http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/analysis/ en-us Sun, 20 Jul 2008 07:24:07 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048288/posts If the United States had planned to draw Al Qaeda and its adherents out of Pakistan and into Iraq for a battle in the heart of the Islamic region, it is very unlikely that any official would acknowledge that in public; neither verbally nor in writing. In setting the stage for battling Al Qaeda and invading Iraq, to separate the region and the people from supporting either out of any sense of ethnic or religious loyalty, the United States had spoken deliberately. In both cases, insisting that the United States was not interested in making war on Islam, Arabs or... Argghh! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048288/posts#comment Sun, 20 Jul 2008 07:24:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018586/posts WASHINGTON (AFP) - Hillary Clinton is smart and forceful, John McCain is proud but has a volatile temper, and Barack Obama is a diplomat who deals well with different people and situations. At least, that's what graphologists say their handwriting reveals about them. "Handwriting is a reflection of the inner personality. It shows a person's ego strength, how good they feel about themselves, their intellectual, communication and working styles," graphologist Sheila Lowe, author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Handwriting Analysis", told AFP. Graphology -- the study of how we loop our Ls and cross our Ts -- is not... Yahoo News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018586/posts#comment Tue, 20 May 2008 12:52:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018332/posts WASHINGTON - John McCain's latest campaign angst, this time over his ties to lobbyists, is putting the Republican in conflict with his carefully honed, decades-old reformer image. It's also giving Democratic rival Barack Obama an opening to paint him as nothing more than a creature of Washington. "The fact is, John McCain's campaign is being run by Washington lobbyists and paid for by their money," Obama argued Monday in Billings, Mont. — far from the Beltway. "I'm not in this race to continue the special interest-driven politics of the last eight years, I'm in this race to end it." McCain,... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018332/posts#comment Mon, 19 May 2008 22:58:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2010921/posts An analysis of recent temperature data by two scientists at the Australia Bureau of Meteorology. Waiting for Global Cooling (PDF) National Climate Centre, Australian Bureau of Meteorology http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2010921/posts#comment Sun, 4 May 2008 03:58:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2006519/posts Study says near extinction threatened people By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP WriterApril 24,2008 (AP) -- Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests. The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday. The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age. "This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics... Physorg http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2006519/posts#comment Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:05:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1997373/posts BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's faltering crackdown on Shiite militants has won the backing of Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties that fear both the powerful sectarian militias and the effects of failure on Iraq's fragile government. The emergence of a common cause could help bridge Iraq's political rifts. The head of the Kurdish self-ruled region, Massoud Barzani, has offered Kurdish troops to help fight anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. More significantly, Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi signed off on a statement by President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and the Shiite vice president, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, expressing support... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1997373/posts#comment Sun, 6 Apr 2008 00:20:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1991073/posts Because critical thinking is so important to a free mind, I thought I would add a little bit of a fun challenge to break up your weekend and divert you from the frustrations of our election process. What can you tell me about this photo? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1991073/posts#comment Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:02:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1983002/posts Because critical thinking is so important to a free mind, I thought I would add a little bit of a fun challenge to break up your weekend and divert you from the frustrations of our election process. What can you tell me about this photo? Whoever can tell me the most accurate details about this photo, including where it was taken and why I was there wins . . . Bragging rights for being the fastest and most accurate at photo analysis. Depending on the interest level this generates I'll post others. This photo is probably fairly easy to do. bear_slayer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1983002/posts#comment Sun, 9 Mar 2008 21:25:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1974142/posts WASHINGTON - John McCain sought to minimize damage to his man-of-character image and his presidential hopes Thursday, vigorously denying and denouncing a newspaper report suggesting an improper relationship with a female lobbyist. "It's not true," the likely Republican nominee said of the report that implied a romantic link with telecommunications lobbyist Vicki Iseman and suggested McCain pushed legislation that would have benefited her clients. "At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust," said McCain, a four-term Arizona senator and a hero of the Vietnam War. He described the lobbyist as a friend. McCain and... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1974142/posts#comment Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:58:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1961506/posts WASHINGTON - Florida's presidential primary is the first test of how Republicans John McCain and Mitt Romney might fare in a large and hugely diverse battleground state. The outcome sets the stage for the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday primaries, a nationwide contest just one week away in which more than 20 states hold elections. The Republican race so far has been a muddle, with McCain winning New Hampshire and South Carolina, Romney winning his home state of Michigan and Mike Huckabee winning Iowa. Florida will do one of two things — thrust McCain into position as the front-runner, or allow... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1961506/posts#comment Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:00:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1956714/posts FLORISSANT, Mo. - Political momentum now shifted her way, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton flew to Missouri, a key Feb. 5 battleground state, while rival Barack Obama hoped to rejuvenate his candidacy with the help of black voters in the South. "Now we're back here in the Midwest, where I'm from. I'm so happy to see all of you," Clinton, a Chicago native, said to cheers at a campaign rally late Saturday in this St. Louis suburb. Nevada's presidential caucuses gave Clinton a big boost, powering her to a second straight win over Obama in the first Western contest of the... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1956714/posts#comment Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:49:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1954874/posts WASHINGTON - In a race against herself in Michigan's renegade primary, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton attracted 55 percent of the vote and strong support from whites, Democrats and women. Blacks and independents were among the 40 percent who said they wanted an alternative. A contest without personal campaigning or television advertising is hardly a leading indicator of future contests. But it offers hints about the primaries and caucuses ahead, when Barack Obama as well as John Edwards will share the ballot with the former first lady in a race morphing from single-state contests to a grind-it-out, marathon competition for convention... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1954874/posts#comment Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:15:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1949233/posts MANCHESTER, N.H. - Hillary Rodham Clinton lost the luxury of being polite along with the Iowa caucuses. On the ropes after a third-place finish, Clinton is coming out swinging against new Democratic front-runner Barack Obama with a vigor she hasn't shown before in the contest she used to lead. She says she is the candidate who deserves the mantle of change, not this newcomer Obama. Sunday morning, with the New Hampshire primary in sight, she told supporters here, "There's a big difference between talking and acting, between promising and performing. Over the next three days, I'm going to be making... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1949233/posts#comment Sun, 6 Jan 2008 18:06:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1948850/posts MANCHESTER, N.H. - Rudy Giuliani has never had a problem getting attention — until now. "We are in good shape," the Republican presidential candidate insists even though he was largely missing in action in Iowa and is struggling in New Hampshire, the two states that are the epicenters of the race. His unconventional road map to the nomination carried this very risk from the start. It called for playing down those states that opened the primary season in favor of spending more time and resources in the delegate-rich ones that vote later this month and on Feb. 5 such as... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1948850/posts#comment Sat, 5 Jan 2008 19:07:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1948633/posts WASHINGTON - It wasn't long ago that Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign scoffed at the notion that young voters would deliver an election. How quickly things can change. Just seconds into her speech Friday morning, Clinton was declaring herself the candidate for America's youth — stealing a page from the new Democratic presidential front-runner, Barack Obama. The night before, the under-30 crowd came out in larger numbers than ever in Iowa caucuses normally dominated by the AARP-card set, delivering victory for the Illinois senator who promised to bring change to Washington. That's why after her third-place finish in Iowa, Clinton got... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1948633/posts#comment Sat, 5 Jan 2008 06:41:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1948103/posts WASHINGTON - Evangelical Republicans in Iowa chose one of their own in Mike Huckabee. "Wherever it ends — and we know where that's going to be — it started here in Iowa," the emboldened candidate proclaimed as he promised more victories in states to come. But the looming question is whether the Southern Baptist minister turned decade-long Arkansas governor is strong enough to triumph outside friendly Iowa territory, and go the distance to the nomination. That test begins immediately as Huckabee turns to New Hampshire, where he will run head-on into town meetings full of secular voters, and John McCain,... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1948103/posts#comment Fri, 4 Jan 2008 06:15:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1944859/posts WASHINGTON - The assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has dealt a severe blow to U.S. efforts to restore stability and democracy in a turbulent, nuclear-armed Islamic nation that has been a critical ally in the war on terror. While not entirely dependent on Bhutto, recent Bush administration policy on Pakistan had focused heavily on promoting reconciliation between the secular opposition leader who has been dogged by corruption allegations and Pakistan's increasingly unpopular president, Pervez Musharraf, ahead of parliamentary elections set for January. In Washington and Islamabad, U.S. diplomats urged that Jan. 8 elections should not be postponed... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1944859/posts#comment Thu, 27 Dec 2007 21:03:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1904895/posts October 1, 2007 A Californian based company has produced the world’s first disposable photonic lab-on-a-chip solution for next-generation water and food analysis, chemical and biological agent detection, and point-of-care diagnostics. The PhotonicLab Platform from Bioident Technology Inc. enables rapid in-vitro diagnostics, chemical and biological threat detection, and environmental testing without the need for off-site lab analysis. This offers greater mobility and sensitivity compared to existing biological and chemical assays and delivers a cost-effective disposable lab-on-a-chip solution by eliminating the need for complex and expensive readout systems. To produce the device Bioident utilized the latest breakthroughs in nanotechnology and leveraged... Gizmag.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1904895/posts#comment Mon, 1 Oct 2007 15:29:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1898376/posts WASHINGTON - Question: If government and business leaders do their part to lower the cost of health insurance, should people be required to sign up? Republican Mitt Romney used to answer yes. Now he says no. Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton says yes, but this time promises no new bureaucracies. The way these and other 2008 presidential candidates answer the "individual mandate" question says as much about their characters, their strategies and the tricky politics of health care reform as it does about the actual policies. "Individual mandate" is the jargon politicians use to describe health care plans that assume every... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1898376/posts#comment Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:48:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1896860/posts LOS ANGELES - In a year when Republicans are slouching toward a post-Bush era, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he has a winning strategy for his party — be like me. California's popular governor is known for his kaleidoscopic political stripes, and that's his point. He said Republicans could face a future of Election Day misery unless the party makes a decisive shift to the political center and claims issues usually associated with the Democratic agenda, like global warming and health-care reform. "We are dying at the box office," the actor-politician told party activists, lamenting a decline in Republican registration that... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1896860/posts#comment Sat, 15 Sep 2007 03:10:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1892517/posts GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY (RECORDING): "... could lead to the violent death of Americans. We need to know about that, track them, follow them and make sure that in every way we can we know what they're doing and where they're doing it. And if it means we have to go into a mosque to wiretap or a church then that's exactly where we're going to go. Because we're going to do whatever it takes to protect the American people. And I hear from time to time people say 'Hey, wait a second. We have civil liberties we have to worry... The Laura Ingraham Show via Mitt Romney.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1892517/posts#comment Fri, 7 Sep 2007 13:04:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1884493/posts Minneapolis I-35 bridge collapse: Failure Analysis The I-35 West bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, consisted of three trussed spans and several beam and post spans typical of 1960's era freeway construction. Analysis to date here at Free Republic has centered on looking for the triggering cause in the bridge collapse, and the sequence of failure, as determined by available pre- and post-collapse imagery and video. Efforts so far have been hampered by uncertainty regarding the condition and disposition of the eastern truss panels originally located above and near pier 6. I hope to rectify this uncertainty and... opinion http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1884493/posts#comment Tue, 21 Aug 2007 22:20:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1880738/posts (AP) Karl Rove deserves as much credit for spoiling George W. Bush's presidency as he does for creating it _ which is to say he had a lot to do with both. The strategist's political genius helped make Bush president. His arrogance helped make Bush a lame duck. "Rove is the model for all future presidential advisers _ disciplined, smart and personally tight with the commander in chief. With that power comes all of the negative baggage when policy and governing failures erupt out of control," said Republican consultant Scott Reed. "He has kept remarkably cool as the GOP has... cbs news http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1880738/posts#comment Tue, 14 Aug 2007 01:15:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1878902/posts Focusing on Focus Groups: Why Opposing Forces REALLY Fear Romney posted by: Jeff Fuller | posted at: 2:23 PM | permalink here Focus Groups, in my opinion, are the untold story of this campaign so far . . . and help explain the motives behind the early, constant, and repeated attacks on Romney by rival campaigns and the mainstream media (MSM). I'll argue this claim below after presenting some of the focus group findings from the most recent debate. Focus Group #1 run by Frank Luntz (results generally shared on various Fox News programs): Click for video. While the... MyManMitt.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1878902/posts#comment Thu, 9 Aug 2007 21:06:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1877891/posts With Fred Thompson expected to enter the race next month, and the Ames straw poll next week, you’re going to see real pressure to start trimming the field in these debates. I can't imagine that too many people are happy with the current nine-soon-to-be-ten guys on stage format. Right now, I only want to see more of about half these guys. First, George Stephanopolous was almost as bad as Chris Matthews, and that’s a high bar to clear. Steph was snippy, too obsessed with time and cutting off candidates. Almost all of his questions came from the mindset of a... National Review Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1877891/posts#comment Wed, 8 Aug 2007 01:12:07 GMT