Free Republic

The Health Care Bill is a Pain to Read Online. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRLog (Press Release) – Aug 07, 2009 – "Read the Bill" is what the opponents of the health care bill are saying. That's easier said than done. It's over 1,000 pages, and hard to read online. Printing it will probably run you out of ink, and will use two reams of paper. So if you want to read it, what else can you do? Printme1.com prints professional quality handbooks, manuals, and reference materials, and is turning on its on-demand print engine to help Americans better understand the...

SNIPPET: "In other words, AQ thinks that democracy is being used to labotomize Islam. He proves my point in this new statement with this:" SNIPPET: "By the way, got a great look at his watch tonight, if you’re interested…"

MY 7 yr old, autistic son, Matthew came home from his mother's house today with blisters on his arm and leg. I have tried to call her repeatedly to find out the source of the blisters, but no return call. So, I'm hoping some of the parents here will have seen something similar and can tell me whether it's something i need to be concerned about. There are four burns on him. Two on his inner forearm, a large grouping of blisters on his inner calf, and a small one just above the large one on the leg. I don't...

SNIPPET: "An ongoing blackhat SEO (search engine optimization) campaign is actively hijacking a variety of U.S Federal Forms keywords in an attempt to serve the Personal Antivirus (Trojan.Win32.FakeXPA) scareware." SNIPPET: "Disruption of the campaign is in progress."

Personally, I believe what will drive North Korea-U.S. relations as well as with the other four parties from the six party framework, is how each party comes to accept the fact that North Korea will never give up its nuclear weapons. This stands in stark and direct conflict with the fact that the United States will never accept North Korea as a legitimate nuclear power along the lines that the U.S. has with India -- and rightly so. But, I do believe the U.S. would be content to see a steady-state where North Korea has nuclear weapons, but doesn't share/sell...

I have to admit, I had never heard the term “birther” before. I don’t watch tv much, so I guess that’s why. Dictionary.com doesn’t have a clue what “birther” is either. So, whenever a word is used I don’t know and dictionary.com doesn’t either, I go to urbandictionary.com. They of course have it. According to them, birther has several definitions: A conspiracy theorist who believes that Barack Obama is ineligible for the Presidency of the United States, based on any number of claims related to his place of birth, birth certificate, favorite birthday, or whether or not he has heard...

While in principle I've always been a supporter of John Bolton even when he fell out with the George W. Bush administration when the administration did its sudden U-turn on its North Korean policy, I wouldn't believe it to be as bad as Bolton makes it out to be (yes, it's a form of appeasement, but to rigidly be against a policy just because of it's name is a strike against common sense and an exercise in sheer stupidity) and considering how things currently are I think its realistically the most the U.S. can ask for. Yes, while sending another...

The Abu Yahya Show Just in case you havent been to the forums lately, here’s what you see when you log on:

SNIPPET: "Looks like Ayman al-Zawhiri’s targets for this interview include: Vladimir Putin, Jack Straw, Muhammad Khatami and Barack Obama…. Should be out within a day or so… The jihadis are buzzing about it -"

Posted: July 28, 2009 MARK KIRK • THE DEMOCRAT Mark Kirk voted NO on troop surge in Iraq. Mark Kirk voted NO on allowing school prayer. Mark Kirk voted YES on raising CAFE standards. Mark Kirk voted YES on prohibiting oil drilling and development in ANWR. Mark Kirk co-sponsored signing on to UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Here was Mark Kirk back in 2008 weighing in on John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as running mate: "I would have picked someone different." And when asked whether he thought Palin could step into the job, Kirk said, "Quite frankly, I don't know." In 2009, Chicago...

It’s a sad day over at the Huffington Post and left wing blogs like Mudflats and Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis. You see, despite their best efforts to smear Alaska Governor Sarah Palin with more than a baker’s dozen of phony ethics complaints since the start of the year, all of their efforts have completely failed. The latest complaint to be dismissed was incredibly ridiculous. It revolved around the fact that Governor Palin, in sub zero weather, had the temerity to wear a jacket when she attended the final day of the Tesoro Iron Dog Race! The Iron Dog is the...

Teacher Compensation Reform by: Emily Kanyi, July 31, 2009 In the 2009 fiscal year, the Obama administration provided 200 million dollars for the Teacher Incentive Fund through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the stimulus bill, an increase from the initial 99 million dollars. The administration has also proposed a significant increase in funding for the program by requesting 487.3 million dollars for the 2010 fiscal year. In a recent event hosted by the Center for American Progress (CAP), Robin Chait, the associate director for teacher quality at CAP, commended the government’s efforts. “We don’t know...

Federal Websites: Cookie Policy During the Open Government Initiative outreach, Federal employees and the public have asked us questions about the federal government’s policy on cookies. As part of our effort to create a more open and innovative government, we’re working on a new cookie policy that we’ll want your input on. But before we get into that, let’s provide some context. In June 2000, the OMB Director issued a memorandum (M-00-13, later updated by M-03-22)) that prohibited Federal agencies from using certain web-tracking technologies, primarily persistent cookies, due to privacy concerns, unless the agency head approved of these technologies...

SNIPPET: "The military "cannot be everywhere all the time and the drug dealers eventually learn their patterns," said Tony Payan, a professor at the University of Texas at El Paso who studies the problem. Payan said it is a "stroke of luck" that more American citizens have not been killed. Yet, if you look at this map, it is pretty clear that the spread of drug-related violence knows no boundaries, and is not restricted to Juarez."

Jihadi journals, Jihadi media SNIPPET: "The Global Islamic Media Front released the 35th volume of “Sada al-Jihad” or “Echo of Jihad.” The table of contents includes:" SNIPPET: "The Turkistan Islamic Party released the fourth volume of the “Islamic Turkistan” journal. Its table of contents includes:"

Note: Video included. Taliban Releases ‘Code of Conduct’ Document Al-Jazeera English broke the story. Here it is:

Captive Nations Captive Still by: Anthony Kang, August 29, 2009 In 1959, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed Captive Nations Week into law (Public Law 86-90) aimed at raising public awareness of the oppression of nations under the control of Communist and other non-democratic governments. Though emphasis and/or rhetoric of the presidents have varied, every president since Eisenhower has recognized the third week of July as Captive Nations Week, as did The Heritage Foundation this past July 22nd with two very impassioned champions against communism as guest speakers: Lee Edwards, Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought at B. Kenneth Simon Center...

The Obama team has lifted a ban on the sale of some high-tech equipment to Syria. A recognized state sponsor of terrorism. WSJ reports: "The Obama administration has told Syria that it will work to ease U.S. sanctions against Damascus, as Washington intensifies its pursuit of détente with a longtime Middle East rival." [As Obama intensifies his efforts to legitimize a dictatorial state sponsor of terrorism, having just recently decided to return a U.S. ambassador] "The U.S. decision targets spare aircraft parts, information-technology products and telecommunications equipment, sales of which have been restricted by U.S. sanctions on Syria enacted in...

I'm looking into making expedient water filtration (i.e., with found materials) under emergency circumstances. Would crushed hardwood charcoal –– the real stuff, not "briquettes" like Kingsford –– make an acceptable filtration material, if one doesn't have access to activated charcoal? This assumes, of course, that other rules of water filtration are followed –– straining out debris, boiling after filtering, etc. I know there is a difference at the molecular level -- activated charcoal is highly porous, creating a huge surface area. But in an emergency, hardwood charcoal might be all that's available.

Originally published as "Islam-o-Muslim and the Resilience of Terrorism in Bangladesh" Terrorism Monitor, (Jamestwon Foundation) Volume: 7 Issue: 22, July 27, 2009. I just published one article on the Islam-o-Muslim, an offshoot of Jama'at ul-Mujahedeen Bangladesh, and how and where outlawed groups are trying to revive terrorism in the country in the face of renewed counterterror efforts by government agencies.