Free Republic

Strains our credulity to image that this man was really given the Father of the Year Award...by anyone.

Do you remember that 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate which concluded -- to virtually everyone's astonishment -- that four years earlier Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program? Publication of that NIE cut the ground out from under the Bush administration's efforts to prevent Iran from getting its hands on a nuclear bomb.  After all, why pressure the mullahs in Teheran to stop a program they'd already abandoned?  And, of course, the NIE's conclusion was cited by President Bush's political enemies as (further) evidence that the President and his team were so driven by their hard-line ideology that they (as...

More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any year in the nation’s history, topping the peak during the baby boom 50 years earlier, federal researchers reported today. There is both good and bad news from the more than 4.3 million births: — The U.S. population is more than replacing itself, a healthy trend. — However, the teen birth rate was up for the second year in a row. The birth rate rose slightly for women of all ages, and births to unwed mothers reached an all-time high of about 40 percent, continuing a trend begun years...

NEW YORK (AP) — Membership in the nation's two largest Christian church bodies, the Roman Catholic Church and Southern Baptist Convention, declined slightly in 2007, according to the latest edition of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. The Catholic church remains the largest body of believers in the U.S., with 67 million members, the yearbook said. But from 2006 to 2007 the church shed 398,000 members in the U.S. — a 0.59 percent drop. Southern Baptists reported 16.2 million members for a decline of 0.24 percent, or a loss of nearly 40,000 members. Although the declines are relatively small,...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A record number of people, some 1.4 million, rushed to become naturalized US citizens in the 2007 fiscal year before a hike in fees was introduced. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said Wednesday that in 2006 some 730,000 people became naturalized citizens. The Immigration Policy center said the doubling of the figures was due to several reasons, but mostly because from August 2007 the cost of the application process rose some 80 percent to around 675 dollars. In July 2007, just a month before the new charges came into effect, there were some 450,000 applications compared...

Including Among Some Minority Groups, According To U.S. Census Bureau The number and percentage of uninsured U.S. residents declined in 2007 to 45.7 million people, or 15.3% of the population, according to an annual U.S. Census Bureau report released Tuesday, USA Today reports (Cauchon/Appleby, USA Today, 8/27). In 2006, 47 million people, or 15.8% of the population, were uninsured (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/Kansas City Star, 8/26). For the report, researchers analyzed data from the Current Population Survey of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. (U.S. Census Bureau release, 8/26). The survey also found that uninsurance rates differed by race: * 32.1% of...

The Census Bureau reports that the number of people lacking health insurance dropped by more than 1 million in 2007, the first annual decline since the Bush administration took office.

A dominant Fox is set to be crowned the winner of the 2007-08 television season, one that the broadcast biz -- and perhaps even Fox -- would just as soon forget. The writers strike, along with the rising popularity of DVRs and the increased availability of programming on multiple platforms, conspired to make this season the lowest-rated on record for the broadcasters. There was also a dearth of breakout hits, with no new show emerging as the biz's savior. Of course, the broadcasters have been losing audience share to cable for years -- but this season saw the most troubling...

Washington - Today, the Club for Growth released its 2007 annual scorecard, awarding the Defender of Economic Freedom award to six senators and forty-nine representatives who scored a 90 or above on the Club's scorecard.... "These top-scoring members of Congress are staunch defenders of American taxpayers," said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. "Their votes are critical to lowering taxes, cutting wasteful spending, and promoting economic growth for all Americans. The Club for Growth scorecard allows taxpayers to see how their senators and representatives are performing in Congress and find out who is truly fighting for pro-growth, limited-government policies...." The...

The American State Department released its yearly Country Reports on Terrorism. The National Counterterrorism Center reported more than fourteen thousand attacks around the world last year. The number was about the same as the year before. But deaths increased almost nine percent, to more than twenty-two thousand last year. The report said well over fifty percent of those killed or injured were Muslims, and most were victims of attacks in Iraq. In Iraq, the number of attacks fell but the number of people killed, injured or kidnapped increased. In Afghanistan, both numbers were higher. A wounded man is helped after...

In 2007, "remittances," money sent back by Mexican workers to families in Mexico, beat out tourism as the second largest source of foreign money into the country. Only oil exports accounted for more. That is $24 billion that was taken out of the American economy. It was not spent in American stores. Best Buy sold fewer televisions. Ford sold fewer cars and trucks. Winn Dixie and Safeway sold fewer groceries. U.S. Steel sold less steel. And yes, even Exxon/Mobil sold less gasoline than it could have. Those fewer sales curtailed the growth of jobs for Americans in those companies. It...

WASHINGTON - The federal tax bill for President Bush and his wife: $221,635. That's how much the Bushes owed on their adjusted gross income of $923,807 for the year 2007, according to a joint return released Friday. The Bushes have paid $203,894 so far, which means they'll need to break out the checkbook — they owe the government $17,741. Their income total includes a $150,000 advance received by Laura Bush for the children's book she co-authored with her daughter, Jenna. Last year, the president and Mrs. Bush paid $186,378 in federal taxes on their income of $765,801. Bush's salary as...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Clinton report nearly $109.2 million in income for seven years in newly released tax data. The Democratic presidential candidate and her husband paid $33.8 million in taxes from 2000 through 2007. They listed $10.25 million in charitable contributions during that period. Clinton has been under pressure to release her tax returns, especially from rival Barack Obama, who posted his 2000 to 2006 returns on his campaign Web site last week. Neither Obama nor Republican Sen. John McCain have made their 2007 tax returns public, though both say they will this...

Aaron Tonken was a grand jury witness in New York when an investigation was conducted of Bill Clinton's last-minute pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich. Tonken is currently incarcerated, but he remains a defendant and perhaps star witness in Paul v Clinton. I don't know what he told the grand jury, but I hope we can someday find out. Today, I discussed with a source, who has knowledge of the grand jury and had done work with Denise Rich, the Clinton claim of $109 million income in the 2000-07 tax returns they just released. It evoked big laughter. My source...

The US were #5 in 2007 - #3 in 2008 ???

WASHINGTON (BP)--Oregon recorded more deaths by physician-assisted suicide in 2007 than in any year in the decade since the practice was legalized. The Oregon Department of Human Services recently reported 49 people committed suicide last year using lethal doses of drugs prescribed by doctors. The previous yearly high was 46 in 2006. Oregon, the only state to legalize assisted suicide, has recorded 341 such deaths since its Death With Dignity Act took effect in late 1997. "The report shows that the situation in Oregon is not only creepy but creeping," bioethicist C. Ben Mitchell told Baptist Press. "Compassion means providing...

More than 20 years of data is in – and the conventional wisdom is wrong. The chances a Hollywood movie will win big at the box office are greatly enhanced by a family-friendly rating and strong moral content, defying the notion the entertainment industry is merely serving up what consumers want when they produce so many R-rated movies full of foul language, sex, drugs and immorality, shows a new study by the Christian Film and Television Commission, publishers of Movieguide. According to the study, G-rated movies averaged nearly $92.2 million, more than 438 percent better than R-rated movies, making only...

http://www.youtube.com/ytawards07 You can vote on the best videos. The famous "Dont Tase Me Bro" video is listed under the category "Eyewitness", and the video is named "University of Florida student Tasered at Kerry forum" Select a Category... ...and watch the nominees. Then click on the box next to your favorite video OR hit "Vote For This Video." You may not change your vote on the same day, but you can vote again the next day for any video you like. Voting continues through March 19, 2008.

WASHINGTON – While China continues to promise to impose higher safety standards on exports, a WND study shows two of every three products recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission last year were Chinese imports – with an upward trend of defective, unsafe products found in every quarter of 2007. The CPSC recalled a total of 447 products for safety concerns last year. Of those, 298 were manufactured in China. Only 62 were made in the USA. The rest were made in other countries. In 2006, the CPSC recalled a total of 467 kinds of products – 221 of which...

For Immediate Release Contact: Leslie K.Paige 202-467-5334 Alexa Moutevelis 202-467-5318 February 20, 2008 CAGW Names Rep. John Murtha Porker of the Year Taxpayers Are Not in His “Corner” Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today announced the final results of its online poll for the 2007 Porker of the Year. Rep. John “Jack” Murtha (D-Pa.) won in a landslide victory, receiving 63.4 percent of the vote. A distant second, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) received 10.6 percent, while Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) came in with 9.9 percent, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) had 6.7 percent, and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.)...