Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday that pigs in a commercial herd in Indiana have tested positive for swine flu, making it the first time the virus has been found in such hogs. The USDA said it discovered four tissue samples that tested positive for the virus using its swine surveillance program. The sample was collected in late October, and the USDA said the pigs as well as the people caring for the animals have recovered. Last month, tests confirmed that several show pigs at the Minnesota State Fair contracted swine flu, also known as the H1N1...

WASHINGTON — Democrats lost a big test vote on health care legislation on Wednesday as the Senate blocked action on a bill to increase Medicare payments to doctors at a cost of $247 billion over 10 years. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, needed 60 votes to proceed. He won only 47. And he could not blame Republicans. A dozen Democrats and one independent crossed party lines and voted with Republicans on the 53 to 47 roll call.

Testing table formating. כח  וַיְבָרֶךְ �ֹתָ�, �ֱלֹהִי�, וַיֹּ�מֶר לָהֶ� �ֱלֹהִי� פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְ�וּ �ֶת-הָ�ָרֶץ, וְכִבְש�ֻהָ; וּרְדוּ בִּדְגַת הַיָּ�, וּבְעוֹף הַשּ�ָמַיִ�, וּבְכָל-חַיָּה, הָרֹמֶשֶׂת עַל-הָ�ָרֶץ. 28 And God blessed them; and God said unto them: 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth.'

To the Editor: The Naval Health Research Center serves as the Navy hub for the Department of Defense's Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (GEIS), in which it monitors influenza-like illness among recruit trainees of all military services, military dependents, and crew members of large Navy ships (population, >1000). The center works in collaboration with the Border Infectious Disease Surveillance Project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which monitors populations located on the border between California and Mexico. The first two human cases of novel swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus (S-OIV), known as swine flu, in...

A quizola to match your religious beliefs to your most comfortable religious expression.

The typology study's finding of significant cleavages within parties not only runs counter to the widespread impression of a nation increasingly divided into two unified camps, but also raises questions about political alignments in the future. In particular, the study suggests that if the political agenda turns away from issues of defense and security, prospects for party unity could weaken significantly. As the following chapters detail, numerous opportunities exist for building coalitions across party lines on many issues currently facing the nation ­ coalitions that, in many cases, include some strange political bedfellows. Overall, there are many more shades to...

Many took it on FR and did very good on the test. Trying to find it. Can anyone remember?

...be more like them. All we've got to do is implement universal health care, sign on to global warming, sign all the international treaties we can, give amnesty to the illegals, give up on abortion, give up to gay rights, go along with the tax hikes on the wealthy, go along with taking over industry after industry, control the greedy CEO compensation plans, shut down our defense systems, scrap our nuclear weapons programs, scrap our navy, shut down the car companies, develop rapid transit, shut down the coal industry, switch to green power, etc, etc, etc. Oh yeah, support the...

N.Korea 'Helping Burma with WMD'North Korea is helping Burma with the acquisition of so-called weapons of mass destruction, with the U.S. claiming that the North Korean ship Kangnam is headed for the Southeast Asian country. The Burmese junta "has bought technologies on the open market that are potentially usable in a nuclear program, and North Korean arms companies involved in the nuclear trade have become active" in Burma, the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday said quoting speculation by U.S., Asian and UN officials. "North Korea has used [Burmese] ports and airstrips to transfer arms and contraband to third countries, including...

N.Korean Launch Pad 'Ready for Missile Test' A satellite image taken on June 3 shows part of what analysts says is a new long-range missile base in North Korea. North Korea has finished preparatory work at a missile launch pad in Tongchangri, North Pyongan Province, where a long-range missile has been transported, a South Korean government source said Monday. "But the launch is not imminent because no radar has been set up and no missile has been installed at the launch pad," the source added. But the launch structure connecting electric power and fuel to the missile and allowing personnel...

Satellite spots activity at North Korean missile site, officials say Story Highlights NEW: Satellite spies "vehicle activity" at a ballistic missile site, U.S. officials say NEW: North Korean Foreign Ministry blasts U.N. Security Council as "hypocrites" North Korea test-fires sixth short-range missile this week, South Korean source says Joint forces in South Korea elevate surveillance alert in response to North's threat SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- U.S. satellite imagery has spotted "vehicle activity" at a North Korean ballistic missile site, two Defense Department officials said Friday. This activity is similar to that before a long-range missile launch by North Korea...

Obama calls for action after NKorea nuclear testby Andrew Beatty Mon May 25, 1:58 pm ET WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama said the international community must act after North Korea's "reckless" nuclear and missile tests on Monday, as calls grew for tougher action against Pyongyang. "North Korea's nuclear ballistic missile programs pose a great threat to the peace and security of the world and I strongly condemn their reckless action," Obama said ahead of a Memorial Day ceremony to honor war dead. "The United States and the international community must take action in response." North Korea faced a...

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea says it has successfully conducted a nuclear test. The country's official Korean Central News Agency reported that the test was carried out Monday. Lee Dong-kwan, a spokesman for the South Korean president, says that a nuclear test may have been carried out in the North.

5/13/2009 - TUCSON, Ariz. (AFNS) -- In the Southern Arizona desert, three C-130 Hercules aircraft recently rumbled over the saguaros and airdropped training bundles to a waiting combat controller. The historic drop was conducted digitally with a tactical data link known as the Situational Awareness Data Link, or SADL. It was the first time an aircrew in a C-130, in cooperation with a joint terminal attack controller on the ground, used digital technology to work as a team. The mission was part of an operational utility evaluation run by officials in the Air National Guard/Air Force Reserve Test Center, or...

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2009 – The North American Aerospace Defense Command will conduct an exercise over the nation’s capital and its suburbs May 15, Defense Department officials said today. Exercise Falcon Virgo tests the aerospace defense of the national capital area. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon jets, Coast Guard Dolphin choppers and Civil Air Patrol Cessnas will participate in the exercise. A number of Falcon Virgo exercises have taken place since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, officials said. The most recent one over Washington was in March. “The exercise is always held in the middle of the night...

Are you worried that you might have the Swine Flu? Take the online test now at: http://doihaveswineflu.org/

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2009 – When future astronauts prepare to go to the moon or to a rendezvous with the International Space Station, their craft will look suspiciously familiar. Air Force pararescuemen deploy an inflatable ladder to reach the top hatch of NASA’s Orion crew module during testing at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, in Bethesda, Md., March 25, 2009. DoD photo by Samantha L. Quigley  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Appearing to be a larger version of the Apollo spacecraft’s crew module, the new Orion spacecraft is historical in its conical design. “We know a...

The Supreme Court heard arguments in an important discrimination case brought by 20 firefighters from New Haven, Connecticut. They charge that the city passed them over for promotion, despite the fact they achieved high scores on their promotion test. Nineteen of the firefighters are white, one Latino. No blacks scored high enough to qualify for promotion. The city then threw out the entire test and promoted no one. The firefighters who passed the exam are claiming they were denied promotion because of their race.

Russia has stationed its forces just 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the Georgian capital, in violation of the EU-brokered cease-fire that ended last year's brief war. And in recent weeks, it has sent even more troops and armored vehicles to within striking distance of the city ahead of street protests against Georgia's president.

Who do you say that Jesus is? Do your thoughts, upbringing, religious background, or personal beliefs about Jesus line up with God’s Christ of the HOLY SCRIPTURES? You might ask, “Well, does it make a difference? My friend, I say unto you, it surely does! TAKE THE JESUS CHALLENGE

Ga. could require drivers to take test in EnglishPosted: Tuesday, March 31st 2009 at 7:28am By The Associated Press ATLANTA - The Georgia Legislature appears on the verge of approving a measure that would require driver's license applicants to take the written exam in English, which could make Georgia the only state to have such a rule. The measure passed the House Monday by a 104-58 vote. The proposal, which has already passed the Senate, would go to Gov. Sonny Perdue's desk if the chambers hash out minor differences in their versions of the bill. **SNIP** State Rep. Pedro Marin,...

N.Korea Offers Obama His 1st International Test "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy." This is the prediction of U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden when he was a candidate last October. The supposition by Biden, whom some consider one of the top diplomatic and national security experts in the Senate, is turning into a very accurate prediction due to the North Korean missile crisis. Perhaps nobody knew it would be North Korea that would be the first to put Obama to the test. The prevailing view is that North Korea...

North Korea has threatened dire consequences if the international community sanctions it over a rocket launch it has announced for between Apr. 4 and 8. The official Rodong Shinmun newspaper on Sunday said once the rocket issue is "raised at the UN Security Council for discussion, the six-party nuclear talks will come to a complete rupture." It warned the North will "take a stronger measure." Prof. Nam Joo-hong of Kyonggi University speculated that means North Korea "could reverse its nuclear disablement process, while hinting it could conduct a second nuclear test." Arthur Brown, a former CIA officer for East Asia,...

Andrew "Test" Martin, a World Wrestling Entertainment star from earlier this decade, was found dead in his Tampa, Fla., apartment Friday night. He was 33 years old. The cause of death wasn't immediately known, the Tampa Tribune reported. Martin worked for WWE from 1998 to 2004 and 2006 to 2007. Martin was thrust into a prominent position from the onset because of his size and muscularity, with the "Test" nickname being short for "testosterone."

FP: Ryan Mauro, welcome to Frontpage Interview. I’d like to talk to you today about the primary foreign policy challenges facing President Obama. What are they in your view? Mauro: Clearly, the biggest one is Iran. The United Nations now believes Iran has enough enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb. The question now is whether Iran will wait and build up its nuclear capabilities so they can quickly build a nuclear arsenal at a later time, or whether they’ll go ahead and start trying to enrich that uranium to a high enough level to actually create a nuclear weapon. This...

North Korea preparing for ballistic missile launch: media By Jon Herskovitz 48 mins ago SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea appears to be preparing to test-launch its longest range ballistic missile, media reports said on Tuesday, stoking tensions just days after the reclusive state warned that the Korean peninsula was on the brink of war. North Korea, which typically carries out missile tests in times of political friction, last week said it was scrapping all agreements with South Korea in a move analysts said was aimed at pressuring Seoul and grabbing the attention of new U.S. President Barack Obama. The North,...

Take the test and post your results. Please also indicate if they were accurate. *****Very Important -- Answer the questions as to who you REALLY are, NOT what you would like to be.*****

RANCHO BERNARDO — Kevin Change said it was strange the first time he saw an advertisement across the bottom of his calculus test. But now he and his classmates look for them. “It's really interesting to see what it is each time,” said Change, 16, a junior at Rancho Bernardo High School. Some are pithy one-liners, hawking the names of local businesses: “Brace Yourself for a Great Semester! Braces by Henry, Stephen P. Henry D.M.D.” Others are inspirational quotes, like “Keep the company of those who seek the truth, and run from those who have found it – Vaclav Havel.”...

Iran may have tested a series of nuclear weapons underground. The Israel Insider reported: Iranian source: “Quake” Saturday was nuclear bomb test October 28, 2008 at 11:00am Israel Insider exclusively reports that a seismic event this weekend in southern Iran may in fact have been a massive underground nuclear bomb test. According to the USGS, the tremor measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale took place Saturday night, October 25 just before midnight Iran time, with its epicenter at 26.70°N, 55.02°E, just north of the strategic straits of Hormuz, opposite Abu Dhabi. The claim that the tremor was in fact a...

ABC has a test at the below address to see who's campaign statements, McCain's or Obama's, you agree with most. They don't tell you who made the statements, of course, but a statement made by each candidate on the same topic (economy, immigration, judiciary, etc.) will be side by side. You just pick which statement you agree with and, after selecting all 13, you'll find out which candidate's philosophy you support. Try it at:

test

I have not seen a new thread in four hours.

Reading and math scores for New York students in grades three through eight showed extraordinary gains across the state since last year, with particularly striking leaps in the large urban areas, including New York City. The gains were apparent for nearly every grade tested in both subjects, in some cases with double-digit increases in the percentage of students performing at grade level or above, according to the scores on the annual statewide exams released by education officials on Monday. The improvements were so substantial that several education experts expressed skepticism, noting that large gains were posted even by cities like...

Online civics test at the link for any interested.

The Copernican principle states that the Earth is not the center of the universe, and that, as observers, we don’t occupy a special place. First stated by Copernicus in the 16th century, today the idea is wholly accepted by scientists, and is an assumed concept in many astronomical theories.However, as physicists Robert Caldwell of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and Albert Stebbins of Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, point out, the Copernican principle has never been confirmed as a whole. In a recent paper published in Physical Review Letters called “A Test of the Copernican Principle,” the two researchers...

<p>Why are our owners so obsessed with finding out how intelligent we are? All they need to know is that we got it going on upstairs. How else to explain us living in their homes, eating their food and having them pick up our feces? And all of that without us paying them a dime.</p>

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- Federal researchers say they've developed a human identification test that's faster and possibly cheaper than DNA testing. It would be a handy new weapon in the arsenal for detectives, forensic experts and the military, though no one expects it to replace DNA analysis - and its promoters say it is not intended to. The new method analyzes antibodies. Each person has a unique antibody bar code that can be gleaned from blood, saliva or other bodily fluids. Antibodies are proteins used by the body to fend off viruses or perform routine physiological housekeeping. "DNA is...

The Detroit Police Department has suspended all firearms investigations conducted by its crime lab and ordered it to undergo an independent audit.

When the dust finally settled, Army officials sought to put the best face on a sandstorm test that humbled Colt Defense's vaunted M4 carbine. The tests were conducted at an Army laboratory in Maryland last fall. Ten M4s and 10 copies each of three other carbines - the SCAR from Belgium's FN Herstal, and the HK416 and the XM8 from Germany's Heckler & Koch - were coated in heavy layers of talcum-fine dust to simulate a sandstorm. Tens of thousands of rounds were fired through the rifles. The M4s malfunctioned 882 times. Bullets that didn't feed through the rifles properly...

One Egyptian was killed and two wounded when a US military ship about to cross the Suez Canal opened fire on barges of hawkers that approached their boat on Monday, a security source told AFP. The ship, Global Patriot, was preparing to travel from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean when a group of Egyptians seeking to sell merchandise approached the boat on small barges, the source said. Americans on board told the barges to stop and opened fire when they continued to approach.

*Estimations based on averages taken from advertised male and female private escort sites

Skin test shows if you're late or early riser By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 10:01pm GMT 28/01/2008 A simple skin test could reveal if someone who hates getting up is lazy, or whether their body clock is badly out of step with that of other people. In recent years, scientists have found that genes can influence a person's preference for rising extremely early, when they are known as "a lark", or late in the day, "an owl". Now a simple skin test to diagnose people with these genes has been devised which, in the longer term, could help...

Thinking about next year's election ... already made up your mind? still deciding? Try this fascinating website! This is a simple, non committal, eleven question quiz for you to take regarding the presidential candidates - all of them The subject of the quiz is the Presidential Candidates - very interesting analytical tool This quiz Takes about 1-2 minutes. Having trouble deciding who to vote for in 2008? This quiz will compare your answers with "ALL" candidates - Republican, Democrat, Other and what they support. From your answers the candidates will be scored and placed in an order that best reflects...

POLK CITY, Fla. — The Republican presidential contest entered a new phase on Sunday as the campaigns descended on Florida for the first primary in which all the candidates are participating full force, using as their stage a state famous for divisive election battles. Four major candidates — Senator John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mike Huckabee — all have a claim to different segments of the Republican electorate in this culturally and geographically diverse state. And in a rare moment of political consensus, all of the campaigns see the primary in Florida, the fourth most populous state...

CLICK HERE to take a 25 question test to see which of the major party candidates most closely matches your political philosophy and preferences. Clicking the link will open to a new window.

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force successfully flight tested its first Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN)-built Standard Missile-3. The SM-3 Block IA missile engaged and destroyed a medium-range ballistic missile target more than 60 miles above the Pacific Ocean. Personnel at the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai launched the ballistic missile target while the crew of the Japanese destroyer JS KONGO (DDG-173) fired the intercepting missile. "Today's intercept truly paves the way for Japan to deploy a sea-based ballistic missile defense system," said Ed Miyashiro, Raytheon Missile Systems vice president. "The U.S. has gained an important ally that can...

Japan shoots down test missile in space: official by Miwa Suzuki 47 minutes ago Japan said Tuesday that it had successfully shot down a ballistic missile over the Pacific as part of joint efforts with the United States to erect a shield against possible attacks from North Korea. Japan tested the US-developed Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) interceptor from a warship in waters off Hawaii, becoming the first US ally to successfully intercept a target using the system. Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba described the successful test as "extremely significant." "We will continue to strive to increase the system's credibility," he told...

Stalemate at Bali talks on emissions cuts U.S. and European delegates to the Bali conference on climate change remained deadlocked Tuesday on specific targets on emissions cuts. A draft plan put forward by the United Nations, backed by the European Union and some developing countries, calls for talks in the next two years based on 25 to 40 percent cuts below 1990 levels, The New York Times reported. The United States refused to drop its position that India and China also must take steps to cut emissions before targets can be set and some other countries, such as Japan, were...

In his preface to the new 99-page report Dana Gioia, chairman of the endowment, described the data as “simple, consistent and alarming.” Among the findings is that although reading scores among elementary school students have been improving, scores are flat among middle school students and slightly declining among high school seniors. These trends are concurrent with a falloff in daily pleasure reading among young people as they progress from elementary to high school, a drop that appears to continue once they enter college. The data also showed that students who read for fun nearly every day performed better on reading...

OLYMPIA, Washington: A Republican state legislator resigned Wednesday amid revelations that he had sex with a man he met at a pornographic video store while in Spokane on a party retreat. The move comes days after state Rep. Richard Curtis insisted to his local newspaper that he was not gay and that sex was not involved in what he said was an extortion attempt by a man last week.But in police reports, Curtis alleges he was being extorted by a man he had sex with in a Spokane hotel room. The other man contends Curtis reneged on a promise to...