Free Republic

High cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) levels are associated with a reduced risk for chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study. Setor K. Kunutsor, M.D., Ph.D. and colleagues quantified the nature and magnitude of the association between CRF and CKD in a cohort of 2,099 men aged 42 to 61 years with normal kidney function at baseline. Data from repeat measurements of CRF taken 11 years after baseline were used to make correction for within-person variability. During a median follow-up of 25.8 years, 197 CKD events were recorded. The researchers found that for CRF, the age-adjusted regression dilution ratio was 0.59....

NEW DELHI: A turf battle for national highways has erupted with the department of economic affairs (DEA) seeking to take control of the funding for the highway construction programme. After unsuccessfully pushing for corporatisation of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the DEA has proposed changes in the Central Road Fund (CRF) Act to take control of the allotment of fuel cess for infrastructure projects and to decide the priority of expenditure. So far, the road transport and highways ministry is entitled to get the largest share of the CRF, estimated at 41%. The proposal to use 2.5% of...

In the mid 1940âs Myron Fagan launched a one-man crusade against what he claimed was a âRed Conspiracy in Hollywoodâ. Out of this crusade would come the Cinema Educational Guild. The culmination of this crusade would be the 1947 congressional hearings where more than 300 famous stars, writers, and directors from Hollywood, Radio, and TV were investigated, many of whom were blacklisted as Communists. These hearings resulted in the imprisonment of the Hollywood Ten. History of the Red Start over Hollywood Audio

For the last couple of months, I thought my elder kitty was just going senile. She turned 19 this summer and has the usual "old cat" look....frail back and hind legs, loss of muscle and weight and just looks "old". She also started tinkling and pooping outside her liter box and seemed obsessed with her water bowl (hovering over it for hours). She has hip dysplasia and "old cat back", which cortisone shots took care of 2-3 years ago, then they stopped working. I found Syn-Flex for pets online and she made a miraculous recovery. The vets did all kinds...

Soldiers of Japan's Ground Self Defence Force (JGSDF) stand in line for review at a ceremony to mark the launch of the Central Readiness Force at the JGSDF's Asaka Base, in Tokyo's Nerima Ward on March 31, 2007. (Xinhua Photo) Japan's Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma delivers a speech during a ceremony to mark the launch of Japan's Ground Self Defence Force's (JGSDF) Central Readiness Force at JGSDF's Asaka Base in Asaka, north of Tokyo March 31, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) A soldier of Japan's Ground Self Defence Force (JGSDF) walks past rows of guns before a ceremony to mark the...

ALBUQUERQUE Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corporation plans to open an Albuquerque call center that would field requests for immigration information. A company spokesman, Joe Wagovich, says Lockheed expects to have the call center in full operation in three to four months. Some 350 workers would field toll-free phone calls to a hot line operated by U-S Citizenship and Immigration Services. Callers will generally be foreign nationals or lawyers seeking information about immigration and naturalization status.At least 30 percent of the center's workers must be able to speak Spanish. Lockheed also has plans to expand a call center in Indianapolis as...

WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain (search) pressed a cable company's case for pricing changes with regulators at the same time a tax-exempt group that he has worked with since its founding solicited $200,000 in contributions from the company. Help from McCain, who argues for ridding politics of big money, included giving the CEO of Cablevision Systems Corp. (search) the opportunity to testify before his Senate committee, writing a letter of support to the Federal Communication Commission and asking other cable companies to support so-called a la carte pricing (search

A U.S. human-rights group is protesting Iran's imprisonment of an Iranian pastor and former army colonel convicted of not declaring his conversion from Islam to Christianity before he was promoted to the rank of officer. A Tehran military court sentenced Hamid Pourmand, 47, to three years in jail, the maximum penalty, according to a report from the U.S.-based Christian news service Compass Direct.

Generals fight the last war, and so do those who make foreign policy. American foreign policy is wedded to Western Europe by a half century of cold war and institutionalized in the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and various and sundry "Atlanticists." Yet, Europe has radically altered. No longer a quaint collection of historical enemies, Western Europe in its new guise as the European Community is a crypto-fascist state. The new class of international bureaucrats and lawyers who govern the new European state through regulations are no more politically accountable than was Adolf Hitler, and they enjoy media...

New studies are continually challenging the simplistic view of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that increases in the partial pressure of the air's CO2 content (pCO2) have a major, if not phenomenal, impact on earth's climate.  The most recent variant of one of these challenges is presented by Shaviv and Veizer (2003), who suggest that from two-thirds to three-fourths of the variance in earth's temperature (T) over the past 500 million years may be attributable to cosmic ray flux (CRF) variations due to solar system passages through the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy. After presenting...

<p>Washington -- After seven years of trying, Senate campaign finance reform supporters expect to win final passage of a ban on soft money contributions by the end of this week. But approving the landmark measure may require a healthy supply of coffee and No-Doz .</p>