Free Republic

President Barack Obama has praised Planned Parenthood while lambasting its pro-life critics at the pro-choice group's national conference in Washington D.C., ending his prepared remarks with seeking God's blessing upon the organization. "For nearly a century now, one core principle has guided everything all of you do -- that women should be allowed to make their own decisions about their own health," Obama said at the Planned Parenthood Conference at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel on Friday. After applause, the president added, "It's a simple principle." Obama said he was grateful for the services provided by the group, which, critics...

Hundreds of body parts have been discovered in a federal raid on a suburban Chicago crematorium as part of an investigation into the body part black market. FBI agents and agents with the Centers for Disease Control, wearing bio-hazard suits, raided two Cremation Services Inc. in Schiller Park on Tuesday. Biological Resource Center of Illinois in Rosemont, a body donation service, was also raided this week.

It is an odd and very disturbing story. A hospital contractor in Northeast D.C. was attacked by rats on the job and she says they are the same rats that are eating bodies in the morgue.

Body parts discovered stuffed inside garbage bags and left on the side of roads in Michigan Thursday are believed to be those of an adult white male. The bagged body parts may have been tossed from a grayish-white, mid-1990s SUV, according to a witness and NBC News on Friday, Jan. 31. The human remains were found in China Township and St. Clair Township when the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office was tipped off yesterday afternoon about a "suspicious incident". Police were called around 4 p.m. Thursday by a woman reporting a "heavy-set middle aged white female" dumping garbage bags along...

In the French Quarter, the government advisory warns travelers to not go beyond northwestern Dauphine Street and northeast Ursulines Ave. If travelers are in the Garden District, they say not to travel north of St. Charles Avenue or south of Magazine Street.

Airbags, Tailgates Are Targets Du Jour for Thieves Targets of car-component thieves can be as fleeting as Ed Hardy T-shirts and lower-back tattoos; they shift with cultural fixations and advancing technology. So, what car parts are trending for car thieves now? Of course, there are the classics, like hubcaps and car stereos. A few years back, high intensity discharge headlights enjoyed their day in the sun among street-car enthusiasts and, more recently, marijuana growers. Lately, Honda Fit wheels have become a popular target, as one of Cars.com's own senior editors learned. Airbags and pickup trucks' tailgates are currently making headlines...

The newly-established Umbrella Corporation Weapons Research Group—no known connection to the pharmaceutical company, although their company logos are extremely similar—is preparing to launch a line of AR parts starting with a polymer pistol grip. With the help of Magpul they've developed an un-textured pistol grip that has a near vertical slant to it at just 13 degrees from perpendicular. These vertical pistol grips are emerging from a few different manufacturers including Magpul and Bravo Company Manufacturing and give people who prefer to shoot with their rifle stock collapsed or near-collapsed a more comfortable grip. The shelf price for this grip...

Even the best weapons may fizzle on the battlefield if they contain counterfeit parts. A final report issued by the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee lists a wide range of military technologies that are suspected of having counterfeit electronic parts. The report found possible counterfeit problems in U.S. military hardware such as Army thermal weapon sights, Navy patrol aircraft, Air Force bombers and even mission computers for U.S. missile defense systems. But the committee hopes that its amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 — signed into law last Dec. 31 — can give U.S. defense companies the...

Call your airline or email them and demand they inspect all airplanes and all parts for Chinese made fakes. Ever wonder why the Air France jet 'fell' out of the sky? Makes you wonder!

Counterfeit military parts from China a ‘clear and present danger,’ senators sayBy John T. Bennett - 11/08/11 02:46 PM ET Senate Armed Services Committee leaders are fashioning a plan that would force the Defense Department to step up efforts to prevent counterfeit parts from being used on U.S. military platforms. The panel said a probe it launched in March has uncovered what senators of both parties labeled alarming evidence that most of the counterfeit components come from China, America’s top economic and military competitor. “During the course of the committee’s investigation, virtually every one of the dozens of people our...

Wednesday, April 20, 2011 Toyota To Suspend More Output In N America Due To Parts Supply Delay NEW YORK (Kyodo)--Toyota Motor Corp. will fully halt manufacturing operations at its 14 North American factories on Mondays and Fridays during the period from April 26 through June 3 due to disruptions in parts supply caused by the March 11 earthquake-tsunami disaster in Japan, the company said Tuesday.

Toyota to Halt Output in N. America after Japan Quake New York, April 8 (Jiji Press)--Toyota Motor Corp. <7203> said Friday it will suspend vehicle production at 13 of its 14 North American plants due to disruptions in Japanese-made parts and component supplies caused by the March 11 massive earthquake and tsunami. The 13 plants will stop operations for four to five days in the April 15-25 period, the top Japanese automaker said. Production plans for April 26 and beyond have not been decided yet. (2011/04/09-13:21)

March 27, 2011 Fear of Shortages Drives Panic Buying of Japanese Goods By VERNE G. KOPYTOFF SAN FRANCISCO — Tremors from the strong Japanese earthquake continue to rattle American businesses, even those companies that have experienced no disruptions in parts or supplies. Businesses in a number of industries are trying to adapt to a new reality. No longer can they count on reliable access to critical supplies, a fact prompting frantic phone calls, contingency planning and product redesigns. For instance, film and television producers, along with the companies that support them, are scrambling to stock up on commercial-grade videotape. A...

Parts shortage hurts makers / Business needs time for full recovery; impact also felt overseas The Yomiuri Shimbun Many iconic Japanese manufacturers have been forced to suspend production due to a shortage of parts caused by this month's devastating earthquake and tsunami, and there appears to be little sign that it will be "business as usual" anytime soon. Effects of the parts shortage have even reached manufacturers overseas, putting a squeeze on production of vehicles and other products. Domestic automakers have been among the companies hit hardest by the parts supply crunch. Toyota Motor Corp. announced Tuesday that it would...

growing acceptance and availability of used parts is helping to drive down overhaul costs, say leading engine maintenance specialists. However, the leasing sector is less receptive to the concept, due to concerns over asset values. Alain Berube, who is SVP Asset Management and Operations at aftermarket spares specialist Volvo Aero Services (VAS), told delegates at Aviation Week’s Engine MRO forum in Munich on Nov. 30-Dec. 1 that the use of used material in engine overhauls is five or 10 times greater than 10 years ago. “This is because of cost constraints, availability and operator demand,” he says. Berube says that...

Customs at Frankfurt airport found a delivery of Siemens AG equipment that was headed to Iran, German weekly Der Spiegel reported on Saturday night. The switches, components and computer modules, manufactured by the German engineering giant, were allegedly headed for Moscow in June, and from there would be sent to the nuclear reactor at Bushehr, despite EU sanctions on Iran. German customs told Der Spiegel that since late 2009, about half a dozen deliveries to Iran were caught leaving Frankfurt, from three German companies other than Siemens.

Fellow Freepers...please help. Can someone direct me to a source (internet or junkyard) where I can find some interior parts for a 1981 Ford Courier pickup to help out a very good friend. I don't make these kinds of requests, so please consider that. Need the armrests for both doors and the under handle plastic trim specifically and perhaps some other items.

WASHINGTON — With concerns rising about a possible North Korean long-range missile test this weekend, two independent scientists say the regime may be using an old Soviet ballistic missile to boost a rocket capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States.

A Santa Rosa woman has been indicted in federal court in San Francisco for allegedly taking part in the illegal trade of endangered sea turtle parts from China into the United States, authorities said today. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said 54-year-old Qing Song was indicted Thursday for her alleged role in importing and selling guitar picks made from the shells of the endangered Hawksbill sea turtle. Hawksbill sea turtles are one of seven turtle species listed as endangered under either U.S. law or international treaties, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The alleged activities took place from...

FORT WORTH -- A man moving into a new apartment today may have found a bag containing two human hands.A prospective tenant in the 1100 block of Grainger Street in southwest Fort Worth was cleaning out a garage apartment in anticipation of moving in when he found a plastic grocery sack in the freezer, according to Fort Worth police.The man opened the sack and found what looked like "two mangled up frozen hands," according to a statement from Fort Worth Police spokesman Lt. Paul Henderson.The man called police. Some officers who arrived on the scene agreed that the items could...