October surprise" to help win the November congressional elections. President Bush's political strategist is also saying that the final two weeks before the elections will see a blitz of advertising, and the Republican National Committee is deploying an army of volunteers to key locations to help the grass-roots effort and monitor the elections. The RNC is offering to fly in volunteers and cover their expenses. Rove is not saying what the October surprise will be. Asked if he would elaborate and give his thinking about the...

CIA Expands Use of Drones in Terror War 'Targeted killing' with missile-firing Predators is a way to hit Al Qaeda in remote areas, officials say. Host nations are not always given notice. WASHINGTON — Despite protests from other countries, the United States is expanding a top-secret effort to kill suspected terrorists with drone-fired missiles as it pursues an increasingly decentralized Al Qaeda, U.S. officials say. The CIA's failed Jan. 13 attempt to assassinate Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman Zawahiri in Pakistan was the latest strike in the "targeted killing" program, a highly classified initiative that officials say has broadened as the...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2005 — Officials at JP Morgan Chase have apologized and promised to improve their screening policies, after a credit card solicitation letter sent to a 54-year-old naturalized American citizen came addressed to "Palestinian Bomber." The form letter for a Visa Platinum card arrived earlier this month at the home of Sami Habbas, a grocery store manager from Corona, Calif. The words "Palestinian Bomber" appear above his address and the salutation reads, "Dear Palestinian Bomber." The document included the signature of Carter Franke, chief marketing officer for Chase Card Services. Pro-Bush Military Family a Counterpoint to Sheehan Walter...

Arafat is reportedly clinically dead. More details to follow

Kerry pledges to hold face-to-face talks with North Korea WATERLOO, Iowa (AFP) Oct 20, 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry on Wednesday pledged that as president, he would open one-on-one talks with North Korea on its nuclear program, a step President George W. Bush has refused to take. Kerry, in his most strident call yet for direct talks with Pyongyang, said Bush had sat by and allowed Pyongyang's arsenal to rise from two nuclear weapons to six or eight bombs. "That means that North Korea ... a country that will sell anything to anyone, can sell nuclear weapons and still hold...

The Supreme Court Monday ruled the government has the power to hold American citizens and foreign nationals without charges, but detainees can challenge their treatment in U.S. courts. Your view? 1. The Supreme Court should have taken a stronger position to defend the rights of citizens.

President Bush and presumptive Democratic challenger John Kerry disagree sharply on the state of the U.S. economy. What's your opinion? 1. The economy is making a strong recovery after the shocks of a recession, Sept. 11 and the Iraq war.

President Reagan, The United States and the choices now facing us. In this past week of mourning & reflecting on the life on Ronald Reagan one thing has stood out to me very clearly. President Reagan was one of the greatest men of our generation and along with his political accomplishments he exuded greatness & gratiousness to everyone, and amongst very few men he never did left the power get to his head. I am also very grateful for his example in the many dimentions where he positively affected the world. In this past 7 days while we as a...

U.S. Sen. John Kerry appears all but certain to be the Democratic nominee for president. What grade would you give him as a candidate and potential president of the United States? A. B. C. D. F. I don't know enough about him yet.