Free Republic

Sarah Palin has breathed some life into the word "lamestream". We've been using "lamestream" here at Free Republic for quite some time. I looked up the word in the Urban Dictionary and found Sarahs use of the word was not defined. So I sent in this definition: "An insult directed at the dominant commercial news services for bias in covering politics". They turned it down!

Posted on Friday, November 20, 2009 6:16:55 PM by Steelfish Bay Area Not Maverick Enough To Read Palin Book Steve Rubenstein November 19, 2009 It might as well have cooties. Hardly anyone wants to touch the thing, or even get close to it. The new autobiography by moose hunter and failed vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is harder to find in the Bay Area than a hockey mom. Some bookstores figure it's one of those grit-your-teeth First Amendment deals that principled booksellers must put up with from time to time. But many nonchain bookstores won't handle it. "Our customers are...

Round-up of stories concerning Sarah Palin, November 20, 2009!

Don’t jump to conclusions. It’s not that the retailers are closed-minded. It’s their customers who are closed-minded. Well, okay. Some of the retailers are closed-minded too. “Our customers are thinking people,” said Nathan Embretson, a bookseller at Pendragon Books in Oakland. “They’re not into reading drivel.” There’s not a single copy on the shelf. Embretson said no one has asked for it except for one guy, who was kidding. “He said he wanted to look at it but he also said he didn’t really want to read it,” Embretson said. “Anyway, he certainly didn’t want to buy it. I think...

For those of you who've already picked-up your copy of Sarah Palin's autobiography, have you finished reading your copy yet. I got mine this past Tuesday the 17 of November, started reading it that night and finished it today [Thursday November 19]. I'm slower than a 1-legged tortoise in a vat of Gorilla Glue....NOT !!!

Prominent among the problems of postrevolutionary America were the deficiencies of its fundamental charter, the Articles of Confederation. Beyond these difficulties inherent in the situation loomed a further range of problems attributable to, or at least exacerbated by, the government of the Confederation. There seemed to be no prospect of coping with the war debts that were overwhelming both nation and states; the British could not be compelled to honor their agreement under the Treaty of Paris to vacate the western forts; the western settlers increasingly felt they owed little to a government that could guarantee the security neither of...

Barack Obama promised to halve poverty within ten years. His Republican opponent, John McCain, vowed to “make the eradication of poverty a top priority of the McCain Administration.” Even in the current economic situation, in developed countries, this kind of rhetoric about cutting “poverty” is misleadingly outmoded—because it implicitly suggests that government income transfers can be the vehicle for achieving substantial reductions in poverty. > What is now called poverty is really “income inequality.” Many families earning too much to be considered victims of poverty but who lack the “human capital”, education, training, and family support systems to provide a...

Life decisions are often made when we feel that we are at a crossroads where the decision to turn to the left or to the right seems as clear for us to make as it is to breathe. Yet what about those times when the decision is not quite as clear where the variables that we are weighing are as cloudy and murky as a morning fog? Usually that is the time where the weight is heavy on our soul that we have truly to come to a decision that shoves us out of our comfort zone and that demands...

ANACONDA — The slim, white cartridges fit easily into the compact, black machine. With the push of a button, text becomes voice and reading becomes possible again. After five years of development, the National Library Service has perfected its new digital talking books. In Montana, three Anaconda World War II veterans were the first to receive theirs. The veterans, Svend Wind, 82, Sid Beausoleil, 86, and Clarence Jones, 87, gathered Wednesday morning at the Hearst Free Library, where members of the Montana Talking Book Library presented them with the new machines.

I'm going to be at the Sarah Palin Book signing in Cincinnati on Friday, and was curious if any other FReepers were going to be there? Would love to meet my fellow FReeps.

In the documentary, "My Supermodel Baby," a casting director at a magazine photo shoot explains how a five-month old model, a boy with some fat folds on his arms, was airbrushed. "We lightened his eyes and his general skin tone, smoothed out any blotches and the creases on his arms," said the casting director. "But we want it to look natural." The Telegraph reports it is the first time the industry has admitted to altering photos of babies - a practice commonly done on photos of grownup models. The editor of Practical Parenting and Pregnancy magazine told

Former Velvet Underground members Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker and Doug Yule will make an extremely rare joint public appearance on December 8 at the New York Public Library. The three will discuss the Velvet Underground's music and legacy with rock journalist David Fricke as part of the "LIVE from the NYPL" series. The reunion of the legendary New York band comes on the heels of the publication of "The Velvet Underground: New York Art," a compendium of previously unseen photographs, poster and cover designs by Andy Warhol, Lou Reed's handwritten music and lyrics, underground press clippings and other reviews, flyers,...

Bob Dylan Must Be Santa (c) (c) 2009 Sony Music Entertainment Category: Music Tags: Bob Dylan Must Be Santa Holiday Music Video

Some Indiana University professors have proposed a novel way to give struggling inner-city students a fresh start: send them to boarding school in Africa.“The core idea is to pull kids out of an environment where they cannot thrive and put them in one where they can,” said law professor Kevin Brown, who leads the group behind the idea. The project is still in its planning phase, and its backers admit it faces legal and financial hurdles. But the professors want to establish a school in the West African nation of Ghana where Indiana teachers would instruct some of the state's...

(My thoughts: My child brought home the Scholastic form home last night, and I had to break the news to her that we wouldn't be ordering from them. I told her that we would be boycotting them. This morning I broke the news to my wife and showed her this article. She shocked me and actually went the extra mile and printed the letter telling them we would be avoiding Scholastic as long as they were selling this trash. Scholastic has no right to sell books to my children indoctrinating them to believe that homosexuality is a acceptable lifestyle.) The...

I had an interesting discussion with my wife the other night. We were both curiouis as to why radio talk show people such as Limbaugh, Levin, Hannity, do not promote or talk about Glenn Beck. I went to their various web sites and checked out what they recommend to read. It was interesting. Limbaugh - no Beck books. Levin - no Beck books. Hannity - no Beck books. Coulter - no Beck books. Ingraham - one Beck book. My wife and I came to the conclusion that the reason he is being shunned by the powers that be is due...

Okay - I don't really know if I want to share this, because I am going to have to leave work early, and get home late, and I really want to get my book signed, but...(major run on sentence alert) Glenn Beck is going to be at the Books a Million on Indiantown Road in Jupiter this Friday (11/20) rom 5-6 p.m.

The makers of a hit Hollywood film are at the centre of a race controversy after removing two black actors from a poster being used to promote it in Britain. The American advert for Couples Retreat, a comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Kristin Davis, show all eight principal actors – six of whom are white and two black. But the poster in Britain, where the film is on general release, omits actors Faizon Love and Kali Hawk. Couples Retreat, about four couples who go on holiday together and receive therapy to improve their relationships, has taken more than

“King David and King Solomon lived merry, merry lives, With many, many concubines and many, many wives. But when old age crept after them, with many, many qualms, King Solomon wrote the Proverbs and King David wrote the Psalms.” There are several versions of this anonymous rhyme, but the problem, some biblical archaeologists argue, is that there is little evidence that either king existed: archaeological remains have been assigned to their reigns on the basis of cryptic verses in the Old Testament, and then used to “prove” the date of similar buildings at other sites. Until 15 years ago, Professor...

The New York newspaperman says our founding document is especially vital today, in an age of expanding state power. Seth Lipsky has a knack for seeing the bright side of things. A nearly 20-year veteran of this newspaper, including its editorial page, he cheerfully acknowledges the obvious: This is far from a golden age of free-market conservatism. Of President Obama, he tells me over lunch, "I sense that he has a very leftist, socialist-oriented worldview." Yet this makes Mr. Lipsky anything but grim: "I for one find this very exciting. . . . We're just at a great moment." Why?...

50 Reasons why LORD OF THE RINGS sucks Fellowship of the Rings was shoved down our throats. I've heard some students are even forced to read some novelization of the movie in their literature classes. Ridiculous. Does Hollywood run our classrooms now? Greed. Hollywood can't make a movie these days without crapping out a sequel the next year to squeeze more money out of the sheep. Guess what; there's ANOTHER LOTR movie coming this Christmas. Gee, I wonder what will bring Rocky out of retirement this time? Quality Control at New Line. Millions of copies of the LOTR DVD have...

PHOENIX (AP) -- A high school librarian in Phoenix says a former student at the school returned two overdue books checked out 51 years ago along with a $1,000 money order to cover the fines. Camelback High School librarian Georgette Bordine says the two Audubon Society books checked out in 1959 and the money order were sent by someone who wanted to remain anonymous.

I am interested in reading opinions of others who have researched and/or purchased a digital reader. Looks like Kindle and Sony Reader are the name of the game now, but I heard that Barnes and Noble is coming out with one soon. I'm not so much interested in having the latest best seller as I am in having an adequate selection of good books which are available at a low cost or for free. The portability and ease of use are important criteria. The ability to enlarge print would be especially welcome to these aging eyes. Thanks for your input.

In The Weekly Standard of 11/09/2009, Andrew Ferguson uses the release of Christmas In the Heart as a jumping off point to mock Bob Dylan as an artist generally, to mock those who hold his work in high regard, and, more broadly, to deride baby boomers and baby boomer culture. Now, I don’t much mind knocks against the self-importance of baby boomers (perhaps selfishly, since I’m not one myself) but I feel somewhat obliged to respond to his mockery of Dylan and those who enjoy his work. My sense of obligation might come from the fact that I generally like...

I have 3 weeks of air and ship time starting in a few days and need a good book to read. I'm trying to think of what I'd like to read but have been unable to come up with anything specific. I'm open to most/any suggestions. Thanks

I realize we're in the middle of a depression, and we have a socialist as a president- but that's no excuse not to have a sense of humor. Here are a collection of some of the funniest videos/sites I've ever found on the internet- please post your own and let's all have a good laugh.

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer, The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here." The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die, I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I: O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away"; But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play, The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play, O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play. I went into a theatre as sober as...

Some reviewers have called "Saving Private Ryan," Steven Spielberg's World War II film about D-Day and the search for a soldier, one of the greatest war movies. Military historian Antony Beevor begs to differ. Not only is it not the greatest war movie, it's not even the best cinematic depiction of D-Day, says Beevor, author of the newly published "D-Day: The Battle for Normandy" (Viking). He admires the famed Omaha Beach opening -- "Probably the most realistic battle sequence ever filmed," he said -- but described the rest of "Saving Private Ryan" as "ghastly." "It's sort of a 'Dirty Dozen'...

Apostrophist Corrects Punctuation On Street Signs Stefan Gatward, a 62-year-old accountant, has been called a vandal and graffiti artist after he corrected the punctuation on his street signs. By Chris Irvine 18 Aug 2009 Frustrated by living in "St Johns Close", in Turnbridge Wells, Mr Gatward decided to buy a can of black paint and a craft brush before correcting the name to "St John's Close". Mr Gatward, a former soldier, said: "I think one should stand up for things and language is worth standing up for. The trouble is that everything is dumbed down now. "I've lived on St...

I just heard that Gov Huckabee will do a book signing tomorrow afternoon. Who knew? Compare and contrast with the Palin book tour. My local AM station carries his commentary on their morning show and they will do an interview with him or I would have not even known. The story is not in the online versions of the two local papers I check each morning.

It's one of America's most haunting crime stories: four members of a Kansas family brutally murdered on Nov. 15, 1959, at their rural farmhouse. The slayings of the Clutters — chronicled in Truman Capote's book, "In Cold Blood" — have overshadowed the town of Holcomb for the past half century and the trial and execution of the culprits has brought little, if any, closure. For many townsfolk, the wounds have been slow to heal partly because of Capote's critically acclaimed, nonfiction novel that spawned a new literary genre. The book has been reviled in its birthplace by residents because of...

You know you've made it when you're in the dictionary. But you know you've made it in a humorous way when you appear in the Urban Dictionary. UrbanDictionary.com, which tracks pop culture terms, has added one more: Scozzafavaed. Referring to Dede Scozzafava, the moderate Republican assemblywoman who pulled out of New York's District 23 race and threw her support behind the Democrat. To be "Scozzafavaed", as defined by UrbanDictionary.com, is to be "Purged of moderation, e.g., within in a Congressional district." It can also mean "Inadvertently revealed internal chaos, e.g., within in a political Party." As an adjective: "Doomed due...

Last night was a big night for me! I got to eat my first Shake Shack Burger, purportedly the best burger in Manhattan (if not the world?). It was pretty damn good. Normally I would never eat a burger if it weren’t organic. But restaurateur Danny Meyer seems to know how to handle good food, and I’m glad I took the risk—because it kept me from being hungry while I introduced the Nobel Peace Prize-winning, Honorable Vice President Al Gore at the launch party for his new book Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, published by Rodale.As...

Someday, people will realize that they can demand better buildings and cities, and they will do so. Extraordinarily rich and powerful people will sense a market in flux, will shudder, see their fortunes heading for the door, and tap their politicians on the shoulder. Architects will start making places people like. Look for a tipping point. It could have happened during the redesign process after Sept. 11, 2001. It did not, but it could have. Someday it will. When it does happen, it will not be because millions suddenly read a book called “A Theory of Architecture” (2006) by architectural...

Can we get a liberal journalist to investigate that? Let's wait and see. I doubt we'll get the same kind of curiousity from liberal journalists about that.

Unmentionable: Best-Selling Conservative Books and the Networks that Ignore ThemResearch reveals a glaring imbalance in network coverage of liberal best-sellers and comparable conservative titles. Since the 1940s, an appearance on The New York Times Best-Seller List has been the mark of commercial success for any book. Authors with titles on the list can count on media attention to help sell even more copies. Unless they are conservatives. Conservative books and authors have been very successful recently, as evidenced by their showing on the best-seller list. Since January 2009, conservatives enjoyed 95 total weeks on the list, compared to just 80...

Just an observation after reading this to my kids again. Obama, Oh Marvelous He, is King Yertle. Atlas Shrugged...Mack Burped...same thing. (Story below for those unfortunate enough to not have read it yet, or who might need a refresher). Keeping my eye out for Mack. And would love to see some photoshops of Obama as King Yertle, for those who are so inclined.

2010 is supposed to be the year of many things. I’ve heard it called the year of Android and more recently, the year of the ebook reader.I used to read a lot when I was a kid at the behest of my parents. My mom always tried to enforce a balance between video games and books. That unfortunately stopped as AnandTech took off. Most of my recreational reading turned into trying to understand datasheets or reading other reviews, the rest of the time was spent writing.My first and only ebook reader was Amazon’s Kindle 2, and while it didn’t reinvigorate...

Ayn Rand is one of America's great mysteries. She was an amphetamine-addicted author of sub-Dan Brown potboilers, who in her spare time wrote lavish torrents of praise for serial killers and the Bernie Madoff-style embezzlers of her day. She opposed democracy on the grounds that "the masses"—her readers—were "lice" and "parasites" who scarcely deserved to live. Yet she remains one of the most popular writers in the United States, still selling 800,000 books a year from beyond the grave. She regularly tops any list of books that Americans say have most influenced them. Since the great crash of 2008, her...

[Excerpt] "Sometimes our technology, in creating these securities, outpaces our ability to cope with them." That's what Larry Fink told the New York Times in May 1987 when asked about Howie Rubin's trading disaster. In the past, Fink would have made that statement to a reporter and then celebrated with his team the fact that one of his competitors, particularly one like Merrill Lynch, which he saw as a pesky upstart in the field he aimed to dominate, was now being nailed with massive losses. But Fink wasn't celebrating, because, much like Howie Rubin, he had just gotten his first...

Whenever Ayn Rand met someone new—an acolyte who’d traveled cross-country to study at her feet, an editor hoping to publish her next novel—she would open the conversation with a line that seems destined to go down as one of history’s all-time classic icebreakers: “Tell me your premises.” Once you’d managed to mumble something halfhearted about loving your family, say, or the Golden Rule, Rand would set about systematically exposing all of your logical contradictions, then steer you toward her own inviolable set of premises: that man is a heroic being, achievement is the aim of life, existence exists, A is...

CUNDY'S HARBOR, Maine On the big screen, the leader of the Dead Poets Society at an all-boys prep school was an inspirational teacher played by Robin Williams. In real life, it's a balding amateur poet who drives around in his "Poemobile," visiting and documenting the graves of dead poets and calling attention to their works. Walter Skold, founder of the Dead Poets Society of America, just finished a three-month road trip in which he visited the graves of 150 poets in 23 states. Skold boasts that he set a literary land speed record of 1.66 gpd (graves per day) over...

Stroll casually along the bulging bookshelves of your local bookseller, and you’re sure to see rows and rows of books chronicling the lives and times of the generation of men known reverently to us as the “Founding Fathers.”  These were the fearless men who boldly declared independence from the tyranny of the world’s most formidable empire and then set about establishing the steadfast moorings upon which to build the mightiest republic in the history of the world. This plot of land on the field of history is ripe for scholarship, and there is never an end to the “hows” and...

THE Canada geese were flying in a V formation, cruising about 80km/h above New York City. The aircraft piloted by Captain Chesley Sullenberger was travelling at 340km/h. In the four minutes that followed their collision 915m above the Bronx, the actions of Captain Sullenberger saved the lives of all 155 people aboard the US Airways Airbus A320.*** This week, Captain Sullenberger landed in London to receive the Master's Medal from the Guild of Air Pilots & Air Navigators on behalf of his crew and to tell the full story of his flight into the Hudson on January 15. His arrival...

Beloved cartoonist Berkeley Breathed had an unusual inspiration for his latest children's book, "Flawed Dogs." No it wasn't one of the Santa Barbaran's many rescued pit bulls, but it was one of Michael Vick's infamous dogs who was set to be put down. "The book happened because I came across both a picture and a quote at about the same time -- a picture of one of Michael Vick's fight dogs. It was set to be put down, but a shelter in Utah decided to take the dog and a few others at the same time and try to rehabilitate...

On Wednesday, the producers of the Broadway revival of the play "The Miracle Worker," about the early life of blind and deaf hero Helen Keller, announced that they'd chosen the young actress who will play her on stage this winter: 13-year-old Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin. The decision has unleashed immediate complaints from groups representing blind and deaf actors who feel that an actress from their community should have been considered for the role. Sharon Jensen, executive director of the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, told the New York Times "We do not think it's OK for reputable producers to...

Although the novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker, has surely been one of the most influential works of genre fiction ever written, ironically the central point of the book has nearly always been missed. Fortunately, a new novel co-written by Stoker’s great-grandnephew brings that aspect of the Dracula myth back to its appropriate place of primacy. Stoker’s clear intention in the original novel Dracula was to make the devil, literally Satan, real to readers by depicting a naturally occurring but preternatural stand-in, Count Dracula. This is indicated throughout the book by direct references to Dracula as a devil, and by imagery...

Mrs. O. The Face of Fashion DemocracyReview "The book traces Obama's wardrobe picks, from her wedding to the White House and includes interviews with designers like Maris Pinto, Isabel Toledo and Jason Wu, whose names have become synonymous with White House style' - In Style Magazine Product Description Celebrated for her style and substance, Michelle Obama has transformed the role of first lady and become a 21st century icon, attracting attention from all over the world. The qualities so admired in her - intelligence, strength and charisma - radiate through her personal style, which has united accessibility with high-wattage...

LONDON, England For Saudi Arabia's lone female cartoonist drawing is more than just satire, it's "a duty." "I think men have put women in an unfavorable position in this part of the world. They've put women in an oppressive situation," said Hana Hajjar, who works for the English-language newspaper Arab News. "I feel it is my duty towards women to speak out on their behalf, because I have the tools and venue to do so," she told CNN. Hajjar's drawings both challenge gender roles and critique political policy, often depicting inequality between the sexes and support for the Palestinian people,...

Plenty of celebrities issued crazy statements in their efforts to defend director and rapist Roman Polanski but none went as far as author Gore Vidal did when he labeled Polanski's victim a "young hooker." In an Oct. 28 interview with The Atlantic's John Meroney about a variety of topics, Vidal claimed he didn't "give a f---" about the Polanski case. "Look, am I going to sit and weep every time a young hooker feels as though she's been taken advantage of?" Vidal claimed "there was a totally different story at the time that doesn't resemble anything that we're now being...