Free Republic

The news is stuffed with "studies" in which "experts" tell us how we should behave. One recently found that conservatives have lost their trust in science over the last 40 years. That's probably because the very political academics of science are routinely summoned to prove the right-wingers are not only wrong but dangerously wrong and not just dangerously wrong but evil, too. These studies are laughable. First, there was the study purporting to prove that conservatism appeals to low-intelligence racists "who have trouble grasping the complexity of the world." Then there was the scientific study that parents should be allowed...

The 85th Congress and President Eisenhower set up the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to explore space. Government bureaucrat James Hansen has used his position and NASA’s reputation to advance an unscientific agenda that calls for government restrictions on all major industries and any other human activity in the bane of controlling carbon dioxide production. This junk science has made him a millionaire through income outside the government. He is a rogue government agent who no one seems able to supervise. Now 50 top former and current astronauts and NASA scientists and engineers have had enough. They want this crackpot...

Abp. Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. publishes e-book about Catholic Witness: "A Heart on Fire"Almost fifty years ago, the writings on religious pluralism of an American Jesuit, John Courtney Murray, helped the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council to draft a Declaration on Religious Liberty in a world where millions of Christians were being ruled by officially atheistic regimes. On March 23, 2012, hundreds of citizens gathered in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia to participate in a Rally for Religious Freedom, in protest of the U.S. Government’s Health and Human Services Department mandate that compels institutions and individuals to...

Sea ice extent has been above average for about two weeks now. No big deal, but worth a mention. Please see the attached link from The Cryosphere Today page, published by the University of Illinois. http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/global.daily.ice.area.withtrend.jpg

As my great, old, CRT TVs break-down, I have had to replace them with today's crappy flat-screen TVs. The big problem is sound. CRT TVs give a full, rich sound. Too many flat-screen TVs sound terrible. I have a Sony 32-inch flat screen that gives fairly good sound. I have just bought a 27-inch Samsung that has great references but sounds like a soup can on a string. No volume, no bass, even on custom settings. Let's not even get into the crappy picture quality if one does not look at the screen at a 90 degree angle... How does...

Folks, we have a choice. Assuming Newt can't stop Myth from getting to 1,144, Virgil Goode would be an excellent 3rd Party choice. He is an experienced, former republican from Virginia and is conservative down the line on the issues. For consideration. http://www.goodeforpresident2012.com/the-issues.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that the Justice Department will take appropriate action in the killing of Trayvon Martin if it finds evidence that a federal criminal civil rights crime has been committed. The attorney general made the comment in an appearance before a civil rights organization founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton. Holder says the department will conduct a thorough and independent review of the evidence in the Martin matter. The attorney general says one of the department's top priorities is preventing and combating youth violence and victimization. The Justice Department launched an investigation of...

The Wall Street Journal reports that tightening state budgets and declining state funds are forcing public universities to make choices in funding priorities. Ohio State University is considering leasing their university-run parking lots and privatizing other assets “including two 18-hole golf courses, a small airport and a power grid.” The University of Kentucky and Portland State University are also instituting plans that would partially transfer dormitory operations to a private company. The plan illustrates how "institutions don't have the resources they once did, and so they are trying to leverage every dollar possible," said Peter Eckel, vice president at the...

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “Word for the Day”. CadgeVerb To beg or get by begging. Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the Word for the Day in a sentence. The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-) Practice makes perfect.....post on.... Review Threads: Review Thread One: Word For The Day, Thursday 11/14/02: Raffish (Be SURE to check out posts #92 and #111 on this thread!) Review...

From the Tunisian newspaper Business News. French original here.Non-Muslim places of worship are being targeted by still-unidentified individuals. After the attacks perpetrated against the Orthodox church on Avenue Mohamed V, the Russian school located behind the church as well as the Christian cemetery of Montplasir in Tunis have been vandalized. The walls of the school were smeared with fecal matter, as also a fresco of Saint Siberian [sic] located in the back courtyard of the Orthodox church, while the cemetery's crosses were destroyed. Yamina Thabet, the president of the Tunisian Society for Aid to Minorities (ATSM), indicated during a conference...

Karl Marx said history repeats itself, "first as tragedy, then as farce." Barack Obama has reversed that. His first term was certainly farce; his second will be tragedy. Obama has Forrest Gumped his way through his presidency, except without the success, charm, and endearing sweetness of the original. He has given America three and a half years of farce, even if no one is laughing. He is an adumbrated president, desperate about his re-election prospects. Sold as a bipartisan moderate, a post-racial healer, a transformative leader -- we were told he would not just solve our problems, but heal the...

Looks like another GISS miss, more than a few people are getting fed up with Jim Hansen and Gavin Schmidt and their climate shenanigans. Some very prominent NASA voices speak out in a scathing letter to current NASA administrator Charles Bolden, Jr.. When Chris Kraft, the man who presided over NASA’s finest hour, and the engineering miracle of saving Apollo 13 speaks, people listen. Former NASA scientists, astronauts admonish agency on climate change positionFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Blanquita Cullum 703-307-9510 bqview at mac.comJoint letter to NASA Administrator blasts agency’s policy of ignoring empirical evidenceHOUSTON, TX – April 10, 2012.49 former NASA...

Screenshot from The Sydney Morning Herald---Frustration and something bordering on barely concealed mutual disdain boiled over more than once during the ABC's Q&A television show Monday evening, in the hour-long debate between Cardinal George Pell and Professor Richard Dawkins, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.Charles Darwin was claimed as a theist by the Cardinal, because Darwin ''couldn't believe that the immense cosmos and all the beautiful things in the world came about either by chance or out of necessity'' - a claim disputed by Professor Dawkins as ''just not true''.Cardinal Pell won applause when he shot back: ''It's on page 92...

SKOPJE, Macedonia — Thousands of Orthodox Christian worshippers from across Macedonia are lining up to visit a church where a cleric says frescoes of saints have begun to appear brighter in color without any obvious explanation. Father Zoran of Saint Dimitrija church in Skopje, the capital, said Monday that the murals, long obscured by the residue of candle smoke, began to appear clearer over the weekend, with red and gold colors becoming more noticeable. Photos

See you there...

It is the Mass according to the rite of the Neocatechumenal Way. Benedict XVI has ordered the congregation for the doctrine of the faith to examine it thoroughly. Its condemnation appears to be sealedROME, April 11, 2012 – With a letter written personally to Cardinal William J. Levada, Benedict XVI has ordered the congregation for the doctrine of the faith to examine whether the Neocatechumenal Masses are or are not in keeping with the liturgical teaching and practice of the Catholic Church. A "problem," in the pope's judgment, that is "of great urgency" for the whole Church. Benedict XVI has...

A premature Argentine baby has been found alive in a morgue, 12 hours after she was pronounced dead, reports say. Mother Analia Bouter was told her baby was stillborn after she gave birth in a hospital in the northern Chaco region. But she said when she and her husband visited the morgue 12 hours later and opened the coffin, they found their daughter was breathing. They have named her Luz Milagros - which means miracles - because of the way she came into the world. 'Disgraceful'The incident in the city of Perrando happened a week ago, but has just been...

The clerical abuse scandal cost American dioceses $108,679,706 in 2011, according to an report released on April 10 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Only 57% of those funds were allotted to settlements ($50.4 million) and therapy for abuse victims ($6.1 million); the rest was spent on attorneys’ fees ($36.7 million), support for offenders ($9.9 million), and other costs ($5.6 million), according to the 2011 “Report on the Implementation of the Charter for Protection of Children and Young People.”The clerical abuse scandal cost religious institutes an additional $35,372,010 in 2011. These expenses brought the total cost of...

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO, April 10 (Reuters) - The Justice Department could sue Apple Inc as early as Wednesday over alleged electronic book price-fixing, while settling with several publishers as early as this week, two people familiar with the matter said. The Justice Department is investigating alleged price-fixing by Apple and five major publishers: CBS Corp's Simon & Schuster Inc; HarperCollins Publishers Inc; Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group; Pearson and Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH. A lawsuit against Apple, one of the parties not in negotiations over a potential settlement, could come as early as Wednesday but no...

Recently American Thinker published my article, "Oblivious to the Obvious," which gives clear, understandable proof, as shown below in Figure F from that article, why Barack Obama's long-form "birth certificate" is a forgery. The image analyzed in that article came from a photograph of the actual purported original birth certificate with embossed seal, offered to the press as proof of the president's birth in Hawaii. It is not an image constructed digitally. NBC's Savannah Guthrie snapped a picture of it and posted it to the web. But for her enterprise, I could not have analyzed the "real thing" as shown...