Free Republic

Public Health (from a German Propaganda pamphlet authored by Walter Tießle). "In preserving health, National Socialism is following fundamentally new ways of thinking. In the past, one understood health care as caring for those who were ill. Enormous means were used. And in certain circles, the ill were the model of humanity, at the center of all action and thought. No one made the effort to find the roots of illness, or to consider: "How could we stop illness at its start, or at least limit it as much as possible?" The means used by National Socialism must, of course,...

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Aug. 6, 2009 – As U.S. forces fight insurgents in the southern and eastern regions of Afghanistan, officials are working to protect them with new technology, equipment and vehicles. Soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 5th Brigade, Stryker Brigade Combat Team, equip their common remotely operated weapon station II with an M2 .50-caliber machine gun during training. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Elisebet Freeburg  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. One of the newest tools in their arsenal is the common remotely operated weapon station II, known as CROWS II, which enables soldiers to acquire and engage...

HAVANA – Raul Castro announced Saturday that Cuba will cut spending on education and health care, potentially weakening the building blocks of its communist system in a bid to revive a floundering economy. The former defense minister who took over the presidency last year called state spending "simply unsustainable" and said the cash-strapped government would reorganize rural schools and scrutinize its free health care system in search of ways to save money. But he vowed that the island will not see fundamental change even after he and his older brother and predecessor Fidel Castro are gone. "I wasn't elected president...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is telling participants in an online forum on health care that the current system and its skyrocketing costs are a threat to Medicare. Obama says the Medicare trust fund will be in the red and out of money in a decade unless Washington overhauls the system.

Salaam aleikum, dudes ! I thought I knew a little bit about the Middle East. Boy, was I wrong. Last week, President Obama set me straight. Here's what our president taught me during his Middle-Eastern pilgrimage:

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people. True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the...

Geithner Is Overreaching on Regulatory Power We don't need more politics in our economics. The proposal is being offered as a clever political solution to the turf war that might have erupted if the Treasury or FDIC alone were given this quasi-nationalization authority, with no input from the Fed. But the real issue is whether this expansion of regulators' powers is wise.

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, Feb. 2, 2009 – As the Iraqi security forces continue to improve their ability to protect Iraq’s people, a strong judicial branch that can help bring criminals to justice becomes increasingly important. “I think the [Iraqi legal system] is improving,” Army Capt. Ronald Alcala, Multinational Division Center’s rule of law chief, said. Coalition forces have had a huge impact by helping to professionalize the Iraqi forces and providing training on crime-scene management and investigative procedures, he added. The Iraqi legal system places more of an emphasis on testimonial evidence, usually from two or more witnesses, and less...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 26, 2008 – American and Iraqi security forces found and seized a rocket-rail system during a combined operation conducted in Baghdad’s Rashid district Dec. 25. U.S. 4th Infantry Division soldiers and Iraqi police discovered the rocket-delivery system while performing a security sweep in the district’s Abu T’shir community, a U.S. military official said. “Combined operations account for many significant finds in the Rashid district,” said Army Maj. Dave Olson, a spokesman for the division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team. “The 1st ‘Raider’ Brigade continues to teach, coach and mentor the ISF as they provide a safe and secure environment...

(IsraelNN.com) Israel successfully fired the new RAFAEL-manufactured Blue Sparrow medium-range Ballistic Target system Tuesday morning. The system simulates trajectory thermal images and radar cross-section signatures of threats. Military sources said the system will be used in future Arrow Missile systems tests but did not release details as to when or in what context either would be deployed.

MicroSoft is making the Release Candidate for Windows Vista Operating System available to the public at the URL link above. I very recently purchased a new computer which came with Vista, there have been many "gliches" in using this new computer with Vista. I finished installing the Sevice Pack RC about 6 hours ago and I've found significant improvement in the performance and stability of the system. My personal tips: 1) The download is approximately 448MB in size so you you might want to consider your download speed when and if you choose to download this RC. 2) The install...

India's legal system is grinding to a halt By Rahul Bedi in New Delhi Last Updated: 3:00am GMT 06/12/2007 India's addiction to litigation has left its justice system at breaking point with almost 30 million cases pending. Figures published by justice officials revealed that it could take more than a decade to clear the backlog. Around 25 million civil and criminal cases await adjudication in overcrowded magisterial and sessions courts, as do another 3.7 million in 35 high courts across the country. As a consequence, tens of thousands of Indians facing trial are crammed into overcrowded prisons, the majority incarcerated...

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 26, 2007 – About 450 Iraqis are working to get Fallujah’s first sewer system operational by summer. Work is under way to provide Fallujah, Iraq, with its first wastewater treatment plant and collection system. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing this $85 million project, which should be operational in the summer. Some 450 Iraqis are on the construction crew, and that number will soon expand to 700. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. That number is expected to grow soon to a construction force of 700 Iraqis. The $85 million project includes...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2007 – A veteran Air Force combat medic helped to transform the way wounded troops are treated and evacuated during a recent deployment to Afghanistan. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Mark A. DeCorte is participating in the Defense Department’s “Why We Serve” public-outreach program. Photo by Gerry J. Gilmore  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Tech Sgt. Mark A. DeCorte recalled the previous practice when unarmed battlefield medics were flown in to treat and evacuate injured servicemembers usually after an area had been cleared of the enemy. However, DeCorte emphasized, “When you have a wounded soldier on...

A plane TU-154 of the Moscow governmental air company Atlant-Soyuz has become the first passenger aircraft in the history of Russian aviation equipped with Global Navigation Satellite System.

Source: Society of Chemical Industry Date: June 25, 2007 Potato Salad May Help the Immune System Science Daily — It has long been known that eating potatoes is good for bowel health, but new research suggests that they may also have a beneficial effect on the whole immune system. Especially if eaten cold or in a potato salad, Anne Pichon reports in Chemistry & Industry. Spanish researchers found that growing pigs fed large quantities of raw potato starch (RPS) had a healthier bowel. Not a surprise, but they also found that RPS pigs had decreased levels of white blood cells,...

WASHINGTON, June 10 (UPI) -- Rising student loans offered by private lenders not only have frustrated U.S. lawmakers but left graduates buried under a mountain of debt.

KIRKUK— He downloaded chickens as a member of his high school’s Future Farmers of America club. Growing up, he worked the sun-drenched oil fields of southern Arkansas. He’s no stranger to rolling up his shirt sleeves to get a job done, a quality that is serving him well during his mission as a Soldier in northern Iraq. He’s Capt. Duane Kees, brigade judge advocate, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, who is currently working to instill integrity and legitimacy into a legal system weathered by decades of neglect and distrust in Kirkuk, Iraq. Kees was born in Little...

Our solar system flies through space in the shape of a speeding bullet, according to data from NASA's two Voyager spacecraft. The sun and its planets are known to streak through the void of space at approximately 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) an hour. The system travels within a bubble of solar wind—made of charged particles from the sun—called the heliosphere. The edge of this bubble collides with the Milky Way galaxy's magnetic field at a distance some 200 times farther from the sun than Earth is. A research team led by Merav Opher at Virginia's George Mason University found that,...

WASHINGTON - The current market-based system is the best way to regulate the trillion-dollar hedge fund industry although improvements can be made, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday. Bernanke, speaking to a conference on global economics in New York City, said that the current system is superior to increased government regulation. That view is at odds with critics who say large failures in recent years highlight the need for greater supervision. "Thus far, the market-based approach to the regulation of hedge funds seems to have worked well, although many improvements can be made," Bernanke said in remarks prepared for...