Free Republic

To begin with, this article is neither to demean the starting prepper nor launch into my fellow bloggers and authors about their version of what being prepared for the worst case scenario might well be; even though the criticism is valid and should remind everyone of the old adage that NO ONE is totally prepared for a societal collapse. The theory that many of the Pollyanna view of the end of modern convenience then in the end civilization is that indeed, mankind would seek his brother out and be at his best working together to rebuild and save humanity and...

TOKYO -- Data in a widely lauded stem-cell research paper was falsified, a Japanese government-funded laboratory said Tuesday, as the lead researcher accused of the malpractice denied any wrongdoing. The research from the Riken Center for Development Biology in Kobe, western Japan, had been hailed as a possible breakthrough for growing tissue to treat illnesses such as diabetes and Parkinson's disease using a simple lab procedure. But significant discrepancies in the "game-changing" research published in January in scientific journal Nature led a panel of scientists at Riken to conclude they stemmed from falsified data. They said researcher Haruko Obokata, the...

A Polish priest has warned parents to be on their guard against Lego, warning the plastic blocks are a tool of Satan and can "destroy" children's souls. In a presentation aimed at parents, Father Slawomir Kostrzewa said the popular Danish toy company had taken a lurch to the dark side with its series of Monster Fighters and Zombie mini-figures, and that they "were about darkness and the world of death". "Friendly fellows have been replaced by dark monsters," he explained. "These toys can have a negative effect on children. They can destroy their souls and lead them to the dark...

Bad infection in my right leg. Went to the local VA Clinic a week ago and the physician insisted that I be rushed to the local emergency room to check for a blood clot. Hours later - no blood clot found, so ER doctor prescribed two antibiotics. Have been on them for a week now and while they've tamped the infection down, they aren't defeating it. So I've pleaded with the VA Clinic to please give me the antibiotics that have successfully fought it in the past. I'm still waiting to hear back. Meanwhile, lots of pain.

NBC Bay Area's Chase Cain reports on extra police patrols in Palo Alto and a new app that will keep you safer on the roads.

When I think of Chicago, my mind goes to Wrigley Field, Michael Jordan and the Sears Tower. Over the last few weeks, I have added something else to this list: gun violence. Since Friday, 17 people have been shot in the city. A couple weeks back, on the night of March 11th, ten shootings occurred in Chicago. Just to be clear, that is over the course of ONE NIGHT. Only the Chicago Tribune reported on these incidents, resulting in most Americans not even hearing about them. This is an irresponsible omission; an incredibly disturbing trend; a manifestation of our hyper-desensitized...

Please continue prayers for my cleaning lady's daughter.

VATICAN CITY — It may be Lent, but the Catholic Church hasn’t given up its sense of humor as part of this penitential season.A group of Jesuits, Dominicans and a UK news agency are all having a bit of fun this April Fools Day.A digitally manipulated photo posted on the “Independent Catholic News” website. http://www.indcatholicnews.com is an online news service in the UK. The online news service in the UK, Independent Catholic News, reported this morning that the Vatican was implementing tough new measures to fight off ravenous seagulls circling St. Peter’s Square and ruining its doves-for-peace releases.I.C.N. reported (tongue-in-cheek)...

A new bill to mandate labeling of genetically altered food gets history and science all wrong.Last week, in a victory for California’s radical anti-technology minority, S.B. 131 passed the state’s senate Health Committee by a vote of five to two. This misguided piece of legislation, introduced by state senator Noreen Evans, would require that “any food, except as provided, offered for retail sale in the state be considered misbranded if it is entirely or partially genetically engineered, as defined, and that fact is not disclosed in a specified manner.” In other words, it would require a label to inform consumers...

The fall offensive has begun. It is now claimed McObamacare has now served 7 million! More than seven million people enrolled in ObamaCare by the March 31 deadline, topping the White House's initial goal, the administration said Monday. Press secretary Jay Carney opened his daily briefing on Tuesday by saying the enrollment figure was 7,041,000. “Today we can say definitively, that at midnight last night, it's fair to say we surpassed everyone's expectations, at least everyone in this room,” Carney said. More people could be added to that number, since the administration is allowing consumers who were unable to complete...

New York appeals court affirmed the 2012 ruling for Mirella Salemi.A New York appeals court has affirmed a lower court’s 2012 ruling that a lesbian chef is owed $1.6 million for being forced to attend weekly prayer meetings where her boss would regularly warn that "gay people" were "going to go to hell." Mirella Salemi sued Gloria's Tribeca Inc., Gloria's Tribecamex and principal owner Edward Globokar for violations of the New York City Human Rights Law after a string of incidents that occurred between 2004 and 2007. Gloria's Tribeca is a Mexican restaurant. Salemi was awarded $400,000 in compensatory damages...

Healthy postmenopausal women who drink two or more diet drinks a day may be more likely to have a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular problems.A study involving almost 60,000 healthy postmenopausal women correlated diet drinks with increased risk of heart attack, stroke or a cardiovascular event. "Our findings are in line with and extend data from previous studies showing an association between diet drinks and metabolic syndrome," lead investigator Dr. Ankur Vyas of University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics said in a statement. "We were interested in this research because there was a relative lack of data about diet...

US intelligence chiefs have confirmed that the National Security Agency has used a "back door" in surveillance law to perform warrantless searches on Americans’ communications. The NSA's collection programs are ostensibly targeted at foreigners, but in August the Guardian revealed a secret rule change allowing NSA analysts to search for Americans' details within the databases. Now, in a letter to Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat on the intelligence committee, the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, has confirmed for the first time the use of this legal authority to search for data related to “US persons”.

Melowese Richardson is the poster girl for vote fraud. The Ohio poll worker was sentenced last July to five years in prison after being convicted of voting twice in the 2012 election and voting three times — in 2008, 2011 and 2012 — in the name of her sister, in a coma since 2003, according to USA today. This might be below Chicago graveyard standards, but it’s still impressive. Ms. Richardson has become a heroine to the Left, which is working with its legal arm – the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) – to kill voter photo ID laws in order...

The number of chronic marijuana users—defined as those who used it on four or more days in the past month—increased 84.3% between 2000 to 2010, according to a RAND Corporation report commissioned by the White House. “In January 2012, the U.S. White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) asked RAND to generate national estimates of the total number of users, total expenditures, and total consumption for four illicit drugs from 2000 to 2010: cocaine (including crack), heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine (or meth),” says the report, What America’s Users Spend on Illicit Drugs: 2000-2010. …

To describe the ancient Saharan diets, the researchers are measuring the levels of chemical entities called isotopes in the remains. Biological tissues are reservoirs for elements such as carbon and oxygen, which arrive in the body through the food we eat and the environment we live in, and which have variants (isotopes) that can be measured. "Tooth enamel is formed in the very early years of life and the chemical fingerprints within it don't change throughout life," explained O'Connell. "So whatever isotope signals the teeth contain are a result of the geographical area where individuals spent their childhood and the...

Yesterday was the deadline (kinda) for the Obamacare exchange. And while this Administration has decided to recognize deadlines with the same uncompromising dedication they show for the Constitution (please, please, please invent a sarcasm font), they still felt the need to “brag” about the millions that have signed up on the Obamacare website… After prolonged loading times (leave it to the government to bring the experience of the DMV into the 21st century), over 6 million individuals have signed up. Math, as it turns out, continues to be the plague of Obamabots everywhere. While the Administration makes claims about a...

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Professor Michael Hicks, an expert on Richard III and professor of history at Winchester University, is cited saying he is not convinced that the car park remains are those of the Yorkist monarch, arguing that they could just as well belong to one of many other victims of the Wars of the Roses, and that evidence from DNA testing and radiocarbon dating cited to bolster the claims that Richard had been found places the bones at somewhere between 1450 and 1540, and thus is not specific enough to pin down an exact date. Therefore it can’t be relied upon to...

Obama's & His Dark Sayings; The Wrath of God On America http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrp6wUkTGjY