Free Republic

Oooops. Amazon.com look like they'll have a little explaining to do - namely, explaining why when you searched for the phrase "terrorist costume", the only result returned was a mask of Barack Obama...

Are you sick and tired of John McCain's mealy-mouthed nonsense about Barak Obama. "He's a good man." "We have no reason to fear Barak Obama." There's only one way to make this guy understand reality. Send him and his campaign people a message that if he doesn't get with the program he's gonna start losing the very voters he's depending on. Tell there's nothing to be gained by spreading this "Obama is OK" nonsense. Tell him for every "undecided" vote he thinks he'll get by being "Mr. Nice Guy" you'll see to it he loses ones. Tell him Obama is...

John McCain sharpens his attack on Barack Obama one day ahead of their debate with his new ad, “Dangerous”. This follows the lead of the campaign chatter over the weekend, which resurrected Obama’s comments about American strategy in Afghanistan from over a year ago:

Of course, we're at the point in the election when any criticism will become racist. The Democrats have tried to spin their anti-surge positions and use the success of the surge to their advantage, saying even George Bush supports their position now. The truth is we wouldn't be where we are to even spin it that way without the surge. How sick are these people?

Barack Obama, Aspiring Commissar By the Editors While the Obama coronation proceeds apace in Denver, it is in Chicago that Americans are getting a disturbing demonstration of his thuggish methods of stifling criticism. Stanley Kurtz, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Harvard-educated social anthropologist and frequent contributor to National Review, among other publications. He is widely respected for his meticulous research and measured commentary. For months, he has been doing the job the mainstream media refuses to do: examining the background and public record of Barack Obama, the first-term senator Democrats are about to...

The man convicted of orchestrating the January 2005 firebombing of the Harwood Community Association president's home has continued to act as a Baltimore gang leader from his prison cell in Beaumont, Texas, a federal prosecutor said in a court hearing Friday. Terrence Smith, 28, returned to Baltimore to be resentenced after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled that U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz did not adequately explain why he exceeded federal sentencing guidelines in sending Smith to prison for 80 years. Friday, the judge again sentenced Smith to 80 years, calling him "a dangerous person."...

Setting a timeline for U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq would be “dangerous,” and troop reductions there should continue to be made based on security conditions on the ground, the nation’s top military officer said July 20. President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki this week agreed to set a general “time horizon" for bringing more U.S. troops home from the war, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” but he added that to his knowledge, the agreement does not include specific dates. “I think the consequences could be very dangerous in that regard,” he...

Bo (woof) In Commentary: When I think dangerous, things like knives, guns and chocolate come to mind. The last thing I would think about is a tortoise, and apparently that oversight is what could get me killed. Check out the most dangerous turtle in Britain. (If you see this tortoise, do not approach him. He may be unarmed but he is certainly dangerous. Rupert, who has attacked children and dogs, is on the run after escaping through a hole in a fence.) I can see why a behemoth tortoise would take down a few kids, for they are generally loud,...

Rice Grown In United States Contains Less-dangerous Form Of ArsenicA new study analyzing several types of rice finds that grains grown in the United States may be safer than varieties grown in other countries. (Credit: Courtesy of Yamily J. Zavala) ScienceDaily (May 21, 2008) — Rice grown in the United States may be safer than varieties from Asia and Europe, according to a new global study of the grain that feeds over half of humanity. The study evaluated levels of arsenic, which can be toxic at high levels, in rice worldwide. Yamily J. Zavala and colleagues point out that rice...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A soldier used the Quran -- Islam's holy book -- for target practice, forcing the chief U.S. commander in Baghdad to issue a formal apology on Saturday. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond apologizes after a soldier admitted using the Quran for target practice. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, apologized to leaders in Radhwaniya, in the western outskirts of Baghdad, for the staff sergeant who was a sniper section leader assigned to the headquarters of the 64th Armored Regiment. He also read a letter of apology by the shooter. It was the first...

Here’s some advice for the myriad of fawning pro-Obama pundits with visions of Camelots and Great Societies dancing in their heads: Stop dismissing Hillary Clinton. Her Pennsylvania victory is real and significant, she has additional opportunities in upcoming primaries, and she’s still in the race because, well, she’s still in the race. For weeks, it’s been evident that the number to watch for assessing Clinton’s chances is not the pledged-delegate count. It’s not the national opinion polls, either the spread against Barack Obama or the fall hypotheticals against John McCain. It’s not the number of state contests that each candidate...

The vision of airplanes rumbling slowly over San Francisco, spraying a pesticide mist on parks and playgrounds, has now mobilized one of the most effective lobbying groups in the world. Moms. The California Department of Food and Agriculture's plan to eradicate the light brown apple moth with aerial spraying over the city this summer was already in an uphill fight. But when 100 or so mothers and kids showed up at City Hall on Monday afternoon with signs like "Keep Your Spray Off My Baby," it was clear that the battle had entered a new phase. "Nothing gets people more...

WASHINGTON - As first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Bosnia in March 1996 with her daughter and several celebrities to boost troop morale and thank soldiers stationed there. Clinton cites the goodwill trip as a part of her foreign policy experience, describing a dangerous landing where she was ordered to the armored front of the plane because of possible ground fire. She also now reports landing under sniper fire and contradicts her previous written account of a shortened welcoming ceremony at the airport. But according to accounts at the time, she was placed under no extraordinary risks on that...

Obama's Dangerous IgnoranceFebruary 12, 2008 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I'm sitting here reading this Obama interview, and I am in stunned disbelief. Nobody can be this ignorant. Scary ignorant. From high atop the EIB Building in Midtown Manhattan, one of the most frequently visited tourist attractions in all of Manhattan, I am Rush Limbaugh, behind the Golden EIB Microphone. Great to have you with us. Here's the phone number, 800-282-2882, and the e-mail address is ElRushbo@eibnet.com. It's a Q&A with Barack Obama December 20th in the Boston Globe, Charlie Savage wrote the story. Try this one. This is number five. "Does...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2008 – Al Qaeda and its affiliates remain the most pressing terrorist threats to the United States and its allies, the nation’s top intelligence official told the Senate Intelligence Committee today. Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell gave the senators the intelligence community’s annual unclassified threat assessment. He said the top success of the past year was “there was no major attack against the United States or most of our European, Latin American, East Asia allies and partners.” The retired Navy vice admiral said the fact that there were no attacks was not an accident; rather,...

In May 2001, members of a Northwest group used arson to advance its agenda. They set fire to the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington because they believed one of the researchers was genetically engineering poplar trees. He wasn't. The arsonists destroyed plants and the research of several people other than the man whose work they targeted. None of their goals was served by the violence. "Misguided" is the word, I believe. I'd even call them ecoterrorists. The crime is back in the news because a woman accused of acting as a lookout for the Earth Liberation...

[selected gems -- read the article for even more crap!] But the books also serve as a reminder that we still haven't figured out what gender equality means or how to prepare kids to live it in the world they will assume. "Dangerous" limits boys to tasks, ideas and ways of being associated with boyhood, neglecting knowledge about girlhood that would serve them well as men working and raising children alongside women. "Daring," on the other hand, urges girls to learn both female and male skills and lore -- a good thing for advancement into what is still a man's...

The genetic information of organisms--as varied as goldfish and geraniums--is widely available to the global public. So are the biologic codes for many viruses, such as variola (which causes smallpox) and poliovirus. The advance of biological technologies that allow for the construction of specific genetic sequences raises the harrowing possibility that someone, somewhere would use available genetic information to unleash a biological attack. The quandary facing scientists in the life sciences is similar to the issues that confronted scientists at the dawn of the nuclear age: Can potentially dangerous knowledge be made secret? Or should it be kept widely available?...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2007 – The United States has dealt al Qaeda many significant blows in Iraq and elsewhere, President Bush said here today. Military gains against al Qaeda are encouraging, but the situation cannot be won militarily, and that is why the U.S. continues to work with the Iraqi government on reconciliation and political development, Bush said at a White House news conference. “We’re making progress, … but I fully understand those that say we can’t win this thing militarily,” Bush said. “That’s exactly what the United States military says. That’s why it’s very important that we continue...

Source: SETI Institute Date: October 15, 2007 Long-lost, Dangerous Asteroid Is Found Again Science Daily — Echoing the re-discovery of America by the Spanish long after an earlier Viking reconnaissance, astronomers have learned that a recently observed asteroid - one that could potentially hit the Earth - was actually first observed nearly a half-century ago. Researchers at the Minor Planet Center of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, MA have confirmed work by SETI Institute astronomer Peter Jenniskens that the recently discovered asteroid 2007 RR9 is in fact the long-lost object 6344 P-L. So far, this object has not yet...