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American Idol ratings hit a series low last week, dropping to a 1.4 in the desirable 18-49 demographic. Even when head to head competition with The Voice was no longer a threat (the rival show aired a special results show at 8 pm) the numbers stayed flat this week. Once the highly rated FOX show, Empire left the Wednesday night lineup, the show began to falter. The Wrap notes, however, that Idol is still ahead of the final season of the cancelled X Factor. Heading into this week the two regular editions of “Idol” were averaging a combined 2.9 rating...

Making controversial statements is nothing new for me. Neither is the reaction that usually follows. But perhaps no other issue causes as much discussion, debate, and condemnation from others than when I present my position on the issue of homosexuality. As a known Christian, I have been told that I MUST think a certain way and that I MUST believe a certain way regarding not only people who are gay, but regarding their entire lifestyle as well.

With the number of Progressive Talk stations dwindling, yet another syndicated Liberal Talker is ending their terrestrial radio shows. Ed Schultz will cease production of his daily 12-3pm eastern show on Friday in order to focus more attention on his MSNBC TV show. In its place Schultz will host a one hour streaming program and podcast on his WeGotEd.com. The podcast will debut on Tuesday, May 27. Schultz stated on MSNBC, “This change will give me more flexibility to be on the road, to do the kind of shows I want to do here forThe Ed Show here on MSNBC....

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that he would not be making another attempt at the presidency in 2016. “I’m out of politics,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I have no plans whatsoever; this is my last stop.” “I’m going to serve the country in the extraordinarily privileged position the president has given me, the great challenges that I have, and move on,” Kerry said in the interview. …

The National Labor College, an education venture for working adults supported by the AFL-CIO, will close next year because of financial difficulties school officials attribute in part to the construction of a conference center several years ago on the Silver Spring campus. The college, with 599 online students this fall, announced Wednesday that its board of trustees voted this week to accept a closure plan. Word of the impending shutdown had been circulating since at least mid-November. “We’re all very, very sad,” said Paula E. Peinovich, the college’s president. The college will offer courses through the spring semester and have...

I would like to thank all who have welcomed me within the past almost 3 wks; esp ., "the old lady". I also vividly recall also "null and void" & lazmataz. It's been nice having a posting priviledge here as a guest but I don't think FR is for me. I'm a Constitutional Conservative and as many conservative opinions are voiced here I'm not seeing what I'm personally looking for in commentary. It's sort of like dating isn't it? After a few dates, a few comments,a few opinions, one begins to draw conclusions. Free Republic just isn't for me. I...

<p>The Internal Revenue Service said Monday that Lois G. Lerner, the woman at the center of the tea party targeting scandal, has resigned from the agency — though because of privacy rules it could say nothing more.</p> <p>Ms. Lerner, who had been on paid administrative leave, was the director of the division that reviewed the applications for tax-exempt status from political groups over the past few years and that, according to an internal audit, gave extra scrutiny to tea party and other conservative groups.</p>

Professor Stephen Hawking, the scientist, has given his backing to the legalization of assisted suicide for the terminally ill. Prof. Hawking, 71, who has motor neuron disease, said, “We don't let animals suffer, so why humans?” In an interview, he said he believed those who helped loved ones die should escape prosecution if they were suffering from a terminal illness and in pain. … “But there must be safeguards that the person concerned genuinely wants to end their life, and they are not being pressurized into it or have it done without their knowledge and consent, as would have been...

Ron Paul Is More Conservative Than Rick Santorum. By Joe Deaux 01/11/12 - 04:02 PM EST NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- During a Republican presidential debate Saturday, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum had a spat about who was more conservative as each clawed for blocks of Republican voters needed to topple front-runner Mitt Romney. According to a study done back in 2004 though, Paul was the more conservative of the two by a fairly healthy margin. A list put together at voteview.com found that out of the 3,320 individuals (1 being the most liberal and 3,320...

Politics: The hippie horde attempting to mob and "occupy" Wall Street this week has a method to its madness. It's all about getting President Obama re-elected by employing classic Alinskyite tactics. At first glance, the latest protests staged by left-wing rent-a-mobs in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and elsewhere don't look terribly different from the World Trade Organization and global debt-amnesty spectaculars of a decade ago. Radicals swarm against some hated totem, chant, break a few Starbucks windows and leave scads of garbage for someone else to clean up. But the "Occupy Wall Street" mob that shut down the Brooklyn...

OBAMA DRAMA: Prepares to name mate... FLASH: Fri Aug 22 2008 17:52:03 ET /// KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reports a company in Kansas City, which specializes in political literature, has been printing Obama-Bayh material... MORE... Gill Studios, would not confirm information about the material. They would not deny it either. At least three sources close to the plant's operations reported the Obama-Bayh material was being produced...

LENEXA, Kan. -- After weeks of speculation and days of intense rumors, the answer to who Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would name as his running mate may have come down to a bumper sticker printed in Lenexa. KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reported that the company, which specializes in political literature, has been printing Obama-Bayh material. That's Bayh as in U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana. Word leaked out about the material as it was being printed up by Gill Studios of Lenexa. The Obama campaign had said it would make the announcement by text message on Friday. Gill Studios, would...

Joe Torre had a hunch it would come to this. And when the New York Yankees offered him a one-year contract with a hefty paycut, performance-based bonuses—and no room to negotiate—he was insulted and figured he had no choice but to walk away. "The fact that somebody is reducing your salary is just telling me they're not satisfied with what you're doing," Torre said Friday at a news conference. "There really was no negotiation involved. I was hoping there would be, but there wasn't. "If somebody wants you to do a job, if it takes them two weeks to figure...

Can you believe that folks actually donate money to The Free Republic.com censors/cheerleaders, when they could otherwise donate to impoverished kids! I posted the first 3 paragraphs of my home page on 10-7-05 at around 6:30 am, with a fresh identity, using treasury as the link source, at freerepublic.com. The thread was pulled in about 5 minutes and my posting privilages revoked. The first reply suggested that Europe had a debt problem as well, to which I replied that the DX might indicate that they might not be increasing their money supply as fast as we are and included a...

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BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A lawmaker from Thailand's ruling party fell to his death Wednesday from his 10th floor apartment, followed a few hours later by a woman with whom he had been quarreling, police said. The body of Attapol Sanitwongchai, a 39-year-old member of the Thai Rak Thai Party, was found on the ground outside his Bangkok condominium, police Lt. Col. Sompatara Thongkomol said. Police are investigating whether Attapol jumped or was pushed, he said. The lawmaker from northeastern Udon Thani province had quarreled with a woman in the apartment before plunging to his death, police said. After Attapol's...

Dan Rather's departure from the CBS Evening News has some fretting that last September's "60 Minutes" forgery fiasco is being blown out of proportion, that this week's media coverage should paint Mr. Rather as a fearless journalistic truth-teller, not as a sloppy partisan operative. Former New York Times reporter Alex Jones, now a Harvard media expert, told USA Today it would be a "gross disservice" to emphasize Mr. Rather's bogus National Guard story. "It doesn't diminish his decades-long career of distinguished broadcast journalism," Mr. Jones insisted.

Bye Bye, Beringia Anthropology and Archaeology of The Americas by Bill Jones One might think that Archeology sites throughout the World have produced many datable human remains. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ancient human remains have so rarely been found that these singular findings could not be connected to others to form chronologies about human evolution. The scarcity of human remains to be analyzed has prevented the sciences of Anthropology and Archaeology from forming conclusions about the cultural levels of ancient humans. We try to measure the culture of a people in terms of the totality of their...

I am going away for about a week and I wonder what will change in the week I am gone. I find I get overwhelmed by events over which I have no control so I am going to try to hide from the world for a week. I just wonder what might change while I am gone. Perhaps we will find Osama or Saddam, or more famous people will die, or peace/war will erupt in the ME, or Hillary will drop the pretense and declare she is running for the WH. Or nothing will change. See you all when I...