Free Republic

In spite of having a healthy sized ego I’ve always known my limitations. Even though I’ve been writing about survival and preparedness for many years on daily basis I’ve never considered myself a writer, not even a mediocre one. I know what a writer is and I know I’m not one. I’ve read the work of excellent ones, and I know I just lack that art. I am though a somewhat acceptable story teller, and that’s how I managed to write a book that people can relate to, can learn the lessons I want to transmit and read it without...

U.S. President Barack Obama met with members of Egypt's Islamist opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, earlier this year, according to a report in Thursday editions of the Egyptian daily newspaper Almasry Alyoum. The newspaper reported that Obama met the group's members, who reside in the U.S. and Europe, in Washington two months ago. According to the report, the members requested that news of the meeting not be publicized. They expressed to Obama their support for democracy and the war on terror.

American analysts continue to assert that Egyptians just want Western-style pluralistic democracy. No one actually on the scene in Egypt, however, is calling for that. "Egyptians demand restoration of Islam," from AhlulBayt News Agency News Agency, February 6: Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Spokesman of Muslim Brotherhood said that the unprecedented presence of over 7 million Egyptian people in the Friday protests shook the palace of Hosni Mubarak. Ahmad Mersi told al-Alam news network that the Egyptian revolutionary people demand a restoration of Islamic rules in the country andan [sic] ouster of Mubarak's despotic rule. He said the Egyptian people...

The UK's tax collection agency is putting forth a proposal that all employers send employee paychecks to the government, after which the government would deduct what it deems as the appropriate tax and pay the employees by bank transfer. The proposal by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) stresses the need for employers to provide real-time information to the government so that it can monitor all payments and make a better assessment of whether the correct tax is being paid. Currently employers withhold tax and pay the government, providing information at the end of the year, a system know as...

The Government's drug rationing watchdog says "therapeutic" injections of steroids, such as cortisone, which are used to reduce inflammation, should no longer be offered to patients suffering from persistent lower back pain when the cause is not known. Instead the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is ordering doctors to offer patients remedies like acupuncture and osteopathy. Specialists fear tens of thousands of people, mainly the elderly and frail, will be left to suffer excruciating levels of pain or pay as much as £500 each for private treatment. The NHS currently issues more than 60,000 treatments of steroid...