Free Republic

No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders. - Samuel Adams

RUSH: I have four more sound bites, however, on the immigration bill. I want to go back and play two more. Two that we played in the previous hour. One from Harry Reid and one from Senator Kennedy. They've unwittingly set me up here, ladies and gentlemen, to explain the futility and the irrelevance and the lack of total necessity, at least in terms of people being properly informed, of the Fairness Doctrine. The purpose of the Fairness Doctrine from their side is to shut up opposition they don't want to deal with it. But let's go back and listen...

As citizens of the industrial age, most of us were taught to believe that manufacturing is the source of all wealth. Until very recently, the United States was both the world’s wealthiest nation, and world’s manufacturing powerhouse leading economists to believe that there was a correlation between the two. This is why the “hollowing out” of American manufacturing was viewed with such dire alarm throughout the 1980’s and 90’s. Remember Ross Perot sounding the alarm bell during the 1992 election over NAFTA and the loss of American jobs?Perhaps this was just an overreaction, a misunderstanding. If it is indeed true...

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People in the U.S. know more about basic science today than they did two decades ago, good news that researchers say is tempered by an unsettling growth in the belief in pseudoscience such as astrology and visits by extraterrestrial aliens. In 1988 only about 10 percent knew enough about science to understand reports in major newspapers, a figure that grew to 28 percent by 2005, according to Jon D. Miller, a Michigan State University professor. He presented his findings Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The improvement largely reflects the requirement that...

FORT POLK, La., Nov. 1, 2006 —Imagine traveling thousands of miles to a foreign land where very few speak your language, where the customs, weather, environment and mannerisms are all different. Thankfully, for members of the Afghan National Army (ANA) who came to Fort Polk, La., to train at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), there was a helping hand: interpreters. While they don't wear the camouflage uniform of the soldiers, Afghan interpreters tend to blend. However, Hassan Wilson, a native Afghan who has been interpreting for two years between American and Afghan forces, said their role is vital. "What...

Pool knowledge to find the origins of language 19:00 26 September 2006 NewScientist.com news service John Pickrell Linguists are calling for an online public database, similar to the human genome project, that would allow researchers to collaboratively share different studies of language impairment. By gathering together studies of developmental disorders that cause communication impairments – such as autism or Down’s syndrome – they hope to provide new clues about the origins of language. Such a database might also help treat language disorders or help people learn foreign tongues, they say. Language is one of the defining characters of our species,...

Serious movement in D.C. – and if I hadn't been there, I would not have believed it. For several months Joan Wire and her daughter have been trying to secure an appointment with a highly effective government official we'll simply call Mr. Washington. Joan Wire is the stalwart wife of Mike Wire. Mike is the storied "man on the bridge," the single most critical eyewitness in the saga of TWA Flight 800, the 747 that was inexplicably blown out of the sky on the night of July 17, 1996. The CIA built its notorious zoom-climb animation around Mike's position on...

FOB KALSU, Iraq (Army News Service, July 28, 2006) – With hard hats on, building materials nearby, and hammers and construction plans in hand, five 6th Iraqi Army Division engineer officers teamed up with their peers from Multi-National Division – Baghdad’s 62nd Engineer Battalion, 16th Engineer Brigade. The IA engineers took advantage of classroom education and learning new construction management techniques during the Engineer Officer Shadow Program June 17-23. “The program provided an opportunity for IA engineer officers to actually get some hands-on experience, both with construction skills, and new equipment, and in working side-by-side with their fellow U.S. Army...

Quix note: most color and bold is added for emphasis, by me—as signified by: [QC] for Quix Color. BIBLE CODE DIGEST PART II JULY/AUGUST 2006 Bible Codes: A Sign of the End Times? By Ed Sherman Map of Israel from Wikipedia.org. [was OMITTED as it wouldn't post] Is the discovery of substantive Bible codes a telling sign that we are living in the End Times? Most people intrigued by Bible codes seek predictions of the future. And the more detailed the prediction, the better. But what if the Encoder simply intended that Bible codes would only provide a general prediction...

There are 25 questions about things we see every day or have known about all our lives. How many can you get right? These little simple questions are harder than you think. It just shows how little we pay attention to the commonplace things of life. RULES: Put your thinking caps on. No cheating! No looking around! No getting out of your chair! No using anything on or in your desk or computer! Can you beat 20?? (The average is 7) Write down your answers and check answers (on the bottom) AFTER completing all the questions. REMEMBER - NO CHEATING!!!...

A visit to my genius shrink, Paul Hyman. In the course of a lengthy conversation, I asked him what he would say to college graduates about what they must know to succeed at life. He looked dubious, so I refined the question. "I mean," I said, "what do you need to know now that's different from what you, let us say, needed to know in the 1960s?" Then, his majestically smart face lit up. And he gave me a list, which I am at best paraphrasing. First, he said, materialism has become more powerful than it has ever been in...

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2006 – In an effort to give Iraqi scientists access to academic knowledge they have long been without, the Iraqi Virtual Science Library was publicly launched here yesterday. "This knowledge is essential to the rebuilding of Iraq's scientific and university communities, which were devastated by three wars and the regime of Saddam Hussein," Paula J. Dobriansky, undersecretary of state for global affairs, said at the National Academy of Sciences. The online library will provide Iraqi scientists, engineers, physicians, researchers, and students the ability to access more than 17,000 academic journals and millions of scientific articles. The free...

Just as they have for 60 years, baby boomers are throwing their weight around again. This time, though, it's not a matter of how to educate, house and employ the mass of 78 million Americans in that generation, but rather how to replace their skills and knowledge in the workplace as they begin to retire. The oldest of the baby boomers turn 60 this year, on the verge of traditional retirement age. The percentage of workers older than 65 will increase from 14.4 percent of the work force in 2004 to 19.7 percent by 2014, meaning the fastest-growing part of...

The Stanford University Symbolic Systems Program and the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence announced today the Singularity Summit at Stanford, a one-day event free to the public, to be held Saturday, May 13, 2006 at Stanford Memorial Auditorium, Stanford, California. The event will bring together leading futurists and others to examine the implications of the "Singularity" -- a hypothesized creation of superintelligence as technology accelerates over the coming decades -- to address the profound implications of this radical and controversial scenario. "The Singularity will be a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its...

Options for a coming singularity include self-destruction of civilization, a positive singularity, a negative singularity (machines take over), and retreat into tradition. Our urgent goal: find (and avoid) failure modes, using anticipation (thought experiments) and resiliency -- establishing robust systems that can deal with almost any problem as it arises. In order to give you pleasant dreams tonight, let me offer a few possibilities about the days that lie ahead—changes that may occur within the next twenty or so years, roughly a single human generation. Possibilities that are taken seriously by some of today's best minds. Potential transformations of human...

TIKRIT, Iraq, Feb. 21, 2006 — Much has been said about the importance of top-tier military medicine to the survival of soldiers in combat. Regardless of which country a soldier serves, quality medics are valued by the troops. Studies show that if critically wounded soldiers receive quality health care within the first hour after the incident, they will have the best probability of survival. “[The Iraqi medics are] always excited about learning, and they know a lot more than you think.” U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert Stevens Medics from 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division and 3rd...

You read this magazine religiously, watch CNBC while dressing for work, scan the Web for economic reports. You've heard, over and over, about the underlying problems with the U.S. economy -- the paltry investment rate, the yawning current account deficit, the pathetic amount Americans salt away. And you know what the experts are saying: that the U.S. faces a perilous economic future unless we cut back on spending and change our profligate ways. Rest at link. But what if we told you that the doomsayers, while not definitively wrong, aren't seeing the whole picture? What if we told you that...

(PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Dec. 28, 2005) -- Knowledge support in a coalition environment was among the discussion topics as a multinational team of experts making final preparations for Multinational Experiment 4 (MNE4) met during the event's final planning conference earlier this month. Scheduled for Feb. 20 - March 17, 2006, MNE4 will explore use of the full range of effects based operations (EBO) to influence the behavior of adversaries. While U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) from the United States is the overall lead for MNE4, coalition partners lead the specific concepts and processes being explored. The knowledge support (KS) cell...

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. (Dec. 8, 2005) -- Recruits endure three months of intense training to make the transition from civilian to Marine. But Marine spouses get thrown into the military lifestyle without any formal training. Quantico’s military spouses can turn to the Lifestyle, Insight, Networking, Knowledge and Skills program to help adjust to the change. The program offers three three-hour or two four-hour sessions each month packed with information about the Marine Corps, resources, services, community activities, and deployment and separation issues. “If Marine spouses have an understanding of the Marine Corps’ mission and how it affects them,...