Free Republic

Goldman Sachs Associate Global Markets Economist Michael Vaknin, who covers Israel says, “The economic repercussions are negative, and worse than we expected. The coalition will be less stable. Pre-election polls gave the impression that Kadima will link up with the Labor Party to create a majority bloc, but on the basis of the results, Kadima will have to bring in more parties, which will undermine stability, especially as there is no common denominator between the parties. “The election results indicate that the next government will focus on a social agenda, and we hope that the government will be able to...

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) has advised Nigerians not to panic over the total solar eclipse which will take place on March 29. Agency reports quote NIMET's Director-General, Liwhu Akeh as saying that the advice was necessary to enlighten people about the eclipse, which will be total in five states. The five states are Oyo, Kwara, Niger, Zamfara and Katsina. According to the report, Akeh's advice was contained in a statement signed by NIMET spokeswoman, Eva Azinge and made available to newsmen in Abuja. He said the eclipse, which will start from North-East, Brazil to Europe through Africa, would take...

French cat lovers panic after bird flu death By Colin Randall (Filed: 02/03/2006) France's pet owners reacted with panic yesterday to the confirmation that a cat found dead in Germany was killed by bird flu. Its animal protection society, the SPA, was bombarded with calls from people worried at their pet catching the disease's lethal H5N1 strain. Some abandoned their cats. "We are getting calls from cat owners wanting to know if there are risks," said Serge Belais, the society's president. "People are panicking." He had no numbers of abandoned cats but said: "The risk is that we'll see the...

'No panic' over bird flu threat Bird flu has been found in France and Germany The public has been told not to panic over the threat of bird flu as the government has taken "all necessary measures", the defence secretary says. John Reid was speaking after the H5N1 strain was found in birds in France, Iran and India. "It hasn't arrived [in the UK]. Don't let's panic. And I'm sure that the government has got all necessary measures there," he said. He said it was not possible to have a vaccine developed in advance. "The difficulty if bird flu ever...

John Gizzi, veteran political editor of the conservative weekly Human Events, normally is an optimist. Over the years I have watched him find the one possible thread to explain the rationale for the election of a conservative Republican. John knows more about politics than any 10 political junkies combined have forgotten. If there is a way to see a possibility for a Republican victory Gizzi makes the case. And that is as it should be inasmuch as he is writing to give conservatives hope. He and his paper's message are always the same: "Shoulder on." You can imagine my shock...

Book of Daniel's creator asking fans to contact stations The creator of NBC's The Book of Daniel is warning viewers that "bullies" at the American Family Association may succeed in their fight to kill the show unless viewers speak up. Jack Kenny, the creative force behind the prime-time drama about an Episcopal priest and his dysfunctional family, posted his appeal on a blog, www.blogofdaniel.com, whose host is the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. Kenny asked fans to contact stations in support of the show, and thank a dwindling number of sponsors for advertising during the Friday show, which airs at 10...

Anarchy in the Palestinian Authority (PA) spread to the Rafiah border crossing, which was closed Friday morning after European Union (EU) observers fled 100 armed PA policemen who formed a blockade. The gunmen who stormed the compound belong to the unstable ruling Fatah party of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas. One of their members was killed in a clash Thursday between terrorists. After the compound was stormed, the EU's observers stationed at the crossing quickly fled the scene in panic while the gunmen prevented vehicles from reaching the crossing. The observers are responsible for monitoring the crossing and enforcing the agreement...

Like, I am sure, many other believers in what this country has been trying to do in the Middle East and particularly in Iraq, I have found my thoughts returning in the past year to something that Tom Paine, writing at an especially dark moment of the American Revolution, said about such times. They are, he memorably wrote, "the times that try men's souls," the times in which "the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot" become so disheartened that they "shrink from the service of [their] country." But Paine did not limit his anguished derision to former supporters of the...

Thursday November 24, 4:27 PM 80-kilometer slick flows into China's Harbin city HARBIN, China (AFP) - An 80-kilometer-long (48-mile) slick of highly toxic benzene flowed along the icy Songhua river into one of China's biggest cities, contaminating water supplies for up to four million people. The carcinogenic chemical reached the outskirts of Harbin, capital of China's northeastern Heilongjiang province, about 5:00 am on Thursday, authorities said. Although water supplies were cut off about 30 hours before the poisoned water reached the city and there were no reports of people being contaminated, the environmental impact of the potential disaster was still...

SOFIA (Reuters) - A flock of Bulgarian circus doves was barred from returning home on Thursday because of an outbreak of avian flu in Turkey. The 20 doves had been on tour in Bulgaria's southern Black Sea neighbor for several months with the Balkanski & Sons Circus as part of a menagerie that also includes horses and Siberian tigers. But they were refused re-entry after Sofia banned imports of live birds and poultry from Turkey and its northern neighbor Romania after both reported cases of bird flu last weekend. "This is really unfortunate for the circus. They had permission to...

Explosive devices found on the GA Tech campus.

Just heard this on FNC...the DHS is saying that attacks are possible in other cities and everyone should be especially vigiliant and that transit is not the only target ...More info soon.

"You f—-ing can't stop us now; it's too late." From ABC, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm: Oct. 7, 2005 — A source for information that has led to the terrorism scare on New York City's subways has identified at least one of the attackers by name and claims that the man already is in the United States, ABC News has learned. The New York Police Department and the FBI have no proof that the person named actually is in the country, or that the person named actually exists. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security emphasized that there is no...

No link yet..will get info ASAP...Just happened in Philly too.

CERGY, France (AFP) - An envelope leaking a strange pinkish powder sparked an alert in a Paris suburban post office, but tests revealed the substance to be nothing more than dessicated elephant dung, police said. With France on high terrorism alert following the London bombings last month, postal workers in a sorting centre in the northwestern suburb of Bonneuil-en-France took no chance when they noticed the strange envelope from Sri Lanka with the powder inside. After police were called in Thursday, six employees who had been exposed to the powder were subjected to medical examinations. The powder was analysed too,...

MIDI - CAN'T SMILE WITHOUT YOU You know we can't smile without it...we can't smile without it We can't laugh and we can't sing About that George Bush, we hate everything Because he's always been winning Although we keep spinning We've really gone limp...we're so impotent We just can't smile without it What has gone wrong...our power's gone...so we must attack And who'd believe that we're so down in the dumps...we look like chumps We want it back And you know we can't smile without it...we can't smile without it We can't laugh and we can't sing About that...

MIDI - YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT We are scared...there's no denyin' See, our bowels have lost control All those fears are multiplyin' We are in a deep hole We'd better act up...get out in the street Yeah, that is what we must do We must act up...there can be no retreat George Bush, we are warning you Do not divide, do not divide...we're warning you Choose the one that we want...ooh ooh ooh Choose the one we approve...ooh ooh ooh Choose the one that we want...ooh ooh ooh Oh, yes indeed...oh, pretty please Do not pick a...

Extra precipitation expected as a result of global warming could create a lopsided world in which sea ice increases around the South Pole while the far north melts away. ADVERTISEMENT A new study illustrates the difficulty in predicting how the planet might react to overall warming, which most but not all scientists believe is underway, in part due to greenhouse gas emissions by industry and autos. "Most people have heard of climate change and how rising air temperatures are melting glaciers and sea ice in the Arctic," said Dylan Powell of the University of Maryland Baltimore County. "However, findings from...

Housing bubble trouble - Mass. home sales plunge 11.1 percent By Jay Fitzgerald and Jerry Kronenberg Friday, June 24, 2005 - Updated: 07:28 AM EST The bubble hasn't burst, but the air may be leaking out. Massachusetts may be finally entering a buyer's market for homes, experts said yesterday after new data showed the volume of single-family house sales plunged in May by the largest amount in nearly three years. About 4,142 single-family homes sold last month, down 11.1 percent compared to the same period last year. It was the second straight month in which the number of year-over-year home...

The link above will get you to listen to the show. Just before the end of the last hour, Todd Schnitt took a call from "Doug" (?) I think that was his name. Schnitt is going to talk with him off the air.The guy claims to have had personal contact with Muslim extremists who tell him a bomb will go off in the San Fernando valley in California "on the ninth"...though he says he is UNSURE of what MONTH on the "ninth". I do NOT put much credibility into these claims--but I did want to post this in case anyone...