Free Republic

THIS WEEK (not 50 or 100 years ago), African Americans from ACORN were willing to enable children to become slaves - SEX SLAVES! Yet Radicals (fueled by media, public education, professional race peddlars as well as clever and corrupt distribution of tax dollars), still use our slave past to abuse America..... Why are we stuck in America's past while up to 60,000 humans a year are sold into slavery worlwide? ************************* Each year about 17,500 individuals are brought into the United States and held against their will as victims of human trafficking.... Some estimate the number is as high as...

Goldman Sachs traders in London and New York made a daily profit of more than $100 million (£58.8 million) on an astonishing 46 days during the past quarter. The record figure revealed by the bank this afternoon meant it broke the $100 million-a-day barrier on three out of every four working days. As market conditions improved during the quarter, it easily beat its 34-day record for making that figure in January, February and March. Goldman lost money on trading activities on only two days in April, May and June, compared with eight days in the preceding three months. Its record profits and...

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2009 – Soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team have made a positive impact on security and quality of life in Iraq’s Basra province, their commander said during a briefing from Iraq today. Their impact can be attributed, in part, to successful training programs, Army Col. Butch Kievenaar said. “We started with an assessment of training proficiency for the Iraqi army, police and Department of Border Enforcement,” he said. “[That was] followed by a mutually agreed-upon training plan that focused on building sustainable capability.” Sustainable capability refers to building basic and realistic systems for...

President Obama announced tougher energy efficiency requirements for certain types of fluorescent and incandescent lighting on Monday, the latest step in the administration’s push to cut the country’s energy use. The new rule , scheduled to take effect in 2012, will cut the amount of electricity used by affected lamps by 15 to 25 percent and save $1 billion to $4 billion a year for consumers, the White House said. “Now I know light bulbs may not seem sexy,” Mr. Obama said, “but this simple action holds enormous promise because 7 percent of all the energy consumed in America is...

A judge in Central California has taken the unusual step of tossing out, in advance, the results of an upcoming school board election after finding that it violated the terms of the California Voting Rights Act.

BASRA, Iraq, Dec. 3, 2007 – Army Maj. Rick Smith’s job includes coordinating and building relationships between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the British army. Army Maj. Rick Smith (left) poses at the Basrah, Iraq, area office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with coworker Tia Chandler and visiting Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Dorko, commander of the Gulf Region Division. Photo by A. Al Bharani  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Relationships are key in my position,” he said. “Each day is always busy." Smith is executive officer and operations officer of the Basra Area Office of...

NASA's Mars rover Opportunity is making its way into a giant impact crater to learn more about the Red Planet's geologic past. Engineers sent commands to Opportunity to drive into Victoria Crater and received a confirmation signal from the rover. It will be several hours before NASA knows how well the drive went. Opportunity is expected to drive all six wheels into the crater and back out before making the full plunge several days from now. The drive comes two months after a massive Martian dust bowl kept Opportunity and its twin Spirit hunkered down to conserve energy.

CAMP VICTORY — There is a small group of Australian Defence Force people working in and around Baghdad who are currently making a big difference to the progress of the coalition in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Iraq. They are an unusual group in that they are embedded into elements of the multi national force headquarters run by our major coalition partner, the United States, and work not only with Americans but also people from a number of other nationalities. Based predominantly out of the Camp Victory's Al Faw Palace - with a number within the International Zone in Baghdad...

Around 1980 my Dad showed me a book someone gave him as a crank gift, its title was 'Everything I know about Women' and every page was blank. I had to laugh because it was so true for me also. I know nothing about 'them' although a few have come into the sphere of my life here and there during my journey into the unknown. My POV is from the place of a 52 never married bach. The torment I suffered at the hands of Women is way to intiimate for this forum, but for some reason I still love...

Nutritional "Boost" Making Westerners Taller, Healthier, Expert Says Erica Lloyd for National Geographic News October 2, 2006 It's no secret that in the past few centuries people in Western nations have been getting taller and living longer. But now experts say that today's Westerners are the product of an accelerated spate of growth that is unique in human history. People in the developed world are taller and more robust than their great, great, great grandparents probably ever imagined. Robert Fogel, director of the Center for Population Economics at the University of Chicago, notes that Westerners are about 50 percent larger...

This year it was the Toll Road lease. Next year when lawmakers return to the Indiana Statehouse, the hot topic will be full-day kindergarten. Governor Mitch Daniels is making it one of his top priorities, and now we know how much statewide all day kindergarten would cost. Daniels has several plans to get it going across the state. One would make it available for the next school year in 2007-2008. The state budget office estimates it would cost about $166 million the first year. The second year would cost about $210 million. The other plans would phase in all-day kindergarten...

In an editorial meeting this morning with the Sacramento Bee, Gov. Schwarzenegger explained the way he has changed his approach to working with the Legislature from last year to this year: “I’m much more inclusive. Last year was one of those situations where…it was the approach that was wrong. To go out in the state of the state (speech) and say, ‘Hey, you do this in the next two months and if you don’t, I go to the people,’ I think that was too harsh. It makes everybody feel defensive: If that’s his approach I’m not going to help him....

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2006 – Coalition training teams with Iraqi military units, police battalions and border guard units are making a tremendous difference in the performance and professionalism of the Iraqi security forces, said the commander of the Iraq Assistance Group today. Army Brig. Gen. Dana Pittard told the Pentagon press corps in a video teleconference from Iraq that Iraqi forces are well-equipped, but they do need help in sustainment. Pittard confirmed that 100 members of an Iraqi battalion had refused to redeploy to Baghdad. The soldiers were part of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 10th Iraqi Army Division, in...

Bird flu viruses diversifying, making vaccine target harder to pick: WHO 19:23:04 EDT Aug 18, 2006 Canadian Press: HELEN BRANSWELL, The Canadian Press (CP) - The World Health Organization urged influenza vaccine makers Friday to use newer strains of virus when making vaccine to protect against H5N1 avian flu, saying the evolution of the microbe has led to increased variety in circulating strains. While the diversity creates challenges for vaccine manufacturers - and potentially additional costs for the governments paying them to make and test vaccine against H5N1 - it does not mean the worrisome virus has moved closer to...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2006 – About 92 percent of Iraq’s 188,000 Ministry of Interior forces now are trained and equipped, and all Iraqi National Police soon will receive new official uniforms, the commander of the Civilian Police Assistance Training Team told Baghdad reporters today. Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson reported major strides in preparing Iraq’s police elements for their security mission. Among Iraqi police, the largest group of Interior Ministry forces, about 90 percent are trained and 83 percent equipped, he reported. Those operating in nine key Iraqi cities U.S. forces have been working with are about 99 percent equipped....

New Evidence Suggests Longer Paper Making History in China A 2,000-year-old piece of paper inscribed with legible handwriting has been found in Gansu Province, suggesting that China's paper-making and handwriting history are older than previously thought. The 10 square centimeter piece of paper, made from linen fibers, was found during restoration of an ancient garrison near the Yumen Pass at Dunhuang in northwest China. The garrison was in use during the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-25 A.D.), a report in the Beijing-based Guangming Daily said. "The paper was made in 8 B.C., more than 100 years before the birth of...

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2006 – Afghan security forces are making tremendous strides, but challenges remain, the lead U.S. trainer for the force said today. Army Maj. Gen. Robert Durbin, commander of Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, speaks to Pentagon reporters July 13. Photo by Helene C. Stikkel.   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Maj. Gen. Robert Durbin, commander of Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, said numbers for both the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police are on track. Equipment is flowing to the entities, and efforts are in place to "professionalize" both forces, the general...

Making sacrifices in Stone Age societies Bruce Bower From San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the Paleoanthropology Society and Society for American Archaeology meeting Double and triple burials at 23,000-to-27,000-year-old sites in Europe and western Asia suggest prehistoric human sacrifices, says Vincenzo Formicola of the University of Pisa in Italy. Of 30 known burials from that time period and area, 6 held more than one person. These graves contain two or three children, adolescents, or young adults apparently buried at the same time, positioned in curious ways, and accompanied by unusually valuable objects, Formicola says. Most of the multiple burials include...

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2006 – The Defense Department has been working hard with Congress for the past several months and has reached some conclusions about how the fee system for military health care should be changed, a top DoD official said here yesterday. "It's universally agreed that there is a serious issue, a serious problem, with the growing health care costs within the Department of Defense, and the potential adverse impact that that might have to sustain our great health benefit," Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said in an interview. DoD has had a...

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2006 – Training Iraqi police forces is the most important job in Iraq today, but it is also the most difficult, a senior military police officer involved in that training said today. "Our goal in theater is to have 135,000 trained and resourced Iraqi police officers working on the streets within the 18 provinces by the end of the year," Army Col. Rod Barham, commander of 49th Military Police Brigade, said from Baghdad in a satellite news conference with reporters in the Pentagon. The 49th, a California National Guard unit, is responsible for training police at the...