Free Republic

Overview Congress has directed DHS to establish regulations to prevent the misappropriation or use of ammonium nitrate in a terrorist attack. Ammonium nitrate is a chemical that exists in multiple concentrations and physical forms, and principally is used as an agricultural fertilizer, as a component in the manufacture of some first aid products (such as cold packs), and as a component of explosives often used in the mining and construction industries. In addition to its many legitimate uses, ammonium nitrate was the primary explosive used in the deadly Oklahoma City bombing in April 1995. As a result of Congressional direction,...

The Supreme Court let stand on Monday a ruling that a traditional Internet download of sound recording does not constitute a public performance of the recorded musical work under federal copyright law. The justices refused to review a ruling by an appeals court in New York that the download itself of a musical work does not fall within the law's definition of a public performance of that work. The not-for-profit American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) appealed to the Supreme Court. It said the ruling has profound implications for the nation's music industry, costing its members tens of...

UCLA-Harvard study highlights 3 types of confusing outcome measures Studies about medications published in the most influential medical journals are frequently designed in a way that yields misleading or confusing results, new research suggests. Investigators from the medical schools at UCLA and Harvard analyzed all the randomized medication trials published in the six highest-impact general medicine journals between June 1, 2008, and Sept. 30, 2010, to determine the prevalence of three types of outcome measures that make data interpretation difficult. In addition, they reviewed each study's abstract to determine the percentage that reported results using relative rather than absolute numbers,...

New research demonstrates that a diet based around plants, nuts and high-fiber grains lowered "bad" cholesterol more than a low-saturated-fat diet that was also vegetarian, meaning that one's dietary changes could be an alternative to statin medications for many people saving persons from some devastating side effects of the medications. After six months, people on the low-saturated-fat diet saw a drop in LDL cholesterol of 8 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), on average, according to findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (excerpted)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge is ruling against the Secret Service, saying records of visitors to the White House are subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. The Secret Service had argued that the visitors' logs were presidential records exempt from public disclosure. But U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell on Wednesday disagreed. Howell sided with government watchdog group Judicial Watch, which had sued for records from the first eight months of the Obama administration. Howell said the Secret Service must disclose the records, except individual entries that fall under exemptions like for national security. In September 2009, President Barack...

(excerpted) Authorities had been collecting marijuana plants on Round Mountain at the end of Rabbit Lane, according to a sheriff's report. "We could hear the rounds pass by and hit," Fontes said. Officers initially thought the shots came from the growers, Fontes said, but later discovered it was Speyrer who lived in a nearby home. According to the report, when officers noticed Spreyer in the area, they approached her and ordered her to get on the ground. Here's what the report states happened next: "Why do I have to get on the ground," the senior asked. "You shot at us,"...

<p>KNOXVILLE (AP) - A University of Georgia graduate assistant and a Baton Rouge, La., waitress have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Knoxville in a scam to steal debit and credit card information from restaurant customers.</p> <p>Waitress Shena Everett was in court Wednesday in Knoxville on a charge of conspiracy to commit access device fraud.</p>

WASHINGTON -- A growing shortage of medications for a host of illnesses -- from cancer to cystic fibrosis to cardiac arrest -- has hospitals scrambling for substitutes to avoid patient harm, and sometimes even delaying treatment. "It's just a matter of time now before we call for a drug that we need to save a patient's life and we find out there isn't any," says Dr. Eric Lavonas of the American College of Emergency Physicians. The problem of scarce supplies or even completely unavailable medications isn't a new one but it's getting markedly worse. The number listed in short supply...

WASHINGTON – A new government report says many elderly nursing home residents suffering from dementia may be victims of overmedication with strong anti-psychotic drugs that could harm them... The Health and Human Services inspector general says that in 2007, more than 300,000 nursing home residents got powerful drugs meant for treating serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. But nearly 90 percent of the time, the prescriptions were for patients suffering from dementia, a condition for which the anti-psychotic drugs are not approved. (excerpted)

The purpose of this survey is to examine the uses and users of online sources for political information. We ask that only those individuals who access websites, blogs, social media sites, Twitter, and YouTube for political information participate in this survey. Additionally, respondents must be eligible to vote in the U.S. This study is being conducted for academic purposes by researchers at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and the University of Texas-Austin. This is the seventh such survey we have conducted. Our findings have been published across about 30 academic articles. The University of Tennessee Institutional Review Board has approved this...

Only about half of new drugs approved in the last decade had comparative effectiveness data available at the time of their approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and approximately two-thirds of new drugs had this information available when alternative treatment options existed, according to a study in the May 4 issue of JAMA. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110503161400.htm

...A bingo lover who follows the US election on Fox News and al-Jazeera, Mrs Obama was just 19 when her husband left her in 1959 to study in Honolulu, where he was to meet Mr Obama's mother Ann Dunham, then 17, in a Russian class at the University of Hawaii. "My first born was two and the second one was in my belly," she said. "He told me had an American scholarship and that he would come back." When he did return in 1965 he brought with him a third wife, a white American called Ruth... Her father had three...

"knoxnews.com, the Knoxville News Sentinel website, won a 2011 regional Edward R. Murrow Award today for a video news documentary on the Tea Party movement."

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) — The Oak Ridge National Laboratory hopes to restore limited email on Tuesday after a cyber attack over the weekend. Laboratory Director Thom Mason says officials shut down electronic access to the lab Friday night after a highly sophisticated cyber attack, known as Advanced Persistent Threat, according to The Knoxville News Sentinel. Closing access ensured that no data was extracted from ORNL computers.

From director Shayne Edwards and award-winning radio host Phil Valentine, An Inconsistent Truth takes you along for the ride on one man’s quest for the truth. Many people believe in man-made global warming but they don’t know why. This is one of the most important issues of our day yet the average American knows so very little about what’s really going on. Is that by design? Who stands to make billions off cap-and-trade legislation? Why do those who raise their voices the loudest lead the most wasteful lifestyles? Is carbon dioxide really a pollutant or is it a harmless gas...

In what planners describe as a unique model for health care, Erlanger hospital will construct a multi-million dollar health and wellness facility at the Volkswagen auto assembly plant to serve both VW employees and the surrounding community. "This is about wellness. This is about finding a way not to increase health care costs, but decrease health care costs," Jim Brexler, president and CEO of Erlanger, said at a press conference on Friday. Hospital officials are seeking a developer to construct the project within 12 months so the site will be ready in time for the plant's opening next year, Mr....

GATLINBURG — The Tennessee Tea Party Coalition will hold its inaugural Tea Party Convention Saturday and Sunday (May 22 & 23) in Gatlinburg. U.S. Rep. Steve King, of Iowa, who is active in the Tea Party, will be the keynote speaker. The convention will be held at the Gatlinburg Convention Center, 234 Historic Nature Trail. Cost is $30 per ticket in advance; $35 at the door. No charge for ages 21 and under. There will be other guest speakers and discussion panels, a meet and greet with candidates, gubernatorial debate, tax reform debate and entertainment with live music and videos.

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) — A man was bitten as he was trying to take a picture of a black bear in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, but the injury was minor and did not require medical attention. The National Park Service said in a release the unidentified man suffered a small puncture wound on his foot after he was bitten on the Laurel Falls Trail on Wednesday. Wildlife biologists captured a 60-pound female bear that visitors reported seeing near the trail. As a matter of park policy, bears that have contact or injure people are euthanized.

Pfizer, the largest drug maker in the world, disclosed 35 million in payments during the second half of 2009 to doctors who consulted or spoke on behalf of drugs and to the medical centers that tested them, The New York Times reports. This is Pfizer's first disclosure of this nature. "While other pharmaceutical companies have disclosed payments to doctors, Pfizer is the first to disclose payments for the clinical trials. The disclosure does not include payments outside the United States" (Wilson, 3/31). "The drugmaker made the disclosure as part of a government settlement after it pleaded guilty last year to...

Simvastatin is taken by around three million people in order to lower their cholesterol and reduce the risk of having a heart attack. However an analysis of clinical trial data in America has found that high doses can cause muscle damage and a rare condition which induces kidney problems and may be fatal. Patients were told not to stop taking simvastatin but advised to talk to their doctor if they have concerns. The American medicines regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, has issued a warning to patients to be alert to signs of problems when taking the 80mg daily dose...