Free Republic

ABOARD USS JOHN C. STENNIS (NNS) -- Sailors from USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), assisted a grateful community in Pearlington, Miss., in October by removing old refrigerators from the area, which had become a health hazard after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast coastline. Stennis, homeported in Bremerton, Wash., sent 50 volunteers to the hurricane-ravaged area of southern Mississippi. The aircraft carrier is named for Senator John C. Stennis of Miss., and considers the state its adopted home. "These smaller communities receive little attention after [Hurricane] Katrina," said Rick Hines, a FEMA volunteer from the West Indianapolis, Ind., fire...

CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, Japan (Oct. 11, 2005) -- Last July, when the doctors diagnosed his wife with gastric cancer, all the other problems in Sgt. Devin Mitchell’s life no longer seemed to matter. His main concern immediately turned to the health of his wife, Hisano. In September, when the cancer got so bad that doctors had to remove Hisano’s stomach, life became even more complicated. She would now need daily shots and extensive check-ups with her doctors on Okinawa to try and keep her well. But just when life seemed to be getting back under control, orders for a permanent...

'Help! Mom!' casts liberals as villains By Cheryl Wetzstein The Washington Times Published October 16, 2005 WASHINGTON -- Katharine DeBrecht, a married mother of three, wanted to make a point about the importance of conservative values. So, she penned a children's book -- "Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!" -- to stand up to the "liberal agenda that's being thrown at our kids from the left." **SNIP** Liberals have lambasted the book as "brainwashing" and "Nazi propaganda." The Democratic Underground Web site listed Mrs. DeBrecht as one of its "Top 10 Conservative Idiots" last month. "If ever there...

BURBANK, Calif. - With his popularity at an all-time low, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned Monday to another political star - Sen. John McCain - to help sell his November ballot proposals to a skeptical public. In a brief, joint appearance with the governor in a hotel conference room, the Arizona senator urged California voters to support the four initiatives backed by Schwarzenegger on the special election ballot. They said little about the specifics of the proposals and instead depicted them broadly as an important step in efforts to make government more accountable. "I have campaigned for reform efforts all over...

A children's picture book for conservatives whose villains include Hillary Clinton and Senator Ted Kennedy has become the surprise publishing hit of the year. Sales of Help! Mom! There are Liberals Under My Bed! have rivalled even the latest Harry Potter novel, with the book racing up the best-seller charts after it was published two weeks ago.

My son, also a freeper, just completed his BASIC and AIT training. He returned home Thursday night at 2200. He is supposed to report to his Reserve Unit within 72 hours. But no one has been at his unit. JT's gone over there, telephoned and left call back numbers on the answering machine. He is worried about not making contact and being considered AWOL. Has anyone ever experienced this? What is the usual plan of action? At present he's planning to keep phoning through Monday, but not travel back there until Tuesday. It takes a little over an hour to...

Hello fellow freepers. I have somewhat of a conundrum. My ever inquisitive 5 year old put silly putty on the TV remote and it won't come off!! My husband will NOT be amused. LOL. It could be worse. At least he hasn't thought to stick a PBJ sand. in the VCR--yet. Anyway, if anyone has any ideas on how to get the silly putty off of the remote I would appreciate the help. I did a web search. It appears WD40 will disolve it but I am not sure what that would to to the remote itself. Any ideas?

Fellow FR's, I need your help. I purchased a used lap top and was trying to add restricted sites, under Internet Explorer, but it's asking me for the administrator pass word. Trouble is, the previous owner forgot what the IE password was, (a friend and yes the lap top purchase was legit. He had all the other passwords). I was thinking that perhaps I could delete the file that contained the password or do a program remove and then add IE back in (but I'd like to avoid the latter procedure if possible) Anyone have any ideas or help. I...

I've been trying to follow the latest offensive in Western Iraq. Trouble is, the conventional map sources I've tried usually don't know the names of the Iraqi cities whose names appear in blogs and the news (Rawah, for example). Thanks to a posting on BelmontClub.com, I found a site, FallingRain.com, that has an index of cities in Iraq, and gives their coordinates. Now I can plug these in to Google Earth and go right to the location. Thought that I'd share this with others who might want to do the same.

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. (NNS) -- The Navy will build a 100-home community and offer to pay leases for hundreds of employees to keep a highly skilled workforce intact at the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command after Hurricane Katrina left about 450 workers homeless. In response to the unprecedented destruction, the command has set up a Navy Housing office to find places to live for Stennis-based military personnel and civilian workers at the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (CNMOC), the Naval Oceanographic Office, the Naval Research Laboratory, Naval Special Boat Team 22 and Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training...

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “word for the day”. Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the “word of the day”; in a sentence. The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-) Practice makes perfect.....post on.... Subbie Slip has her whip, handcuffs and legcuffs today. The rest of the stuff is locked up in my drawer. I’m just letting all the new students know that we behave as...

A private citizen says he's filing charges Friday against pot activist Marc Emery and two of his associates, partly because that will throw a wrench into the United States' plans to extradite the trio to face drug charges in that country. “If he gets charged in Canada that will have major legal consequences for that extradition request,” said David McCann, a local philanthropist and businessman. Mr. McCann said he has hired prominent lawyer Peter Leask in filing three charges of conspiracy under the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act and the Criminal Code of Canada. Canada has been hypocritical in allowing...

At least 3 years ago, I posted here asking for help with a city animal ordinance. Someone referred me to a court ruling saying cities could not set arbitrary limits on pet ownership. Could anyone help me find that court ruling or the old post?

I recently received an offer from Dominion East Ohio to lock in my natural gas pricing at $12.75/mcf (million cubic feet) for the next three years. I'm paying $9.79 right now. It seems like a good deal, based on what the buzz in the MSM is about gas prices this winter, but I'm just a consumer and don't know all that much about NG markets. Long term, I can cancel the agreement if gas prices drop for a $50 charge. If I move, I can transfer it to my new place at their discretion. If I move out of the...

Computer assistance (software?) question. See below for details

JEFFERSON PARISH, La. (NNS) -- Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 40, deployed to the Gulf Coast region in support of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita relief efforts, are helping a private school here to recover from damage caused by the hurricanes. Students at Saint Louis King of France Catholic School are on schedule to meet their self-imposed Oct. 10 deadline to be back in the classroom, thanks to the Seabees. “The hurricane affected everybody, and that includes the [repair] contractors,” said Pam Schott, Saint Louis King of France’s principal. “So there’s no one here to help us get...

I hope this post makes sense and is apropos to FReeping. One of the well-qualified women out at the hospital is considering going to work at the Naval Medical Center San Diego. She has two young children and a spouse who is now disabled. Therefore, money is a big factor in her move. She is a brand new proud citizen to the US and this job opportunity is a step up from her present position. Due to the many horror stories about high rental prices, traffic and some bad neighborhoods coming out of San Diego area she has reservations about...

Evolutionary Tools Help Unlock Origins of Ancient Languages The key to understanding how languages evolved may lie in their structure, not their vocabularies, a new report suggests. Findings published today in the journal Science indicate that a linguistic technique that borrows some features from evolutionary biology tools can unlock secrets of languages more than 10,000 years old. Because vocabularies change so quickly, using them to trace how languages evolve over time can only reach back about 8,000 to 10,000 years. To study tongues from the Pleistocene, the period between 1.8 million and 10,000 years ago, Michael Dunn and his colleagues...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Sept. 22, 2005) -- Just about anywhere you look these days, yellow ribbons and bumper stickers adorn vehicles across the country indicating Americans support for their military. However, some patriots like Kristen M. Maddox, 21, from Santa Ana, Calif., chose to do a little more in order to express her gratitude of servicemembers job overseas. Not content with several programs which claim to aid those deployed in foreign countries, Maddox decided to take matters into her own hands and concentrate instead on the specific needs of those who serve through her program HOT, or...