Free Republic

Christine Van Rompuy has given up talking to her brother about politics. The siblings' political paths diverged when in their youth - and in a recent election campaign her party produced a leaflet which mercilessly lampooned him as a clown. Herman Van Rompuy was mercilessly cartooned as a clown - in a leaflet produced by his sister's rival party After witnessing the Belgian Government's attempts to privatise the health service, Christine decided to take up the cause of the common worker and is now actively involved in the Belgian Workers' Party, the only remaining nationwide political party in a country...

Please note - in my "past life" I ran an ISP, and am a qualified expert in these matters. I write spam filtering software commercially and have since 1995, being the author of the first ISP-centered spam interdiction package. As such when it comes to issues like Internet mail transport I can easily speak to what is supposed to be present - and what is not. Further, I want to note that my interest in this has absolutely nothing to do with the underlying claim - "Is Man-Made Global Warming Real?" Rather, my interest in this is whether or not...

Update: Looks like the "missing" hockey stick data has been found: documents\mbh98-osborn\mbh98\TREE\ITRDB\ORIG\251tar\ If so, that there is the ballgame. Shock and surprise at the conduct of particular individuals within the CRU seem the order of the day. I'm not quite sure why. If, indeed, the disclosures are genuine (and it certainly appears on first blush that they are) how is it news that "scientists" embroiled in what long ago ceased to be scientific research and now amounts to a political campaign would cut corners, sabotage critics, conceal or even destroy data and analysis, massage results and graphics and otherwise act...

Last week it was revealed that 54 oil tankers are anchored off the coast of Britain, refusing to unload their fuel until prices have risen. But that is not the only scandal in the shipping world. Today award-winning science writer Fred Pearce – environmental consultant to New Scientist and author of Confessions Of An Eco Sinner – reveals that the super-ships that keep the West in everything from Christmas gifts to computers pump out killer chemicals linked to thousands of deaths because of the filthy fuel they use. We've all noticed it. The filthy black smoke kicked out by funnels...

Europe's first president, is to join forces with the European Commission to push for sweeping new tax raising powers for Brussels. Within days of taking office in January, the former Belgian prime minister will put his weight behind controversial proposals already floated by the commission's head, José Manuel Barroso, for a new "Euro tax". Mr Van Rompuy, 62, who was appointed to the newly-created £320,000-a-year post at last week's special EU summit, set out his stall on direct Euro-taxes during a private speech He will add credence to Mr Barroso's plans, to be formally tabled in the New Year, by...

Aside: apparently what has been released is about 1/2 of the total copied from CRU. We do not know if what has been released is cherry picked and the remaining material fills in the blanks exhonorating everyone of any wrong doing, or if there is more to come. According to RealClimate, whatever is there, it will not be evidence of scientific malpractice such as tampering with data, and that’s good enough for me. The frame Since seeing the emails we have been responding by: pointing out that while some (and only a few) of them sound dubious, there’s no actual...

The Israel Air Force carried out an air strike against terrorist operations in Gaza overnight in retaliation for a Kassam rocket fired at the western Negev on Saturday. The rocket exploded in the city of Sderot, according to the IDF Spokesman's Office, but caused no injuries or damage. In response, IAF fighter jets targeted and identified hitting two weapons factories in the northern and central regions of Gaza early Sunday. They also struck one smuggling tunnel located in the area of Rafiah, along Gaza's southern border with Egypt. All pilots returned to base safely...

Why Barack Obama's Private Pilgrimage To The Great Wall of China Was Not As Solitary As The Spin Doctors Make Out 22nd November 2009 It is a powerful image reproduced all over the world: the President of the United States striding alone last week along the Great Wall of China on his diplomatic tour of South East Asia. Yet, as our main picture shows, Barack Obama’s personal pilgrimage to the popular Badaling section of the Wall outside Beijing was not quite as solitary as his spin doctors would have us believe. Chinese police officers guard the sentry tower and CIA...

In the second report, I wrote “The process that produced the report was highly political, with the Editor taking the lead in suppressing my perspectives, most egregiously demonstrated by the last-minute substitution of a new Chapter 6 for the one I had carefully led preparation of and on which I was close to reaching a final consensus. Anyone interested in the production of comprehensive assessments of climate science should be troubled by the process which I document below in great detail that led to the replacement of the Chapter that I was serving as Convening Lead Author.” The Editor of...

Not only do liberals want to tax the so-called rich in order to fund health care for illegal aliens and other uninsured millions, now a prominent member of the U.S. Senate has proposed a tax on the well to do to pay for Obama’s quagmire in Afghanistan. As reported at Bloomberg.com, in part: “Higher-income Americans should be taxed to pay for more troops sent to Afghanistan and NATO should provide half of the new soldiers, said Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.” Levin’s un-American scheme may actually find support among leftists who hate the rich more than...

Yesterday they underlined this message by pointing to reports showing that Mr Obama had failed to convene a single policy meeting of the Senate European subcommittee, of which he is chairman. There was also strikingly robust criticism from an independent Washington think-tank about a “disconcerting void” over transatlantic relations in Mr Obama’s foreign policy, as well as from a former British Minister for Europe. Mr Obama’s advisers say that he has an “intuitive grasp” of world affairs because he spent part of his childhood abroad. “The benefit of my life of having both lived overseas and travelled overseas is, I...

These people act in concert to diminish, reject, and otherwise denigrate findings with which they do not agree — and they are able to do so because of their “establishment” positions. This is the preservation of “group think” at its most serious level…. The group represented by the bulk of these emails does indeed have a message to defend. Those of us who see problems with that message are aware of how the data are manufactured and interpreted to support that message — and worse, how these establishment scientists act as gatekeepers for the “consensus” reports to suppress alternative findings.

Holophonic sound "virtual haircut" Created by QSound Labs ( http://www.qsound.com ) as a demonstration of Binaural audio technology. -requires headphones or earbuds for the sound effects to work. "Binaural recordings are not exactly audio illusions in the sense that they do not ‘trick’ us into hearing sounds which are impossible or non existent. They are, however, extremely cool as the recordings make it sound like you are actually there, in presence of what is making the sound." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA

The president says he understands the urgency of our fiscal crisis, but his policies are the equivalent of steering the economy toward an iceberg. President Barack Obama took office promising to lead from the center and solve big problems. He has exerted enormous political energy attempting to reform the nation's health-care system. But the biggest economic problem facing the nation is not health care. It's the deficit. Recently, the White House signaled that it will get serious about reducing the deficit next year—after it locks into place massive new health-care entitlements. This is a recipe for disaster, as it will...

Grief and anger, like clouds of a coming storm, moved back and forth across the landscape of Mayor Daley's face in public appearances last week. And why not? Michael Scott, his longtime, loyal friend, was dead. Suddenly. Violently. By his own hand, according to the Cook County medical examiner. When we lose someone we love, particularly like that, don't we ask ourselves what it was we failed to see? Or failed to do? Our own helplessness adds rage to sorrow. It's understandable. It's human. That's the best explanation I can come up with for what happened Wednesday at the mayor's...

November 22, 2009 Sarah Palin: My Life With A Down's Syndrome Child In her memoir, US vice-presidential candidate tells of the problems and the joy of living with her special needs son A couple of years ago I began to notice some peculiar yet familiar physical symptoms, like the smell of cigarettes making me feel more nauseated than usual. For a few weeks, I brushed these aside. Then I began to suspect something. There was no way I could buy a home pregnancy test in Alaska. I was the state governor. The supermarket cashiers would know, the people in the...

Glenn Beck interview at book tour + Video of Beck at the Villages Retirement Community announcing his plans for next year (Video)

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — When tickets to see Sarah Palin in Michigan ran out, people drove to her appearance here, three hours away. Thousands had lined up overnight, starting nearly 24 hours before she was to begin signing books, camping out in 39-degree weather for a moment with the woman many see as the great conservative hope, a role model, “one of us.” They brought their sleeping bags, their children, homemade chocolate Cheerios bars, and balloons to twist into animal shapes and hats for the crowd. And they brought their anger — about bailouts, jobs and health care. If Sarah...

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was ordered by the Obama apparatchiks to express displeasure at the decision by Israel to build houses in the East Jerusalem suburb of Gilo. But Gibbs failed to disclose that the land on which Gilo was built, as with other suburbs in "disputed" parts of East Jerusalem, was home to many Jews who were driven out in 1948 by the British officered Arab Legion of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It was not liberated by Israel, and the land restored, until the June, 1967 Six Day War, nineteen years later. King Hussein of Jordan had...

The man accused of robbing a Charlotte bank Tuesday afternoon and leading highway patrol officers on a dangerous high-speed chase in two counties has also been involved in gangs in Los Angeles, according to authorities. WBTV has also learned that the suspect is an avid user of the online social media tool "Twitter" and uses the website Myspace -- both to possibly help further his aspiring musical career. The robbery in Charlotte this week happened at a Wachovia branch on West Sugar Creek Road. The police report says Carlos Burns handed the teller a note demanding cash. The chase ended...

After Spending Billions, State Remains Hampered By Outmoded, Unreliable Computer Systems An embarrassing legacy of cost overruns, botched upgrades and failed networking projects has left California to rely on decades-old technology and jury-rigged software systems. By Patrick McGreevy November 21, 2009 Reporting from Sacramento - California may be known as the cradle of computer innovation, but several state agencies can't get their computers to perform essential functions despite hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns for repair and upgrade work. Although taxpayer money has been flowing to corporate consultants and software overhauls, some computer systems are on the verge...

My friends, I ran into Sarah Palin a week or so ago. Well, not the Sarah Palin — and not comedian Tina Fey, either. Temporarily away from my mission work and visiting old friends at an Irish parish, I was enjoying the (rare) sunshine after Mass, greeting parishioners as they left church, when I noticed a young mother pushing her daughter in a baby carriage. Her child — like all children — was radiant to me, with a shock of orange hair and a smile of beautiful wonderment at just about everything. Her head rolled back and forth as if...

The Catholic Doors MinistryPresents A TREASURE OF3,125CATHOLIC PRAYERS The world's largest, most popular and most linked to collection of Catholic prayers on the internet. On March 25, 1999, Pope John-Paul II, the spiritual leader of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, called upon the world's 404,000 priests to teach the faithful how to pray. In obedience to the holy Pontiff, "The Catholic Doors Ministry" has put together hundreds of Catholic prayers to compile "A Treasure Of Catholic Prayers." The first file below, "HOW TO PRAY," serves as a tool to teach effective praying to the faithful so they may...

The Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said the vote was anything but procedural — casting it as a referendum on the bill itself, which he said would raise taxes, cut Medicare and create a “massive and unsustainable debt.” McConnell: It’s a ‘Monstrosity of a Bill’

Quick vote (mid way down and on right) Do you want the Senate to pass its health care bill? This is not a scientific poll Yes 55% 110716 No 45% 89663 Total votes: 200379 This is not a scientific poll

TAXPAYERS will fork out more than $1 million on police, security guards and beach fencing to babysit schoolies on the Gold Coast. That Department of Communities alone will spend $610,000 to fund Schoolies week, which starts tomorrow. The money pays for free entertainment for the teenage revellers, security guards, beach fencing, wristbands, support services and volunteer co-ordination. Hundreds of thousands of dollars more will be spent on police and ambulance services for the almost 30,000 schoolies expected to hit the Gold Coast.

Glenn Beck Stakes Out a More Activist Role in Politics BRIAN STELTER November 21, 2009 Glenn Beck, the popular and outspoken Fox News host, says he wants to go beyond broadcasting his opinions and start rallying his political base — formerly known as his audience — to take action. To do so, Mr. Beck is styling himself as a political organizer. In an interview, he said he would promote voter registration drives and sponsor a series of seven conventions across the country featuring what he described as libertarian speakers. On Saturday he held a festive campaign-style rally in The Villages...

As we left it last week: I was on my way to the White House with a horsy pajama-clad leader of the free world, his toadies, Axelrod and Emanuel and three Secret Service Agents. For secrecy measures, the President had opted to make a Cessna puddle-jumper the make-shift AF1 to pick me up. After I applied a little “Godfather” shock therapy, I was about to give President Obama the advice he sorely needs to prevent his administration from descending to the bottom of the cesspool beneath history’s worst president, Jimmy Carter! As bright sunlight now pushes the mighty midget craft...

Fox News: The president may be undecided on whether to put more forces in Afghanistan, but he was happy to share face time with some troops at his last stop in South Korea before returning to the United States. "You guys make a pretty good photo op," the president reportedly joked with the 1,500 troops at Osan Air Base. Video at link.

Sweeteners for the South By Dana Milbank Sunday, November 22, 2009 Staffers on Capitol Hill were calling it the Louisiana Purchase. On the eve of Saturday's showdown in the Senate over health-care reform, Democratic leaders still hadn't secured the support of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of the 60 votes needed to keep the legislation alive. The wavering lawmaker was offered a sweetener: at least $100 million in extra federal money for her home state. And so it came to pass that Landrieu walked onto the Senate floor midafternoon Saturday to announce her aye vote -- and to trumpet the...

North Dakota Republican state legislators and officials have had no better luck than anyone else in prodding Gov. John Hoeven for hints about whether he'll run against Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan next year. Four GOP lawmakers who raised the subject in a meeting with Hoeven in his Capitol office last week said the governor gave them no hints about his plans, although one participant said he believes Hoeven will make the race. "I think he feels a responsibility to do it," said Rep. Craig Headland, R-Montpelier. "Maybe I'm a little optimistic in my thinking, but I do believe he's giving...

Sarah Palin is back, using her book, Going Rogue, as a prop. From all indications she ain't going away -- which may be why passions, pro and con, are so intense about her. There seems no middle ground when it comes to Palin -- some of it understandable, most of it puzzling. If she's a ditz, an airhead as some insist, someone without the depth or substance to be president, why worry about her? The electorate will catch on. So why do Democrats slag her at every opportunity? If she's a genuine threat to be a contender for power on...

Oil-refinery workers on the Delaware River yesterday received their second big blow in six weeks, when Valero Energy Corp. said it would close its operation in Delaware City, Del., casting 550 out of work. When workers heard the news, "it was like a time bomb went off," said Matt Edler, who has worked for 10 years at the refinery that rises out of the lowlands near the Delaware River in southern New Castle County. "My grandfather worked there, my father, and I worked there," said Edler, who yesterday afternoon joined other shocked refinery workers at Red Lion Inn in Bear,...

The Rosary 1417. Attending a Catholic Church one evening I was disgusted by the rigmarole called the Rosary. What is that Rosary? The Rosary is a special form of devotion to Mary. One takes a set of beads, divided into five sections, each section consisting of one large bead and ten small ones. Holding the large bead, one says the Our Father, and on each of the small ones, the Hail Mary. Between each section or decade the Gloria is said. While saying the prayers, one meditates or thinks of the joys, or sorrows, or glories of Christ's life and...

Sadly, he is right. Senator Reid, the other 57 Democrats, and both Independents voted to move the Senate Health Care Bill forward for debate, and ultimately, a vote. Not one Republican voted for the bill. I expected that Joe Lieberman (I-CT) would have had a bit more sense than to be willing to debate a bill with the same people who had not the slightest bit of intellectual honesty during the Bush Administration. Incredibly, he bought the line that Reid was selling. If you could see the smug look on Reid's face, then you would be able to tell that...

Attorney general's advisers have conflicts on detainee casesThe Obama Justice Department is having problems prosecuting terrorist cases because top department attorneys have conflicts of interest. According to documents obtained exclusively by The Washington Times, Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, No. 3 official in the Justice Department, had to recuse himself on at least 13 active detainee cases and at least 26 cases listed as either closed or mooted. Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, made waves Nov. 18 when he demanded that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. provide a list of all the suspected-terrorist detainee cases from which...

November 22, 2009                                     The Solemnity of Christ the King Reading 1Responsorial PsalmReading 2Gospel Reading 1Dn 7:13-14 As the visions during the night continued, I sawone like a Son of man coming,on the clouds of heaven;when he reached the Ancient Oneand was presented before him,the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship;all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.His dominion is an everlasting dominionthat shall not be taken away,his kingship shall not be destroyed. Responsorial PsalmPs 93:1, 1-2, 5 R. (1a) The LORD is king; he is robed in majesty.The...

Abraham Lincoln: "Madam, do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" It is time to remove the Jihadists veil of legitimacy, the IRA was undone by negotiating with the Brits. Flame away but please consider gambits for the negotiation because I will be advising the USG on how to do this.

sweeping healthcare overhaul narrowly cleared its first hurdle in the Senate on Saturday, with Democrats casting 60 party-line votes to open debate on the biggest healthcare changes in decades. In the first Senate test for President Barack Obama's top domestic priority, Democrats unanimously backed a procedural motion to open debate over the opposition of 39 Republicans. Republican George Voinovich did not vote. Democrats needed 60 votes to approve the motion in the 100-member Senate and had no margin for error -- they control exactly 60 votes...

In the last weeks, two recommendations have come from government sponsored panels that suggest the current standards for mammograms and pap smears, those supported but the American Cancer Society, encourage women to get these screenings too frequently and too early. There has been significant push back from the public and various organizations, but the government is downplaying the recommendations as mere suggestions based upon scientific inquiry. However, if you care about the women in your life and their ability to get these important cancer screenings you need to be very concerned because the Health Care Bill proposes to incorporate these...

Most of the media hate Sarah Palin. Given the hyperfocused offensive targeted at her, the simple conclusion is that the left-wing establishment views the former Alaska governor as the greatest threat to the current Democratic monopoly on power in Washington. Certainly Mrs. Palin's book tour is generating a lot of enthusiasm across the country, with thousands of admirers flocking to each stop. The book itself, "Going Rogue," was locked in at No. 1 on best-seller lists for weeks before it was officially available for sale. Mrs. Palin's appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" attracted the largest audience the program has...

The Priesthood and the Mass Theologian Notes the Priest's Privileged Role By Father Mauro Gagliardi VATICAN CITY, NOV. 20, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI proclaimed, as everyone knows, the Year for Priests (June 2009-June 2010), on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the "dies natalis" of the holy Curé d'Ars. The purpose is "to deepen the commitment of all priests to interior renewal for the sake of a stronger and more incisive witness to the Gospel in today’s world"[1]. St. John Mary Vianney, besides concretely representing a supreme model of the priesthood, always proclaimed with clarity and incomparable emphasis the...

HOW do you tell a wealthy heiress from a family farmer? It sounds like the setup for a joke. But in fact it is the fundamental problem underlying sensible reform of the federal estate tax. Members of Congress are hoping to revise the current law on the estate tax by the end of this year; if they don’t, the estate tax will disappear for a year. Lawmakers should use the opportunity to solve the farmer/heiress riddle once and for all and move our tax system closer to the values on which the country was founded — that hard work should...

In many ways, it’s like a ghost town. It’s eerily quiet. Driving around in the middle of the afternoon, in a city that once was among the most productive on the planet, you see very little traffic, minimal commercial activity, hardly any pedestrians. What you’ll see are endless acres of urban ruin, block after block and mile after mile of empty and rotting office buildings, storefronts, hotels, apartment buildings and private homes. It’s a scene of devastation and disintegration that stuns the mind, a major American city that still is home to 900,0000 people but which looks at times like...

The Pending Financial, Economic, Political And Social Collapse Of The United States Politics / US Politics Nov 21, 2009 - 03:20 AM By: Submissions Timothy V. Gatto writes: The truth that most people realize but can’t openly talk about is that America has seen better days and that the system of capitalism has long outlived its usefulness. The last part of that sentence, that capitalism has outlived its usefulness, is thoroughly the fault of the capitalists themselves. For many years now, transnational corporations have sent much of America’s manufacturing overseas in order to take advantage of low cost workers. About...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is inviting his mentor Fidel Castro to visit Venezuela during the coming months. Chavez read aloud a letter to the 83-year-old former Cuban leader during a televised speech Saturday night, saying "Venezuela awaits you." Chavez proposed that Castro visit at some point between now and April, during a congress of his socialist party. The 83-year-old Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing a series of emergency intestinal surgeries in July 2006.

Howie thread for the week starting with his Sunday Herald column. Chances are there will be fill ins on Wed & Fri and maybe a best of on Thu but who knows.

Let's go Forrest!!! Rock his world!!

The findings led to an early halt of a small study comparing Niaspan and Zetia, two compounds commonly used along with statins to reduce heart attack risk ORLANDO, Fla. — Adding a pharmaceutical form of the B vitamin niacin — but not the drug ezetimibe — to a cholesterol-lowering statin drug appears to reduce artery plaque buildup in patients with coronary artery disease, according to much-anticipated results announced at a press conference November 15. The results were from a study that was relatively small — only 208 patients — but provided a head-to-head comparison of niacin and ezetimibe, known by...

Financial And Economic Situation Could Get Ugly Fast Economics / Economic Stimulus Nov 21, 2009 - 03:27 AM By: Mike_Whitney Things could get ugly fast. With the Democrats backing-off on a second round of stimulus, the Fed signaling an end to quantitative easing, and Obama moaning about rising deficits; there's a good chance that the stumbling recovery could turn into another sharp plunge. Bank lending is shrinking, consumers spending is off, housing prices are falling, unemployment is soaring and the wholesale credit markets are in a shambles. This isn't the time to slash government support in the name of "fiscal...