Free Republic

Enlarge ImageTrick or treat? This confection may be more pleasing to some taste buds than it is to others. Credit: Photos.com If you take your coffee without sugar or your pancakes without syrup, chances are you've got some European ancestry in your blood. New research reveals that people whose early relatives lived in Europe are more sensitive to sweet tastes than those whose ancestors came from other parts of the world. Scientists led by Alexey Fushan of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders in Bethesda, Maryland, asked 144 people from various ethnic backgrounds to rank the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - First, American soldiers scoured the home for weapons as four veiled Iraqi women cowered on a dusty rug. Then a platoon sergeant politely wiped his muddy boots, came in and talked to the family about the violence suffocating their city. Staff Sgt. Michael James of the Army's 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment came with his platoon on a search-and-seizure mission. But he was careful to follow up with expressions of respect and concern. "Tell them, 'Thank you,' for their hospitality," James asked his translator. U.S. troops are working hard to strike a tricky balance between force and...

Police in Mississippi say they have recovered jewelry belonging to the family of Chicago Bears' legend Walter Payton. Investigators say, last September, 61-year-old Andrew Thrash and a woman accomplice posed as federal officers to gain access to Payton's mother's home. Once inside, police say the two stole more than $150,000 worth of jewelry, including a Bears lapel pin and an NFL coin with Walter Payton's face on it. Thrash was arrested Wednesday in Tennessee and will be sent back to Mississippi Thursday. His accomplice has not been found.

The 1985 Chicago Bears made an impact on the NFL and the world overall like no other pro football team had before, or has since. This is well documented and celebrated. ESPN even selected this team as the best single team in the history of the league. This fall will mark the 20th anniversary of that great group of players and coaches. This year the team has incorporated to "provide economic opportunities" for its players during the celebration. Undoubtedly the Bears organization and its paid professional web developers will create some snazzy content on their site for the anniversary....

Barack Obama's rousing oration at the August 2004 Democratic convention established America's favorite son of a goatherd as the shining hope of his desperate party. After humiliating the hapless Alan Keyes in November, he took his seat in Washington as the junior Senator from Illinois and set himself immediately to the thankless service of the workingman. On June 4, Obama appeared in Galesburg to deliver a commencement address at Knox College that has liberal scribes writing love poems and doodling hearts inscribed "Obama 2008." In a valentine that appeared on the New Republic website, David Kusnet says that "All Obama...

NEW YORK, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- I haven't been able to find a strict academic etymology for the word "hon," which obviously derives from "honey," which in my home state of Texas derives in turn from "honeychild," but I would place it in the linguistic group, which should henceforth be known as Saccharinity Personal Pronouns.This has become a matter of some urgency, ever since Maryland State Trooper Kelly Austin allegedly went into a rage during a routine traffic stop when a civilian addressed her as "hon." The offending endearment resulted in the arrest of Frank J. Iula Jr., a computer...