Free Republic

From the mighty polar bear to the tiny house sparrow, many of Earth's species appear to be shrinking in size, a new study reports. And the authors think it's probably due to global warming, a little like wool sweaters that shrink when washed in hot water. But other experts say that conclusion goes too far, blaming global warming for what may be natural changes. ... The shrinking victims, according to the study, include cotton, corn, strawberries, bay scallops, shrimp, crayfish, carp, Atlantic salmon, herring, frogs, toads, iguanas, hooded robins, red-billed gulls, California squirrels, lynx and wood rats. Two years ago,...

In its September 11 edition, the New York Times runs a front-page article by Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner, which, instead of blaming fanatical Egyptian rioters, assigns the biggest share of blame to Israel for the violent attack on its Cairo Embassy and the forced departure of its diplomatic staff ("Beyond Cairo, Israel Sensing A Wider Siege -- Embassy Assault a Sign of a Mideast in Flux") In full gloom-and-doom mode, Bronner paints a dark picture of an "increasingly isolated" Israel with "limited and poor options" amid rising anti-Israel sentiment in neighboring countries. Pouring more salt on the wound, Bronner...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top White House adviser is blaming the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating on tea party Republicans, whom he says were unwilling to compromise on how to reduce the federal debt. The adviser to President Barack Obama, David Axelrod, tells CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday .. ... .. also criticized GOP presidential candidates for not speaking up in favor of compromise.

Two Taliban spokesmen have said their phones had been hacked and messages sent out that their leader Mullah Omar was dead, media reports say. One of the spokesmen Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters that the "Americans have hacked our cellphones with advanced technology and sent the messages". Mullah Omar's death was reported in May by sections of the media, including an Afghan TV channel. Pakistani and US officials had dismissed the reports. Mullah Omar has evaded capture, despite one of the largest manhunts and is believed to be guiding the resurgent Taliban. The AFP news agency said that a message went...

In an unbylined update of the latest developments in the budget-tax-spending-debt ceiling discussions in Washington this morning, the Associated Press committed several blunders in attempting to explain what's going on and how we got to where we are. First and foremost was its list identifying "contributors" to the $8.5 trillion growth in the national debt since 2001. Here's the AP's you-can't make-this-up, Comedy Central-worthy list of debt contributors: Q: How did the debt grow from $5.8 trillion in 2001 to its current $14.3 trillion? A: The biggest contributors to the nearly $9 trillion increase over a decade were: - 2001...

Getting inside the mind of Barack Obama has been a challenge for journalists since the 2008 presidential campaign. But during the last two and a half years, as the public has gotten more familiar with the president, the picture is becoming a bit clearer. On Thursday’s syndicated “Hugh Hewitt” radio show, columnist and National Review Online contributor Mark Steyn offered some thoughts. After host Hugh Hewitt referenced a Wednesday interview with Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe, in which he wondered aloud about what motivated Obama to make grand policy gestures, Steyn suggested that perhaps this was the first time Obama...

Concord, N.H. (AP) -- In his latest trip to New Hampshire, Republican Rick Santorum says the Social Security system would be in much better shape if there were fewer abortions. The former Pennsylvania senator and potential presidential candidate was asked about Social Security during an interview on WESZ-AM radio in Laconia on Tuesday morning. He says the system has design flaws, but the reason it is in big trouble is that there aren't enough workers to support retirees. He blamed that on what he called the nation's abortion culture. He says that culture, coupled with policies that do not support...

Media Matters blamed the Egyptian crisis today on the US Jewish lobby and media-owning Jews. Yid With Lid reported this from Media Matters. If one needs additional proof that the “pro-Israel” lobby and the policies it dictates to US policymakers are bad for both the U.S. and Israel, look no further than what is happening in Egypt. The regime that the Israeli government and its U.S. lobby have depended upon to enforce the status quo is going down. It is not clear when, but it’s going to be soon, much sooner than anyone ever anticipated. And you can be sure...

The George Soros funded Media Matters has been waging a months-long attack on Glenn Beck trying to brand the commentator as a card carrying anti-Semite. Perhaps before making false charges against Beck, Media Matters should examine its own house of cards. In a column published today on Media Matters political correction site, MJ Rosenberg claimed that the current Egyptian crisis was the fault of AIPAC and the “Israel Lobby.” For those of you who have lived on a different planet till today, “Israel Lobby” is a polite way of saying “Jews.”

"It's this lip. It's hard to say," President Obama said. "You try it when you've had 12 stitches."

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said he knows what's been causing the floods that have killed 32 people in his country and left 70,000 homeless: "criminal capitalism." "The developed nations irresponsibly shatter the environmental order, in their desire to maintain a criminal development model while the immense majority of the earth's people suffer the most terrible consequences," he said on Venezuelan television Sunday.

This segment is a classic two-on-one gang-up on the sole conservative voice as Clifford May valiantly tries to get his word in against Glenn Greenwald and host, Dylan Ratigan. Ironically, Mr. May was attempting to praise President Obama's position on Iran against the moral equivalence espoused by his left-wing counter-parts.

Bob Schieffer on Sunday blamed the internet for the growing number of Americans that think Barack Obama is a Muslim.Namelessly referring to last week's Pew Research Center poll finding that eighteen percent now believe this, the "Face the Nation" host concluded Sunday's program saying that "in the internet age, ignorance travels as rapidly as great ideas." He continued, "Now, not only great minds can find one another and compare notes, so too can the nuts and the perverts and those who are simply looking to validate their prejudices."

Michael Scherer of Time tried to explain the concept of "Why Barack Obama Doesn't Like to Chit-Chat with the Press Corps" -- despite their obvious affection for him. The president's first Ground Zero Mosque comments were "perfectly scripted," he wrote, and perfectly timed, on a Friday night at a Muslim dinner celebrating Ramadan. Scherer doesn't get that the venue could be controversial, considering Obama's allergies to traditional Christian prayer breakfasts. But this "perfect" scenario was ruined by the White House press pool (specifically, CNN's Ed Henry): A reporter asked a stray question, and Obama blew all the careful planning of...

Taped from Caminada Bay in Grand Isle, La., on Friday, President Obama warned people in his weekly address to be “prepared for the worst,” even as everyone hopes that BP’s efforts “bring better news than we’ve received before.” “Over the last few days, BP has placed a cap over the well, and it appears they’re making progress in trying to pump oil to the surface to keep it from leaking into the water,” Obama said in the address, taped from Caminada Bay in Grand Isle, La., on Friday. "But as has been the case since the beginning of this crisis,...

The Hurva Synagogue was the premier Jewish place of worship in Jerusalem's Old City in the 19th and early 20th Centuries -- until Jordanian troops destroyed it in 1948. On March 15, after several years of painstaking restoration, it came to life again -- an exact replica of the old Hurva. In the week before its reopening, however, the Palestinian Authority unleashed a vicious conspiracy campaign that falsely claimed that reopening the Hurva was a prelude to Israel's intent to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount to make room for the Third Jewish Temple. Palestinian officials called on Arabs to...

LONDON (AFP) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday accused a handful of countries of holding the UN climate summit to ransom as bitter recriminations swirled over the outcome of the negotiations. While China's Premier Wen Jiabao insisted his government had played an "important and constructive" role, Britain said the meeting had lurched into farce and pointed the finger of blame at Beijing. And the summit host, Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, rapped the lower-level negotiators for failing to make headway in nearly two weeks of talks and then leaving their masters with too much to do at...

A pigeon that nuzzled too close to another bird on a high-voltage line Wednesday got zapped into eternity and likely sparked the four-alarm brush fire that scorched several acres on San Jose's Communications Hill, PG&E officials said Thursday. San Jose fire Capt. Scott Kouns said the cause of the fire that blackened some 15 acres and the skies above before it was extinguished two hours later officially remains under investigation. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries and an outbuilding was burned. But Jennifer Zerwer, spokeswoman for Pacific Gas & Electric, said utility crews found a downed 12-kilovolt power line and a...

President Obama sharply criticized Republicans on Tuesday for following a “familiar script” to “block healthcare reform.” The president, seeking to prod the Democratic-controlled Congress to show significant progress on healthcare reform before the August recess, directed blame at the GOP for the stalled legislation. Obama blasted the "familiar script" of Republicans who "have openly declared their intention to block healthcare reform."

Iranian riot police, armed with tear gas and backed by helicopters, forced protestors off the streets Saturday as the massive protests against last week’s elections appeared to weaken. Nineteen protestors and policemen were killed Saturday, bringing the week's death toll to 38. Unconfirmed reports placed the number killed at Saturday at 150. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top Muslim leader, accused “dirty Zionists" and “Zionist media” for being behind charges that the results of the election were rigged. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner two hours after the voting stations closed a week ago on Friday. His opponent, Mir...

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Kentucky's embattled junior senator is blaming GOP leader Mitch McConnell for losing Arlen Specter to the Democrats and costing the party Senate seats. Sen. Jim Bunning has been at odds lately with McConnell, Kentucky's senior senator. McConnell hasn't publicly asked Bunning to retire but hasn't endorsed him for re-election next year. Bunning says he's still in the race but Republican leaders have been sending not-so-subtle messages that he should retire rather than face a strong Democratic challenge.

LONDON (AFP) – Outgoing US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said that a failure to address the rise of emerging markets and resulting imbalances was partly to blame for the global financial crisis, according to an interview published Friday. Paulson told the Financial Times that imbalances between fast-growing nations which save, such as China, and those who spent were at the root of the problem. He said that in the years leading up to the crisis, savings from nations such as China and oil exporters -- at a time of low inflation and booming trade and capital flows -- exerted downward...

<p>As reported in the news today by multiple sources, Democrativ presidentail candidate, Barack Hussein Obama, blaims the GOP and the adminstration and its war fighting policies for Osama Bin Laden, the Al Quida leader behind the 911 attacks, still being alinve.</p> <p>Well, Hussein, this really cuts the cake.</p>

ROME - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe defended land policies blamed for devastating his country's agricultural sector, asserting at a U.N. food summit Tuesday that the West was trying to cripple the nation's economy. Mugabe's presence at a summit addressing high global food prices sparked protests from some world leaders. He is blamed for the economic collapse of a country once considered a regional breadbasket and Zimbabweans increasingly are unable to afford food and other essentials. Zimbabwe is not subject to broad sanctions affecting ordinary citizens. Western sanctions are targeted instead at the president and several dozen close associates. Mugabe nonetheless...

Hillary Clinton blamed her defeats by Barack Obama in caucuses around the country in part on MoveOn.org, the liberal activist group that was founded in 1998 to tell Congress to "move on" from its push to impeach Clinton's husband.

SACRAMENTO The Democratic leader of the state Senate on Thursday said lawmakers have reached an impasse in negotiating California's overdue budget and blamed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for not doing more to broker a deal with his fellow Republicans. The comments by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata came as lawmakers in the Assembly were scheduled to begin a late-night floor session to debate the budget plan. "The (budget) bill going up tonight is a sign that we are at an impasse, and only the governor can come in and make a deal," Perata said in an interview. He "has not...

Two Cuban army deserters have been captured after trying to hijack a passenger plane to flee to the US, according to officials in Havana. A government statement said they killed an army officer as they tried to take control of the airliner. Armed with AK-47 assault rifles, they seized a bus before driving it towards the Boeing 737, when police opened fire, says one source. The two reportedly went AWOL from their army base on Saturday along with another man, who Havana says had since been captured. Cuban officials have held the United States responsible for the attempted hijacking. They...

America’s most inept mayor is at it again. Seems like it’s taking him too long to turn NOLA into the Chocolate City of his dreams but he knows why. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has suggested that the slow recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina — which has prevented many black former residents from returning — is part of a plan to change the racial makeup and political leadership of his and other cities. “They are studying this model of natural disasters, dispersing the community and changing the electoral process in that community.” That’s right, boys...

SACRAMENTO — Saying that Californians have "lived in denial" about the crisis in the state's prisons, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday complained that apathy in the electorate is to blame for the lack of will in the Capitol to address the corrections system's overcrowding and rising costs. ... Schwarzenegger said the prison problem is not "sexy," because it does not affect people's lives directly, as schools or transportation issues do. --snip-- Schwarzenegger has proposed $10.9 billion in new borrowing to expand the prisons, and wants to reexamine the state's penal code to see if sentences for some crimes are too...

LANSING, Mich. - A campaign mailing from the Michigan Republican Party blames Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the state corrections director for a crime spree that resulted in the deaths of three people. The brochure has a photo of Patrick Selepak, who pleaded guilty to killing Melissa and Scott Berels of New Baltimore and Winfield Johnson of Genesee County's Vienna Township in February. The headline says: "This violent criminal was mistakenly released into your community." "Governor Granholm and her state prison director. If they can't do the job, why are they still on the job?" the brochure says. Selepak had...

HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe opened a new legislative year Tuesday with a speech to Parliament blaming economic problems on the U.S., Britain and other Western critics of his human rights record. Zimbabwe is in a state of economic collapse, suffering from the world's highest inflation rate — more than 1,000 percent — and shortages of all basic goods. A quarter of its 16 million people has emigrated since 2000 and millions more are dependent on aid. "My tribute goes to the gallant people of Zimbabwe for continuing to exhibit great fortitude despite the prevailing economic challenges which are...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The U.N. humanitarian chief accused Hezbollah on Monday of "cowardly blending" in among Lebanese civilians and causing the deaths of hundreds during two weeks of cross-border violence with Israel. The militant group has built bunkers and tunnels near the Israeli border to shelter weapons and fighters, and its members easily blend in among civilians. Jan Egeland spoke to reporters at Larnaca airport in Cyprus late Monday after visiting Lebanon to coordinate an international aid effort. On Sunday, he toured the rubble of Beirut's southern suburbs, a once-teeming Shiite district where Hezbollah had its headquarters. During that visit,...

ROSTOCK, Germany - The United States blamed Syria and Iran on Wednesday for the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants and the ensuing violence. The White House called for the immediate and unconditional release of the two soldiers. "We condemn in the strongest terms Hezbollah's unprovoked attack on Israel and the kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers," National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said as President Bush flew here for a visit. He said Hezbollah had also launched rocket attacks on civilian targets in Israel as part of its offensive. "This is a terrorist attack and it is...

HOUSTON - The automated signature machine did it. Attorneys for Kenneth Lay suggested bank loan documents containing terms he allegedly violated actually were signed by an automatic signature device in the Enron Corp. founder's office and not by him. Lay went on trial Thursday on one count of bank fraud and three counts of making false statements regarding personal banking issues. The trial, expected to wrap up as early as Tuesday, got under way the day after jurors began deliberating the nearly four-month-long fraud and conspiracy case of Lay and former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling. Lay is charged with...

The University of California's procedures for reporting executive pay are "wholly unacceptable" and must be overhauled, a task force said Thursday. More financial oversight and public accountability is needed after reports showed UC gave executives millions in bonuses and other perks while student fees were raised to offset funding cutbacks, according to findings presented to UC's governing Board of Regents. The report pointed to a university culture of secrecy, further complicated by vague policies and lack of oversight. The report blamed President Robert C. Dynes and other leaders for failing repeatedly to fully disclose executive packages to regents and said...

Mine Owner Blames Lightning for Sago Blast Wednesday March 15, 2006 12:31 AM By VICKI SMITH Associated Press Writer MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - An explosion that killed 12 workers at the Sago Mine likely was caused by a massive lightning strike that ignited methane gas in a sealed-off area, the mine's owner said Tuesday. The company's own investigation turned up three pieces of compelling evidence of a lightning strike, all from 6:26 a.m. on Jan. 2, said Ben Hatfield, chief executive officer of International Coal Group Inc. He said weather monitors confirmed an unusually large and powerful lightning strike near...

UN team 'in danger' as inquiry blames Syria for assassination By Anton La Guardia Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 26/10/2005) The chief UN investigator into the murder of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri warned yesterday that his team's lives were in danger after it pointed the finger of blame at Syria. As Washington demanded tough action against Syria and Damascus pleaded its innocence, Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor leading the inquiry, said his team now faced "credible" threats. Detlev Mehlis' report suggested President Bashar as a likely plotter "It should be noted that despite all the precautionary measures, the level of...

$50 million lawsuit is being filed against Hoboken and its police department by the parents of a 16-year-old boy who drowned in the Hudson River shortly after escaping from Hoboken Police Headquarters. "He was in the custody of the police department, he was a juvenile and it was their responsibility to maintain his safety and under very suspicious and nefarious circumstances he allegedly escaped and drowned in the Hudson River," attorney Robert Bianchi said. "To this day, a year later, no one from law enforcement has had the courtesy to contact the mother or her attorney to let them know...

Britain blames Iran for soldiers' deaths By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 06/10/2005) Britain blamed Iran yesterday for a spate of roadside bomb attacks that killed at least eight British soldiers in the past six months. A senior diplomat said technology used in the devices was similar to that given by Iran's Revolutionary Guards to the Hizbollah movement in Lebanon. Troops patrol Basra after a roadside bomb attack "All of the British deaths are linked to Iranian technology," he said, abandoning the usual Foreign Office reserve. The official said Iran's motive for stirring violence in Iraq was to "tie...

WASHINGTON - Former FEMA director Michael Brown aggressively defended his role in responding to Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday and put much of the blame for coordination failures on Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. "My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional," two days before the storm hit, Brown told a special congressional panel set up by House Republican leaders to investigate the catastrophe. The storm slammed into the Gulf Coast on Monday, Aug. 29. Brown's defense drew a scathing response from Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record), D-La. "I find...

HAVANA (AP) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro claimed Friday that U.S. policies were responsible for the latest tragedy to befall Cubans trying to reach American shores - 31 people believed killed in the Florida Straits. The Cuban are missing and feared dead after their overcrowded boat capsized, officials said. President Fidel Castro appeared on state-run television to point the finger at an American law that allows Cubans to apply for permanent residency if they reach the U.S., saying it encourages dangerous, illegal migration. "Lives have been lost for the last 40 years since they created that law," he said, referring...

The London bombings were fueled by oil Friday, July 8, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM Froma Harrop / Syndicated columnist It is oil's fault. The London bombings are almost surely al-Qaida's work, which means oil paid for them. Oil keeps the Mideast backward. It funds the madrassas that fill heads with anti-West poison. And it pays the terrorists who plant bombs on European trains and fly airplanes into American buildings. It is time we did something about oil. The United States accounts for 25 percent of the world's oil consumption. We could crush oil's power to hurt us...

Aziz blames bloody campaign to suppress the Shias on Saddam By Our Foreign Staff (Filed: 28/06/2005) Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi politician who was one of Saddam Hussein's closest associates, blames the bloody suppression of a Shia uprising on his former boss in a video released yesterday. The footage, given out by the tribunal prosecuting members of the deposed regime, is likely to demoralise Saddam loyalists involved in the Iraqi insurgency because it contradicts claims by Aziz's lawyer that he would never betray Saddam. 68-year-old Tariq Aziz [right] appears before the special tribunal Under questioning from an investigative judge six...

An Egyptian historian claimed on Saudi television that the United States helped carry out a Vatican plot to destroy Islam by orchestrating the 9-11 attacks -- on "assignment" by the World Council of Churches. Professor Zaynab Abd Al-Aziz told Saudi Iqra TV in a May 26 interview that the decision to impose one religion over the entire world was made in the Second Vatican Council in 1965," according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, which posted a clip of the program.http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=708 Abd Al-Aziz claimed the Vatican's decision to "Christianize the world" included a plan, first, to "absolve the Jews...

SCOTIA, Calif. - Financially troubled Pacific Lumber Co. is the victim of its corporate owner's excesses, not increasing government restrictions on logging, according to a state water agency's controversial new study. The state Water Resources Control Board's 18-page report blames Texas-based Maxxam Inc. for shifting hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from Pacific Lumber in "subtle and complex ways," forcing the North Coast timber giant to cut trees "at rates that greatly exceed sustainable forest practices." The state report claims Maxxam has funneled nearly $725 million in Pacific Lumber earnings into its own Houston, Texas, coffers over the past...

WASHINGTON - Both political parties are to blame for the impasse on confirming President Bush (news - web sites)'s judicial nominees, says Arlen Specter, Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (news - web sites). "No one wants to back down and no one wants to lose face," Specter said Thursday in his first interview with Washington reporters since disclosing he has Hodgkin's disease. Specter will initiate this year's confirmation battles between Bush and the Democrats by holding hearings on the nominations of former Interior Department Solicitor William Myers on Tuesday, a nominee who was blocked last year, and U.S....

HINTON, W.Va. (AP) - The nation's largest lottery winner blamed his granddaughter's recent death on a drug overdose and said he wants the friends he says gave the drugs to her to be put in jail. Jack Whittaker's comments came as a medical examiner was preparing a toxicology report on Brandi Bragg, 17, whose body was found earlier this week wrapped in a plastic tarp on property owned by a boyfriend's father. "All of the problems I have had are because of my granddaughter's friends, her drug-using friends," Whittaker said. "I'm going to find them and put them in jail....

SACRAMENTO -- Accused of mismanaging a federal voting-rights program, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley disputed the allegations on Monday and blamed some problems on the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials says Shelley, a San Francisco Democrat, has failed miserably in administering California's Help America Vote Act program. HAVA was passed by Congress in 2002 in the hope of preventing a repeat of Florida's 2000 presidential election debacle. In a letter to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Shelley disputed the charges, though he made no mention of the group or its specific allegations....

TABA, Egypt - Rescuers Friday dug through the debris of a luxury hotel for victims of a series of bombs at resorts in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula that are popular with Israelis. At least 27 people were killed, with more than 100 wounded, and officials feared the death toll would rise. Israel's intelligence chief told Cabinet ministers Friday that the bombings at Egyptian resorts were most likely carried out by al-Qaida. The intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi-Farkash, made the assessment at an emergency Cabinet meeting convened a day after the deadly bombings, which wounded more than 120. Thousands of frightened...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is backing a campaign to limit lawsuits filed under the state's unfair competition law, has used that law to file suits to stop the use of his image in ads and bobblehead dolls. That makes the governor a hypocrite, said opponents of Proposition 64, the Nov. 2 ballot measure that would limit unfair competition suits. "If the governor feels it's OK to file lawsuits under this law to protect his image, why isn't it OK to file a case under the statute ... when water and air are threatened with contamination but no...