Free Republic

1. An inability to figure out what sexually dimorphic species implys. 2. Obsession with perverted sexual behavior. 3. Ask yourself why every homosexual posting to this site turns virtually every subject thread to homosexual behavior discussions, homosexuals are victims, help homosexuals fight "bigotry." 4. Claiming that the Will and Grace show is what the homosexual lifestyle is all about. 5. Ah, AIDS is a disease associated primarily with aberrant behavior. 6. A million cases of AIDS in U.S. and they haven't seem to figure out why?? 7. The placement of one's sex organs in another same sex's excretory routes. 8....

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's clemency review this week to determine whether to execute Crips gang co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams could influence the governor's ability to rebound from political setbacks. Convicted of four brutal killings a quarter century ago, Williams has generated a big public campaign calling for clemency because of his anti-gang books aimed at inner-city youth. The Republican governor will hear from prosecutors and defense attorneys at the clemency hearing behind closed doors on Thursday. He will only have a few days if he wants to halt the December 13 execution by lethal injection at...

Two weeks before a man being taken into custody by Santa Rosa police died of drug-induced delirium, the manufacturer of the Taser stun gun issued a bulletin warning law enforcement that people with that condition were at risk from repeated or prolonged shocking. Santa Rosa police, however, said information in the bulletin, issued June 28 by Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz., wasn't anything new. "That information is in our training," said Sgt. Clay Van Artsdalen, Santa Rosa's training officer. "There is nothing new in the bulletin." Police used Tasers, as well as pepper spray and a neck restraint, to subdue...

Burma rebuilding risks Pagan jewel By Andrew Harding BBC News, Burma Pagan's temples are one of Asia's most important cultural sites The sunsets are still spectacular - a golden glow brushing the curves of 2,000 ancient temples and pagodas clustered on the edge of the Irrawaddy River in central Burma. But today some of the world's leading experts have accused Burma's military regime of waging "archaeological blitzkrieg" against the legendary Buddhist treasures of Pagan. "They're ruining it," said Richard Engelhardt, regional advisor for the UN's cultural arm, Unesco. "It makes me feel hopeless and helpless and angry and disappointed," he...

Having an abortion almost doubles a woman's risk of giving birth dangerously early in a later pregnancy, according to research that will provoke fresh debate over the most controversial of all medical procedures. A French study of 2,837 births - the first to investigate the link between terminations and extremely premature births - found that mothers who had previously had an abortion were 1.7 times more likely to give birth to a baby at less than 28 weeks' gestation. Many babies born this early die soon after birth, and a large number who survive suffer serious disability. Peter Bowen-Simpkins: 'termination...

"The Greatest Century That Ever Was: 25 Miraculous Trends of the Past 100 Years" is the appropriate title of a 1999 article authored by Stephen Moore and the late Julian L. Simon and published by the Washington-based Cato Institute. Let's highlight some of the phenomenal progress Americans made during the 20th century. During that century, life expectancy rose from 47 to 77 years of age. Deaths from infectious diseases fell from 700 to 50 per 100,000 of the population. Major killer diseases such as tuberculosis, polio, typhoid fever and whooping cough were virtually eliminated. Infant mortality plummeted. The 20th century...

I believe I may be the only person in America who isn’t for or against President Bush’s proposal to save Social Security. Unlike everybody else who seems positive that it is either brilliant and benevolent or stupid and evil, I really don’t have an opinion. As a result, I’m highly suspicious of everyone who claims to have a real handle on the pluses and minuses of his proposal. I mean, facts are facts, and an awful lot of you watch “The Fear Factor” and voted for Kerry and Edwards. Why on earth would I believe you when it’s about something...

SPACE CENTER, Houston - After a two-year struggle to keep big chunks of foam from coming off the shuttle fuel tank during launch, NASA acknowledged Tuesday even marshmallow-size pieces could doom the spacecraft under the worst circumstances. Shuttle systems engineering manager John Muratore said it is a risk NASA and the nation must accept for flights to resume anytime soon. It would take years and a total redesign of the fuel tank to completely eliminate foam loss and to ensure the 2003 Columbia tragedy would never be repeated, Muratore and other officials said. NASA expects pieces of insulating foam no...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Could Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have another "woman problem" on his hands? He has made headlines in recent months by deriding political opponents as "girlie men" and publicly ridiculing a group of nurses at a state women's conference. His latest effort to paint the state's teachers as little more than a balky special interest group has angered many critics, who have begun to question why constituencies dominated by women have been singled out for such tough talk. "He behaves like an arrogant patriarch with respect to women's occupations," said Rose Ann De Moro, executive director of the...

Next week marks the thirty-eighth anniversary of the launch pad fire of Apollo 1, which took the lives of Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee. In a grim irony, that same week also marks the nineteenth anniversary of the Challenger disaster, as well as the second anniversary of the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Though memorials are certainly in order, a closer examination of the nature and cause of each catastrophe reveals much about the nation throughout the past four decades. Particularly in the wake of the Columbia tragedy and its ensuing investigations, disturbing trends in NASA...

Social Security: The Real Risks By Peter Ferrara on 10/20/2004 This op/ed was originally published in the New York Post. John Kerry's bitter denunciations of President Bush over Social Security are craven, opportunistic and false. Worse yet, Kerry's approach to the program's crisis risks disaster. Kerry charges that Bush secretly plans to cut benefits or hike Social Security taxes to fund his "scheme" to privatize the program. In fact, Bush has spelled out seven principles of reform, including no tax hikes or benefit cuts. Kerry's claim that Bush's plan will cost trillions is another canard. Consider just one plan —...

Case 41: FAA Unlawful Racial Quotas '04 The case is officially known as "Michael C. Ryan vs. Norman Y. Mineta" Civil Action No. 99-4128 (Mineta is named in this action in his official capacity as administrator of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation) The FAA's discrimination against Mr. Ryan pitted merit promotion principles against the FAA's illegal racial quota hiring program. It took Mr. Ryan over nine years of hearings and litigation to win his right to equal treatment under the law without regard to his skin color. (1) Overview [Adversity.Net Report Oct. 12, 2004] -- Michael C. Ryan is a...

NEW YORK (AP) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has much to offer President Bush and the GOP when he appears at this week's Republican convention, from unmatched star power to moderate politics that appeals to voters outside the Republican base. Schwarzenegger also stands to gain some political gravitas and a debt of gratitude from the party that could pay dividends for California. But there are risks on both sides. Schwarzenegger could tarnish his bipartisan image by aligning himself with a president and party that are unpopular in his home state, while Bush risks getting overshadowed by a one-of-a-kind star who...

SACRAMENTO - Despite rosy talk of shared sacrifice and bipartisanship, the budget accord struck by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders could augur gloomier budget negotiations in coming years. The tentative $105.3 billion deal reached late Monday still awaits legislative approval later this week. In many ways, it resembles the revised spending plan Schwarzenegger proposed in May, a pastiche of borrowing, one-time fixes and side deals that come with future IOUs. As budget negotiators spent weeks tinkering with two laws and creating new fiscal protections for cities and counties, critics contend they neglected a far more troublesome issue: California's penchant...

WASHINGTON – Over the years, presidential downtime has fleshed out the image of the man - whether it be clearing brush (Reagan and Bush II) or speed-boating (Bush I) or hunting (Teddy Roosevelt). All presidents need to show the public they're not captured by work, and that they know how to recharge their batteries. But what about presidential- candidate downtime? As Democratic standard-bearer John Kerry relaxes at his home in Ketchum, Idaho, there's a calculation at work that he can vanish from public view for five days without the Bush campaign filling the void with the definitive (read: negative) take...

THE CASE FOR ARTICLE TWO, SECTION ONE by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher February 24, 2004 Sunday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) was making the rounds on the talk-show circuit. Schwarzenegger is in the nation's capital with his fellow governors to meet with one of their own - President Bush - for their winter meetings with him. During the course of his discussion with Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press", the Governator opined that anyone who has been a United States Citizen for at least 20 years should be eligible to run for the nation's highest office. A proposed constitutional...

<p>California taxpayers pay their legislators about $125,000 per year in salary and living expenses, yet more than 30 lawmakers own businesses or hold part-time jobs on the side, state financial disclosure records show.</p> <p>Roughly one of every four legislators earns outside income -- and nine members make as much or more money outside the Capitol as in it.</p>

<p>The Alameda County coroner's office is investigating the case of an 18- year-old East Bay woman who died Wednesday, days after reportedly taking the abortion pill RU-486.</p> <p>The victim's father told The Chronicle that his 18-year-old daughter had gotten a prescription for RU-486 at a Planned Parenthood office in Hayward on Sept. 10 to end her seven-week pregnancy.</p>

One of the reasons the North won the Civil War is that President Lincoln was willing to sack incompetent generals and President Davis was not. Some recent remarks by the American commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, suggest that it is time for President Bush to emulate Mr. Lincoln. According to the Sept. 7 Cleveland Plain Dealer, during Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld's recent visit to Iraq, General Sanchez said, "There is no risk at the tactical, operational or strategic level... A platoon out of any one of my battalions could defeat the threat, readily." The first of these statements...

Damage: Tongue and lip piercings can increase the risk of gum disease, infections and tooth loss, researchers say. People who jab gold studs through their lips and pierce their tongues with silver bars aren't usual eager to hear a learned discourse on gum disease. But Dr. John K. Brooks tries anyway: Oral jewelry, he tells them, can cost you a tooth. "The patients I've been successful with are the ones that had pain and infection. They're much more ready to be convinced," the Mount Airy dentist says. Brooks and two colleagues at the University of Maryland Dental School say there...