Free Republic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zum7uuMntxk Most of us have heard the term "vast wasteland" used to derisively describe television programming. But do you know the origin of that phrase? It comes from a speech given to the National Association of Broadcasters on May 9, 1961 by Newton N. Minow. At the time of the speech, Mr. Minow was chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. It can be read (and even listened to) in its entirety at Americanrhetoric.com - and I assure you, it's well worth reading - but at least read this excerpt for the context of the famous phrase Minow coined: "When television...

NORTH ROSE – A Wolcott fruit grower is accusing the U.S. Border Patrol of racially profiling four of his workers who were stopped on Route 414 Aug. 17 as they were returning to his farm from a trip to purchase clothing. The men were all detained and taken for processing; Border Patrol Officer E. Rodriguez, who was in charge of the scene, told fruit grower Brian Doyle the men volunteered they were in the U.S. illegally. Doyle said Rodriguez then accused him of being a “federal criminal” because he employed the men. He said Rodriguez continually referred to the men...

The landmarks at Antietam National Battlefield already include one agricultural feature, the cornfield. Soon there will be another: the apple orchard.Rangers and volunteers plan to plant 350 apple trees this fall to help restore the Piper farm, one of the homesteads on the property, to the way it looked on the eve of the Civil War's bloodiest one-day battle.A nursery in Michigan is supplying eight apple varieties - Baldwin, English Russet, Fornwalder, Gilpin, Jeffries, Maidenblush, McClellan and Northern Spy - for the project, said Joe Calzarette, Antietam's natural resources manager.Those varieties were historically grown in the region but are not...