Free Republic

RICHLAND — Welcome to Sarah Palin country, 220 miles and a world of politics away from Seattle. Eastern Washington fans of the former Alaska governor and darling of the Republican right started lining up at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Hastings book store here — 26 hours before Palin's scheduled to appear at noon Sunday — just to make sure they'd get her to personally sign her tome, "Going Rogue," selling here for $17.39, plus tax. By 9:30 Saturday night, some 250 of the faithful were camped outside the store, sitting in lawn chairs, covering themselves with blankets and sleeping...

The US Saturday disclosed to India new information linking the anti-terror plot hatched by expatriates David Coleman Headley and Tahawuur Rana with some elements in the ISI and said it will reveal the name of a key Pakistani national linked to the Mumbai carnage in a week's time. The disclosure came when National Security Adviser MK Narayanan held talks with CIA chief Leon Panetta in New Delhi on Saturday, reliable sources said. The new information given by the US reinforces Indian investigations that have pointed to links between Headley and Rana, who were arrested by the FBI in Chicago last...

"Pakistani Christian on Run from Taliban Death Threat Islamic extremist sermonizing leads to altercation at barbershop in South Waziristan." SNIPPET: "LAHORE, Pakistan, November 27 (CDN) — A young Christian man is in hiding in Pakistan from Taliban militants who seek to kill him for “blasphemy” because he defended his faith. In February Jehanzaib Asher, 22, was working in a barbershop his family jointly owns with his cousin in Wana, South Waziristan – a Taliban stronghold in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan’s northwest – when the Islamic militants showed up to try to convert him to Islam." SNIPPET: "He...

Photos included. # SNIPPET: "Cairo (AINA) -- In an effort to cover up the Muslim mob violence against the Copts which broke out last week in the town of Farshoot and neighboring villages (AINA 11-22-2009, 11-23-2009), and in view of the complete news blackout imposed by the Egyptian government, Egyptian State Security has intensified its pressure on the Coptic Church in Nag Hammadi and the victims of the violence into accepting extrajudicial reconciliation with the perpetrators, and opening their businesses without any compensation. Similar State Security scenarios have been experienced by Copts in all sectarian incidents in the past, in...

For the very first time, the Climategate Letters “archived” the deleted portion of the Briffa MXD reconstruction of “Hide the Decline” fame – see here. Gavin Schmidt claimed that the decline had been “hidden in plain sight” (see here. ). This isn’t true. The post-1960 data was deleted from the archived version of this reconstruction at NOAA here and not shown in the corresponding figure in Briffa et al 2001, though pre-calibration values were archived in a different NCDC file here. While the decline was shown in Briffa et al 1998 and Briffa 2000, it was not shown in the...

A Washington state family whose turkey was stolen by a dog on Thanksgiving have quite a story to tell about how they eventually got the bird back (Nov 28). See Video News for more

'When millions would have done anything to get out, one remarkable British soldier smuggled himself into Auschwitz to witness the horror so he could tell others the truth.'

Since Obama is rather attached to describing everything he does as “unprecedented”, “I have achieved an unprecedented level of transparency”, “I played an unprecedented amount of golf this year” and “I just wasted an unprecedented amount of money”... in honor of the Liar in Chief, we can make “unprecedented” the word of the day. First up is Obama’s unprecedented deficit. The current real cost of ObamaCare is up to 2.5 Trillion dollars and rising. The Senate Republicans’ chart demonstrates that the total for all of these costs—based on CBO projections for the bill’s true first 10 years—is $2.5 trillion. And...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair should sign by Dec. 1 a document laying out new responsibilities for the National Reconnaissance Office, builder and operator of America’s spy satellites. This will set in motion the first substantial changes to the NRO charter since 1965, four years after then-Defense Secretary Robert McNamara created the NRO and drafted its charter. The NRO is led by former Air Force Gen. Bruce Carlson, The new document, called a statement of principles, lays out eight core ideas meant to guide the NRO, according to a source familiar with the document....

Tiger: I Need a 'Kobe Special' Posted Nov 29th 2009 12:15AM by TMZ Staff Tiger Woods had a "Kobe Special" on his brain hours after what looks like a domestic dispute with his wife, Elin Nordegren -- this according to someone who spoke with Tiger on Friday. During the phone conversation on Friday, Tiger told his friend, "I have to run to Zales to get a 'Kobe Special.'" The person on the other end of the phone asked Tiger what a "Kobe Special" was. The reply -- "A house on a finger." During the conversation, Tiger said his wife had...

Entrepreneurs from Muslim World Sought for Washington Summit The 2010 summit follows up on President Obama’s pledge in Cairo to find ways to deepen ties between the U.S. and the Muslim world.By Stephen Kaufman Staff Writer Washington — Approximately 150 entrepreneurs from Muslim-majority countries and Muslim communities around the world will be invited to a two-day summit in Washington in spring 2010 to meet with their peers and U.S. officials to explore areas of partnership and ways to drive economic and social innovation. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Dennis Hightower told reporters at Washington’s Foreign Press Center November 23 that the...

Former Congresswoman and U.S. Presidential Candidate (Green Party 2008), Cynthia McKinney, known for speaking truth to power, has again written to President Obama, this time with the subject headed: Please Bring Our Troops Home Now! (below) Ray Songree of Kauia Truth and the Paul Revere Email Campaign wrote to his email list: "Cynthia McKinney is one of the greatest heroines of our times. Very few elected officials have EVER spoke truth to power. That is all she does. There are many women on this email list. It really is your time to stand up and be heard, not as wannabe...

The East Anglia Climate Research Unit (CRU) revelations come as no real surprise to anyone who has closely followed the global-warming saga. The Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) thesis, to give it its semi-official name, is no stranger to fraud. It would be no real exaggeration to state that it was fertilized with fraud, marinated in fraud, stewed in fraud, and at last served up to the world as prime grade-A fraud with nice side orders of fakery and disingenuousness. Damning as they may be, the CRU e-mails are merely the climactic element in an exhaustively long line. A short tour...

The Pentagon, after years and years of deliberation and heavy pressure from Britain, has finally decided it will not share the all-important computer source code for the Joint Strike Fighter. Sharing source code would, in the words of one close observer of the program, “turn the British JSF into a Trojan Horse.” The message this source would send the British: “Yes we love you… but who are those third party nationals from the EU working for you? And how do we know we can trust them?” British officials had threatened to pull out of the program if the US did...

With the approval numbers for President Barack Obama continuing to drop and the numbers for former Republican Vice Presidential candidate experiencing an upward trend, both political players have shown a lot can happen in a year. This time last year, Mrs. Palin was the scourge of the media and political establishment. Berated by the likes of Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, mocked by Saturday Night Live and abandoned by her running mate, Mrs. Palin was left to fend for herself in a landscape that claimed the careers of many conservatives before her. Mr. Obama, on the other hand, was the...

On January 6th, CNBC interviewed Henry Kissinger on the floor of the NY Stock Exchange. Kissinger stated that Obama had the perfect setting for the establishment of a 'New World Order': “His task will be to develop an overall strategy for America in this period when, really, a new world order can be created. It’s a great opportunity, it isn’t just a crisis.” The phrase “New World Order” is the elite’s way of saying “World Government” under their control. On February 8, 2009, U.S. National Security Adviser James L. Jones gave these remarks at the 45th Munich Conference on Security...

Isn't it an irony that PBS/KCET provides a number of Christmas Specials but their producers and supporters who ask for donations cannot bring themselves to wish its viewers a Merry Christmas? As part of the new Conservative Revolution from Tea- Parties to the Sarah Palin anti-RINOs movement, it's time to bring back the Christ into the Christ Mass . Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat, please put a penny in the PBS hat? No, siree, not a penny from me.

LOS ANGELES -- Malcolm Smith returned one of Southern California's three interceptions 62 yards for an early touchdown, and the Trojans (No. 20 ESPN/USA Today, No. 24 AP) regained their defensive pride while maintaining their city dominance with a 28-7 victory over UCLA on Saturday night. Matt Barkley's 48-yard touchdown pass to Damian Williams with 44 seconds left led to an ebullient USC celebration that nearly set off an all-out fight between the teams in their 79th crosstown showdown.

A song that pokes fun at the Politically Correctness in society and in our public schools

FAIRFIELD, Calif. (CBS13) ― An unidentified military veteran was involved in a tense confrontation with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan and the group Code Pink at a rally at Travis Air Force Base on Saturday, November 28, 2009. CBS A Saturday rally led by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan at Travis Air Force Base nearly ended in a brawl when a military veteran physically confronted the protesters. Anti-war group Code Pink demonstrated at the military base Saturday morning in the first of six planned protests against unmanned military drones currently in use in overseas war zones. Sheehan, a well-known anti-war activist...

Two very blue states now have strong third-party candidates running for governor. Third-party candidates rarely win elections. So what... --snip-- While politics is often messy and even contradictory, third-party candidates tend to run strong when one party becomes so dominant that it becomes comfortable pushing unpopular policies... --snip-- In 2006, Mr. Patrick was elected Massachusetts's first African-American governor. But his support for raising the sales tax by 1.25% to 6.25% has eroded his popularity. Earlier this month, a Suffolk University poll found that he has a 51% disapproval rating, slightly higher than where it's stood for months. The same poll...

Return to the Article November 29, 2009Hating SarahBy C. Edmund Wright The Alaska Governor is far more than someone who appeals to the (conservative) base, she is someone who can make the base appeal to America. This compact yet comprehensive diagnosis was made in the early hours of the Palin Derangement Syndrome (PDS) outbreak, when Sarah Palin was first being introduced to the nation. It still rings true as the Jurassic media continues a childish obsession with someone who does not control a single government lever. Having said that, PDS has now matured past epidemic to full-blown pandemic status with...

Last month the unemployment rate climbed above 10% for the first time in more than a quarter century. Less noticed is that male workers crossed this same threshold six months earlier. Since the U.S. became the world's dominant economic power, no downturn has fallen more disproportionately on one gender. The unemployment rate for men, 11.4%, based on seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, outpaces the rate for women, 8.8%. We now have the largest jobless gender gap since tracking became possible in 1948. The gap reached its previous peak, 2.5 points, in 1967 and 1978. Today's gap...

Hey Freepers: PLEASE SIGN THE MANHATTAN DECLARATION. You can read up on the Manhattan Declaration here: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/nov/09112607.html then, go to the bottom of this page to sign the Declaration: http://manhattandeclaration.org/ If you would, please forward it to the people in your E-mail Address Book. Thanks, no dems

Recession Sends Older Americans To Food Pantries By VALERIE BAUMAN, Associated Press Writer – Sat Nov 28, 7:23 am ET ALBANY, N.Y. – Older Americans who were raised on stories of the Great Depression and acquired lifelong habits of thrift now find themselves crowding soup kitchens and food pantries in greater numbers for the first time after seeing retirement funds, second jobs and nest eggs wiped out by recession. "What we see in line is lots of gray hair, lots of walkers," said Marti Forman, CEO of The Cooperative Feeding Program in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The help is crucial for...

Dutch researcher Saskia Lindhoud has discovered a new way to package enzymes by causing charged polymers to form a 'ball of hair' around them. Her approach significantly increases the utility of the enzymes. For example, healthy enzymes with a foul taste can be packaged in such a way that they are released in the stomach without being tasted...

Tiger Woods had a "Kobe Special" on his brain hours after what looks like a domestic dispute with his wife, Elin Nordegren -- this according to someone who spoke with Tiger on Friday. During the phone conversation on Friday, Tiger told his friend, "I have to run to Zales to get a 'Kobe Special.'" The person on the other end of the phone asked Tiger what a "Kobe Special" was. The reply -- "A house on a finger." During the conversation, Tiger said his wife had "gone ghetto" on him.

Swiss Vote On Anti-Islam Move To Ban New Minarets By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer November 28, 2009 Swiss voters are deciding in a referendum Sunday whether to accept a ban on the construction of minarets, which right-wing parties regard as symbols of militant Islam. The move — led by the Swiss People's Party, which has campaigned in previous years against immigrants — has stirred fears of boycotts and violent reactions from Muslim countries. Polls indicate growing support for the proposal, but doubt remains about whether it will pass. The seven-member Cabinet that heads the Swiss government has spoken...

The Church and Capitalism 1480. Why does the Catholic Church defend the capitalist and attack the worker? She does not do these things. The Catholic Church defends law and order, and human rights. She is ever ready to denounce injustice, whether of the government, or of any private individual. If a wealthy Catholic did not pay just wages, and were seriously defrauding his employees, the Catholic Church would be the first to condemn such conduct, and warn him that, if he continued in such conduct, he would risk eternal damnation. On the other hand, if an employee accepted good wages,...

End of an era: Aircraft depart Brunswick Naval Air Station as Maine base readies for closing. The two last planes at Maine's Brunswick Naval Air Station lifted off Saturday in blustery winds, ending nearly 60 years of maritime patrol operations at New England's last active-duty military air base. The P-3 Orions of the VP-26 squadron lumbered down an 8,000-foot runway before heading off to a six-month deployment in Central America. After that, they fly to their new home at Florida's Jacksonville Naval Air Station. The planes took off without any speeches or fanfare ... Brunswick, once home to 4,000 sailors...

"It has been proved, by indisputable evidence, that power is not the grand principle of union among the parts of a very extensive empire; and that when this principle is pushed beyond the degree necessary for rendering justice between man and man, it debases the character of individuals, and renders them less secure in their persons and property…" ~ James Winthrop, Antifederalist No. 11 I doubt there are many who have thought about the transitive verb, secure, used by James Winthrop in the quote above. Noah Webster’s, 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, says secure is to make certain;...

My previous post on the situation in Allentown generated a lot of reaction—as I knew it would—from different quarters. Priests who know the super-secret e-mail address (which most of you will never know) are overwhelmingly in agreement with the sentiments expressed. Bishops—the few on a very short list of those who correspond with your PP—are in universal disagreement (Bishop Barres, himself, is not on that list). That was to be expected. The reaction of lay people runs the gamut. Most are angry at the post, but it’s hard to tell exactly what they’re angry about. Some seem to be angry...

This Saturday morning in Arizona while I was waiting for the annual Arizona- Arizona State football game to kick off at 1:30 PM local time, I thought I would catch a little of the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game. There is nothing in football as fun or as entertaining as instate and conference college football rivalries. But isn't it too bad that somebody always has to take the fun out of our lives. Usually these party poopers are just an ex-spouse, the local police or the IRS. But sadly, in what seems far too many cases these days, it appears that these...

White House Intruders Want Money for Their Tale By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and BRIAN STELTER November 28, 2009 WASHINGTON — As White House officials fended off new questions about how a fame-seeking couple finessed their way into the president’s glittering state dinner last week, the aspiring reality-TV stars themselves began trying to sell their story for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Television industry executives said on Saturday that Michaele and Tareq Salahi had postponed plans for an interview Monday on CNN’s “Larry King Live” and were seeking top-dollar bids for their first television interview. The Salahis, who embarrassed the Secret...

A professor at the University of California, San Diego says he has developed a cell phone tool that aims to help Illegal immigrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Art professor and activist Ricardo Dominguez tells the North County Times on its Web site Saturday that the application he calls the Transborder Immigrant Tool uses global-positioning technology to chart the best route for dangerous desert crossings.

November 29, 2009                                         First Sunday of Advent     Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Jer 33:14-16 The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah.In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot ; he shall do what is right and just in the land.In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: “The LORD our justice.” Responsorial PsalmPs 25:4-5, 8-9, 10,...

THE RSPCA today condemned "stupid, irresponsible" pranksters who stole a sheep, put it into a shopping trolley and wheeled it into a supermarket. The youths were caught on CCTV at 3am today as they pushed the sheep into the Asda store in Bexleyheath, south east London, and took photos. RSPCA inspector Andrew Kirby, who is investigating the incident, said: "This stupid, irresponsible stunt would have terrified this poor sheep and caused it great stress by removing it from its flock. "We have tracked down the sheep's owner but we can't return it to its flock for six days because of...

Global warming alarmists cannot be trusted as the grim scenarios they paint are reminiscent of the Jimmy Carter-era predictions of an oncoming ice age...Al Gore’s recent attack on Indians who use kerosene stoves is in poor taste. His private plane uses more fuel in 500 miles than 1,000 poor families would use in three years.

On October 30, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009, which will lift the ban on allowing people infected with the HIV virus into the United States after January 1, 2010. Currently, under section 221(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), people with HIV are ineligible for visas or admission to the United States unless specifically admitted for medical treatment, or are otherwise granted a waiver of ineligibility. H.R.3792 would also impose intergovernmental and private-sector mandates by requiring public and private medical facilities to comply. CBO estimates that the costs of the...

Climategate: University of East Anglia U-Turn In Climate Change Row Leading British scientists at the University of East Anglia, who were accused of manipulating climate change data - dubbed Climategate - have agreed to publish their figures in full. By Robert Mendick 28 Nov 2009 David Holland is seeking prosecutions against some of Britain's most eminent academics for allegedly holding back information in breach of disclosure laws. The U-turn by the university follows a week of controversy after the emergence of hundreds of leaked emails, "stolen" by hackers and published online, triggered claims that the academics had massaged statistics. In...

I am a physical scientist with a PhD from Brown University. My thesis was in quantum mechanical scattering theory. I spent a full career developing strategic weapons before being ordained an Anglican priest. I served several parishes in California and Colorado before moving to the Chesapeake shore. Last year, while serving as a Senior Fellow in the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, I had the privilege of moderating a theological symposium entitled God, Energy, and our Kinship with Nature, which was sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Not that it seems to matter to many Americans who lull themselves into a state of denial with sweet sugar plums dancing in their heads, doom looms heavily on the horizon involving the dollar and the debt. The value of the dollar has plummeted to its lowest level in over a generation. This means that creditor nations are quickly switching to other currencies. There is also widespread talk of the value of the dollar going to ZERO, at which point a world currency would be implemented under a 'new world order,' according to one leading economist who appeared on CNBC...

Speak Now, Tiger, Or Forever Hold Your Peace Golfer must speak publicly about car crash — and rumors of Uchitel affair Courtney Hazlett When Tiger Woods got in the car just before 2:25 a.m. Friday, he didn’t just crash into a fire hydrant. He had a head-on collision with another object: the invisible bowels of the bad-publicity machine, which in more than 13 years of professional golf, he’d been able to avoid. As a college athlete in the mid-1990s, my circle overlapped with Woods’ from time to time, and I can attest there are plenty of stories about a slightly...

Obowma's gift to the American people. Too bad there are no exchanges until 2012.

How should one read Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the United States? Measured against the experience of recent predecessors — such as Mr Singh’s own trip to Washington, DC, in July 2005, when the India-US nuclear deal was announced and triggered one of India’s most important foreign policy successes — this month’s voyage across the Atlantic will probably seem a mild affair. There were no blockbuster moments and obvious game changers. However, what was worth noting was the Prime Minister’s sustained effort at attempting to talk up the American mood. For example, in an interview to Newsweek just before...

...the president’s promising [Middle East] peace initiative has unraveled... Peacemaking takes strategic skill. But we see no sign that President Obama and Mr. Mitchell were thinking more than one move down the board. The president went public with his demand for a full freeze on settlements before securing Israel’s commitment. And he and his aides apparently had no plan for what they would do if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said no. ...What has President Obama learned from the experience so he can improve his diplomatic performance generally?...

Administration Plans New Efforts On Foreclosures Associated Press November 28, 2009 WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration, battling a foreclosure crisis that shows no signs of relenting, will step up pressure on mortgage companies to do more to help people remain in their homes, officials said today. The administration will announce its expanded program on Monday, Treasury spokeswoman Meg Reilly said. "We are taking additional steps to enhance servicer transparency and accountability," Reilly said. She said the goal was to increase the rate that troubled home loans were converted into new loans with lower monthly payments. Industry officials said the new...

The features are unmistakable, the fervour irrepressible as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad turns against a crowd of opponents. But despite the uncanny likeness, officially this is not the President of Iran who oversaw the bloody suppression of his country’s democracy movement. This picture was taken in London in 1984 and raises puzzling queries over Mr Ahmadinejad, 53. Much of his rise to Iran’s presidency is shrouded in the secrecy which surrounds what has gone on in the pariah state since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 swept the late Ayatollah Khomeini to power. Now this photograph, unearthed by The Mail on Sunday,...

Like many home owners, hotels are starting to drown in debt. They have been enticing travelers all year with sweet deals: credits for in-house spas and restaurants, up to 50 percent off five-star rooms, even free nights. But all that discounting hasn't stopped occupancy from dropping an average of 10 percent. The result? Hotel loans have begun falling into delinquency faster than any other kind of commercial real estate debt. The rising defaults paint a grim picture... The oversupply means room rates should stay low for at least another year, good news for consumers but not so great for hotel...