Free Republic

PORTLAND, Maine — In the summer of 2010, former President George H.W. Bush sat down at his home in Kennebunkport and jotted a quick note to a young woman who had come to Maine for a work project. “Dear Taylor,” he wrote. “There are a lot of family fans of yours here at our lovely place by the sea. Please come over tomorrow afternoon for a swim and relaxation by our pool. I believe in long shots, so I hope this one works out.” The invitation was accepted, and the next day Taylor Swift came by with several of her...

Everyone knows that Obamacare was loosely modeled on the refrom undertaken in Massachusetts. So how’s MA doing? About exactly as you’d expect. This summer the Boston Globe wrote that: The relentlessly rising cost of health insurance is prompting some small Massachusetts companies to drop coverage for their workers and encourage them to sign up for state-subsidized care instead, a trend that, some analysts say, could eventually weigh heavily on the state’s already-stressed budget. Unable to stop the bleeding, Massachusetts has resorted to price controls: In February, the governor filed sweeping legislation that proposes to give the Division of Insurance the...

The European telescope sent far from Earth to study the oldest light in the Universe has returned its first images. The Planck observatory, launched in May, is surveying radiation that first swept out across space just 380,000 years after the Big Bang. The light holds details about the age, contents and evolution of the cosmos. The new images show off Planck's capabilities now that it has been set up, although major science results are not expected for a couple of years. "The images show first of all that we are working and that we are able to map the sky,"...

PARIS (AFP) - An international team of astronomers peering into the deep Universe said on Thursday they had mapped the biggest-ever structure of the enigmatic substance known as dark matter. They detected a web of matter spanning 270 million light years, or more than 2,000 times the size of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, they said. Around a fifth of the Universe is believed to consist of dark matter, spreading out in mysterious filaments, sheets and clusters. But, with present technology, it cannot be seen directly. Its existence is perceived indirectly, through the gravitational pull it exerts on light....

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2007 – As it has for the past two years to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Pentagon will open its doors Sept. 8 and 9 for brief public tours. The tours, part of Sept. 11 commemorative events that include the Sept. 9 America Supports You Freedom Walk, will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 8 and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 9, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Joshua Hodgin, director of the Pentagon’s tour program, said. America Supports You is a Defense Department program connecting citizens and...

FORT HUACHUCA — In the 1880s, a cavalry troop change-of-command ceremony on Brown Parade Field consisted of many solders on horseback. The days of horse-mounted soldiers are about gone, except for a few memorial or special units. So, it was that a small group — less than a squad — took part in the handover of the command of B Troop, 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment (Memorial) on the parade field Thursday. Dressed in the blue wool uniforms troopers wore in the late 1880s, at a time when the 4th Cavalry was stationed on the post, honorary Capt. Rodney T. Preuss...

COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFPN) -- Twenty-one international pilots in training here visited Atlanta Feb. 18 to 20 for a glimpse into America’s history and culture. Maj. William Hendrickson, base international liaison officer, organized the trip to expose the international military members to a side of American culture not locally available to them in Columbus. Seasoned and novice pilots from countries such as Tunisia, Senegal, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Romania, Bangladesh, Singapore and Botswana toured Atlanta’s CNN Headquarters, Cyclorama, the Jimmy Carter Museum and the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Ga. Shortly after arriving in Atlanta, the group rode the world’s...

TUCSON, Ariz. - Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered a perfectly decorated Christmas tree 2,500 light years from earth. Scientists at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory said the remarkable star cluster gives them the first glimpse of newborn stars acting just as predicted - patterned geometrically and spaced according to density, temperature and gravity. "If you look at the very young stars in the cluster and the spacing between them, it isn't random spacing," said Erick T. Young, an astronomer at the Steward Observatory. "They're all about the same distance apart." The stars are less than 100,000...

Scientists may soon get glimpse of mummy's face 6/26/2005, 5:49 p.m. ET The Associated Press NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (AP) — Pesed has called a western Pennsylvania college home for about 120 years, but her caretakers don't know what she looks like. But that might change now that researchers have a CT scan of the 2,300-year-old Egyptian mummy. Officials believe the scan will provide enough information to allow a forensic artist to construct a bust of Pesed, a mummy from the Nile River town of Akhmim, about 350 miles south of Cairo. Pesed has been the property of Westminster College, located...