Free Republic

Newt Gingrich on apologies following Quran burnings in Afghanistan: "Our troops get killed, nobody apologizes" This evening on "Piers Morgan Tonight", GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich joins the program for an honest and engaging interview on topics ranging from foreign affairs to energy policy. On the heels of the recently reported Quran burnings in Afghanistan, the former House Speaker shares his candid opinions on the apologies issued first by President Obama, and then by General John R. Allen. "Look around the region. Churches get burned in Nigeria. Does anyone apologize? Churches get burned in Egypt. Does anyone get apologized?" asks...

Extraordinary and beautiful examples of toroidal vortices produced by dolphins, beluga whales, humpback whales, volcanoes, hydrogen bombs, and man. A toroidal vortex, also called a vortex ring, is a region of rotating fluid moving through the same or different fluid where the flow pattern takes on a toroidal (doughnut) shape. The movement of the fluid is about the poloidal or circular axis of the doughnut, in a twisting vortex motion. Examples of this phenomenon are a smoke ring or a microburst. Vortex rings were first mathematically analysed by the German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz, in his paper of 1867 On...

I call it a victory speech because that’s the way Santorum made me feel about his speech, even though only 18 votes currently gives Santorum the lead over Romney. Watch the whole thing as it was by far the best speech of the night, maybe even this contest

I'm talking about the direct constitutional, virtue-of-the-law way that Social Security's paid for is with that one deduction on your paycheck, FICA. I don't remember what it stands for and it doesn't matter. Now, my point about this is, here you have a Democrat president, who wants to cut the payroll tax by 4%, he wants that large a tax cut in the payroll tax, which would blow a $250 billion hole in Social Security funding at a time when everybody knows that we're short on being able to pay all the obligations now. We have reached the tipping point....

Mandy Sellars from the waist up may be a size 12, due to a rare condition, from the waist down she is three times her normal size. When one of her legs became infected, threatening her life, she had it amputated. And now, it’s beginning to grow back. According to the Daily Mirror, just 22 months after the operation, Sellars leg is growing back very fast, already weighing 42 pounds and measuring 1 meter around: Mandy said: “I hoped the amputation would stabilise my condition but I think I knew in my heart that it would start growing again. “Almost...

A humpback whale which was freed from almost certain death by three men off the coast of California repaid the favour to its rescuers with a breathtaking display of breaches and dives. The amazing hour-long performance was caught on camera moments after the creature was cut free from fishing nets. When the boat came across the whale it was trapped with its tail and flippers hopelessly entangled in the nets. Scroll down to watch video The whale watchers first thought the humpback was already dead as it was floating on top of the water. But then it let out a...

The story goes that out on Lake Conroe (50 miles north of Houston ) a local man recently saw a ball bouncing around the surface in a very odd manner- so he went out to investigate. Turns out it's a big ole flathead catfish that had apparently tried to swallow an entire basketball- which became stuck in its mouth, poor thing! The fish was totally exhausted from repeatedly attempting to dive, but only managing to bob up and down due to the air of the ball buoying him to the surface whenever he tried.  The guy tried numerous times to get...

Wisconsin Republican lawmakers dispatched state troopers to the homes of absent Democratic senators in search of a quorum Thursday but came up empty as the state's legislative standoff continued.

THOUSANDS of Tea Party Patriots turned out today in Madison, Wisconsin, in support of Republican Governor Scott Walker and his plans to correct the state’s financial future. It was an amazing turnout considering the Saturday rally was only announced on Friday morning. Oh… And we paid our own way. The tea party patriots filled the state capital grounds from the steps to the street over 100 yards back. There were so many Walker supporters there that you couldn’t here the speakers from the stage in the back of the crowd. The AP today estimated that 70,000 protesters turned out in...

WATCH THIS and you'll never take a five-bar signal for granted again... UNreal:[VIDEO] These guys are nuts! More at Reaganite Republican

A deadly volcano in Indonesia spewed another searing cloud of ash down its slopes today, sparking panic and chaos among thousands of villagers.The new blast came as rescuers hundreds of miles away finally were able to resume food deliveries and evacuate injured victims of a tsunami triggered by a 7.7-magnitude earthquake near a chain of remote islands off western Sumatra. The number of people killed in the twin catastrophes climbed to almost 500 on Sunday.Sirens blared, and people jumped into rivers trying to escape Mount Merapi's latest fury, while others sprinted down the mountain or

In Evil long I took delight, Unawed by shame or fear. Till a new object struck my sight, and stopp’d my wild career: I saw one hanging on a tree By agonies and blood, Who fixed His languid eyes on me, as near His cross I stood. Sure never till my latest breath, Can I forget that look: It seemed to charge me with His death, Though not a Word I spoke: My conscience felt and own’d the guilt and plunged me in despair: I saw my sins,His blood had spilt, and helped to nail Him there Alas I knew...

In Evil long I took delight, Unawed by shame or fear. Till a new object struck my sight, and stopp’d my wild career: I saw one hanging on a tree By agonies and blood, Who fixed His languid eyes on me, as near His cross I stood. Sure never till my latest breath, Can I forget that look: It seemed to charge me with His death, Though not a Word I spoke: My conscience felt and own’d the guilt and plunged me in despair: I saw my sins,His blood had spilt, and helped to nail Him there Alas I knew...

YouTube acts Compete. Acts that were discovered by viewers on the popular website YouTube perform live in Hollywood, hoping to win their chance to compete alongside 16 others semifinalists for the $1 million prize and the title of the most talented act in America. Jacqueline Marie "Jackie" Evancho (born April 9, 2000) is a young soprano from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Evancho was born to Michael and Lisa Evancho and has an older brother, a younger brother, and a younger sister. She started singing when she was eight years old, after watching the movie Phantom of the Opera. Her mother heard Evancho...

AOL News (April 3) -- Authorities in an upstate New York town say a 16-year-old gunman chased one of his classmates into the foyer of the local police station and opened fire, pumping a bullet into his victim's arm and then shooting himself in the chin. According to a statement released by police in Cooperstown, N.Y., the suspect on Friday followed his Cooperstown High School classmate, also 16, into police headquarters next to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. There, he allegedly fired two shots from a small-caliber rifle, one hitting the victim's left arm and another ricocheting through a...

Just a trick or pure magic, meet ten amazing stunts that are definitely going to make you wonder.

Some beautiful illustrations by the graphic designer based in the Drome. Stephane Massa Bidal aka retro, devised a work based on the “remix” of archival footage with current topics. Many examples in the sequel.

MARIETTA - City Councilman Van Pearlberg objected this week to the phrase "So help me God" included in the oath of office that Marietta police officers are required to say. Pearlberg, a senior assistant district attorney, said it's been his experience that when citizens take the stand from time to time, making them swear to God can be a problem. "A lot of people won't swear on a Bible. Their religious beliefs won't allow them to swear," Pearlberg said.

The president does not plan to travel to Germany to attend the 20th anniversary celebration Monday of the fall of the Berlin Wall, drawing heated criticism from those who say he's ignoring a shining triumph of American-inspired democracy. In this July 24, 2008, photo, then-Sen. Barack Obama is seen greeting the crowd in Berlin. (AP Photo) President Obama squeezed in a trip to Copenhagen last month to lobby, unsuccessfully, for Chicago to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. He plans to travel to Oslo next month to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, an award that even Obama has said he does...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A US military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities would be "very destabilizing," top US military commander Admiral Mike Mullen said Sunday, warning that any attack could have serious "unintended consequences." "I've been one who has been concerned about a strike on Iran for some time, because it could be very destabilizing, and it is the unintended consequences of that which aren't predictable," the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff told the Fox News Sunday television program.

An amazing new picture from space reveals a volcanic eruption in its earliest stage, with a huge plume of ash and steam billowing skyward and creating a shock wave in the atmosphere. Sarychev Peak on Matua Island is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kuril Island chain, northeast of Japan. The new photo was taken June 12 from the International Space Station. NASA says volcano researchers are excited about the picture "because it captures several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption." The main plume appears to be a combination of brown ash...

The Russian defence ministry posted a potentially inflammatory essay on its website which claimed Poland resisted Germany's ultimatums in 1939 only because it "wanted to obtain the status of a great power". The lengthy diatribe, which is unlikely to be welcomed in Warsaw, also lashed out at Britain and France for giving the Poles "delusions of grandeur" by promising to intercede if the Nazis invaded.

Filmed over the period of a few months in and around Edinburgh by Dave Sowerby,this video of Inspired Bicycles team rider Danny MacAskill (more info at www.dannymacaskill.com)features probably the best collection of street/street trials riding ever seen. There's some huge riding, but also some of the most technically difficult and imaginativelines you will ever see. Without a doubt, this video pushes the envelope of what is perceived as possible on a trials bike.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o

Anamorphic illusions drawn in a special distortion in order to create an impression of 3 dimensions when seen from one particular viewpoint. If you have never seen Beever's pavement drawings, this will be a treat for you. Link

Most people have already seen the following images in the ‘WTF’ sections of social bookmarking sites, in threads dedicated to badass pictures or just circulated through their inboxes by the “funny” boss. There is never an explanation for these pictures, because they seem to intrinsically defy explanation; they are just still moments in time of unbelievable scope, and epic badassery. It seems hard to imagine what brought about the extraordinary circumstances these images depict, and that’s the magic, really - letting your imagination run with these ridiculous situations. Well, I decided to do some research on what the actual explanations...

"An anti-Islam Dutch politician banned from entering Great Britain says he has been detained upon arrival at Heathrow Airport and will be returned home."

Frostie performs PERFECTLY in this video dancing to a lively medley of "I’ll Fly Away, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Amazing Grace and I Saw The Light"

I took a break from work this evening to enjoy a movie I have been meaning to watch since it came out a couple years ago. As is usually the case, I waited until it came out in DVD so we could rent it. The name of the movie is Amazing Grace, and it is the true story of William Wilberforce, the British Member of Parliament who spearheaded the long struggle to end the slave trade. My impressions: The movie was well written, directed, and acted, and although it was a bit slow in a couple parts, it held my...

MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) - A 15-year-old boy from the Urals suffered acute frostbite after riding the wing of a Boeing-737 plane on a two-hour flight from Perm to Moscow, Russian radio station Mayak reported on Monday. After clinging on for the entire 1300-kilometer (808-mile) flight to Vnukova Airport, the boy, named Andrei, collapsed onto the tarmac. His arms and legs were so severely frozen that rescuers were at first unable to remove his coat and shoes, the radio station said. The airport did not confirm the report. "We have no information on this," the Vnukovo press service told...

NEW ORLEANS - Supporters of a Democratic congressman charged with bribery and money laundering harkened to their civil rights days on Wednesday as they denounced the allegations against U.S. Rep. William Jefferson. The group, including ministers and the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, alleged the 16-count corruption indictment was the work of a Republican White House and Justice Department scheming to target black Democratic leaders and shift attention from legal troubles of Republican congressmen. "When it's all over, Bill Jefferson will stand up like Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. He will stand up in the...

Breaking from his party, Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter on Friday issued his first veto, rejecting a controversial labor bill that had prompted a large and vocal campaign from business interests who said it would hamstring the state economicially. House Bill 1072 would have eliminated one of two votes needed for unions to negotiate all-union shops. The Democratic governor campaigned as a pro-business moderate but also indicated to labor that he would sign such a measure. "We are obviously extremely disappointed that Gov. Ritter felt it necessary to break a campaign promise under pressure from big business," Steve Adams of the...

This is the greatest Iraq video ever made. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h3JB9IrSWQ

Speechless... Clicky For Indian Intersection

TOM CRUISE is attacking those who prescribe psychiatric drugs again in the May (06) issue of men's style magazine GQ. The actor, who embarked on an anti-drug tirade in TV interviews last summer (05) on behalf of his Scientology beliefs, has launched a fresh attack on psychiatry, calling for prescription pill poppers to think carefully about the harms they're doing to their bodies. He tells the magazine, "I've always found the 'if it makes me feel better, it's OK' rationale a little suspect. "I think it's appalling that people have to live a life of drug addiction when I have...

Amazing, positive story about a young man

Neolithic agricultural community’s daily life shown in amazing detail in dig at ancient site Well-preserved settlement in Kastoria, northern Greece, dating 7,500 years ago illuminates the characteristics of rural life of the times Remains of buildings (trenches for foundations, poles, wall coating, floorings) in the western section of the excavation. By Iota Sykka - Kathimerini The finds at Avgi in Kastoria are far from common. At a site of 3.5 hectares near the Aghia Triada municipality, a 7,500-year-old rural community has been unearthed. Rare miniature vessels the size of a ring, nine fine impressive stamps, 20 human and animal-shaped idols,...

As I stood atop the Empire State Building, I could see the Statue of Liberty, illuminating the gateway to the new world. Here before me like an animated map, is an area 60 or 80 miles in diameter. I was amazed that the Spirit of the Lord should so move me, there atop the Empire State Building. Why should I feel such a surge of His Spirit and power there? Suddenly I heard the voice of the Lord. It was as clear and as distinct as a voice could be. It seemed to come from the very midst of the...

SIERRA VISTA - The creator of a hard-hitting documentary about life in a border community says public reaction to the film has been "amazing." Now "Cries from the Border" is set to be screened at major cities across America. Retired producer and director Mercedes Maharis made the hourlong documentary following her own encounters with illegal immigrants, who regularly cross the land next to her Hereford home. She approached different agencies, organizations and local residents, who all agreed to be interviewed about the problem of illegal immigration and how they deal with it on a daily basis. It received its first...

The New York Civil Liberties Union will file suit against the city Thursday to keep police from searching the bags of passengers entering the subway, organization lawyers said. The suit, which will be filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, will claim that the two-week old policy violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and prohibitions against unlawful searches and seizures, while doing almost nothing to shield the city from terrorism. It argues that the measure also allows the possibility for racial profiling, even though officers are ordered to randomly screen passengers. "While concerns about terrorism of course justify -- indeed,...

Baltimore (AP) - The Maryland Department of Health says results from a federally funded study underscore the need for targeted HIV prevention programs, especially for gay black men in Baltimore. The research was a risk-behavior study of Baltimore-area men who have sex with men. The study reveals that one-third the participants are infected with the disease. But half of the African American study participants are HIV positive. The study was conducted by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health between June 2004 and April. An official with the health department says early results from the study have resulted in programs...

The CBS reality show "The Amazing Race" concluded another contest last night. In an amazing display of p.c. B.S., it jumped the shark, in doing so. In the final leg of the race, the first place team, a white couple, was smart enough to beg their way on to a flight that was 1 hour and 15 minutes ahead of the flight the second place team, a black couple, appeared to have been trapped on to. In an amazing display of See-B.S. bull shiite, the black couple was actually able to get American Airlines to "ask" the captain of the...

Because they can do things beyond your wildest imagination.

(Jim) Craig, goaltender for the 1980 United States hockey team, stopped 39 shots as the U.S. defeated the Soviet Union 4-3 in the "Miracle on Ice." He was back in Lake Placid Saturday, helping light the Olympic torch in commemorating the silver anniversary of the Games. It's been a quarter-century since Al Michaels uttered the now famous words, "Do you believe in miracles?" The same amount of time has passed since the Cold War took sport form, a team of U.S. collegiate hockey players toppled the mighty Soviets, Eric Heiden's tree-trunk legs powered him to five speedskating gold medals, and...

This is the most amazing piece of technology Citroen has ever produced! http://uk.download.yahoo.com/ne/fu/oa/eurcncs185030.mpg \

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein stands accused of gassing Iraq's Kurds, crushing its Shi'ites and condemning thousands to death in his dreaded torture chambers, but some Iraqis still want him back as president. "I don't know why they are trying Saddam. He is guilty of nothing," said Ahmed Abdallah, a student from Baghdad's Sunni Muslim Adhamiya district, once favored by Saddam. "If it were up to me, I would bring him back as president today, not tomorrow." Downcast but defiant, a thinner Saddam arrived at a courthouse in handcuffs and chains on Thursday to hear the charges against him. The...

Did Caligula have a God complex?Stanford, Oxford archaeologists find evidence that depraved tyrant annexed sacred temple BY JOHN SANFORD Archaeologists from Stanford, Oxford and the American Institute for Roman Culture have unearthed evidence that Caligula, in an act of astonishing hubris, extended his palace to the podium of a sacrosanct temple. The discovery, made during the final weeks of a month-and-a-half-long dig this summer in the Roman Forum, appears to support accounts by some ancient historians that the profligate but short-lived emperor was a megalomaniac. "It's the equivalent of Queen Elizabeth taking over St. Paul's Cathedral as an anteroom,"...

Wendy Jennings The battle over how to prosecute a Gwinnett teen accused of initiating a deadly street race isn't over yet.Gwinnett Juvenile Court Judge Robert Rodatus announced Monday morning that Wendy Jennings, 16, would be tried as an adult in Gwinnett Superior Court, where penalties can be much stiffer.By Monday afternoon, Jennings' attorney, Walt Britt, announced his plan to appeal to the state Court of Appeals.Police say Jennings initiated a street race with another teen on March 7 that caused a fatal wreck, killing her passenger, Jacob Miller, 17. The multiple-car collision also killed Julia Burns, a north Fulton...

To watch the most amazing commercial I've ever seen, go here. It only goes to show that engineering and physics can have a lighter side.

Secrets of the stones March 13 2003 For nearly 8000 years, the Gunditjmara people of western Victoria farmed eels. They modified more than 100 square kilometres of the landscape, constructing artificial ponds across the grassy wetlands and digging channels to interconnect them. They exported their produce and became an important part of the local economy. And then white settlers arrived and all they left of the Gunditjmara's thriving industry were several hundred piles of stones that had formed the foundations to the people's huts. Since the 1970s, archaeologists have suspected that the stone remains in the Lake Condah region were...