Free Republic

The Guardian conducted an interview with Alvin Greene, somebody I’d almost like to see get elected to the US Senate just for the material he’d provide. The article covered Greene’s ideas on job creation. How would the Democrat running against Republican Jim DeMint go about creating some jobs? By making and selling action figures of himself. Good lord, why didn’t someone think of this sooner? It is clear, too, in the course of the two hours I spend with Greene that he has some pretty wacky ideas that, were he to win in November, would put him among the more...

52 cats and one dog were removed from the home of a 76 year old Elkhart woman Tuesday by Elkhart Police Department's animal control officer and Humane Society workers. Elkhart Humane Society Assistant Director Rachel Dennis says the cats and dog are all in poor health, suffering from respiratory problems, matted eyes and infested with insects. Adult Protective Services was called to assist the 76 year old woman who was living in the feces covered trailer. The woman is now living with a family member. Elkhart Police say a maintenance worker at Four Season Trailer Park flagged down an animal...

Does anyone have a link to the real TV schedule of Olympic events so we don't have to watch the junk to get to the good stuff.

Scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown how transplanted stem cells can connect with and rescue threatened neurons and brain tissue. The results point the way to new possible treatments for brain damage and neurodegenerative diseases. A possible strategy for treating neurodegenerative diseases is to transplant stem cells into the brain that prevent existing nerve cells from dying. The method has proved successful in different models, but the mechanisms behind it are still unknown. According to one hypothesis, the stem cells mature into fully-mature neurons that communicate with the threatened brain tissue; according to another, the stem...

Watertown, MA—Scientists at Boston Biomedical Research Institute (BBRI) and the University of Pennsylvania have found that combining two chemicals, one of which is the green tea component EGCG, can prevent and destroy a variety of protein structures known as amyloids. Amyloids are the primary culprits in fatal brain disorders such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's diseases. Their study, published in the current issue of Nature Chemical Biology (December 2009), may ultimately contribute to future therapies for these diseases. "These findings are significant because it is the first time a combination of specific chemicals has successfully destroyed diverse forms of amyloids...

For A.J. and Lisa Demaree, the photos they snapped of their young daughters were innocent and sweet. But after a photo developer at Walmart thought otherwise, the Demarees found themselves in a yearlong battle to prove they were not child pornographers. "I don't' understand it at all," A.J. Demaree told Good Morning America Monday. "Ninety-nine percent of the families in America have these exact same photos." The eight photos in question were among a batch of 144 family photos the Demarees had taken to their local Walmart. The developer alerted the police and the investigation into child pornography began in...

It was a time that truth may have slipped out, in an unguarded moment. Fresh from the National Security Briefing which is given to two men- one of whom will become President in a few weeks- and apparently confided to their running mates as well, a nervous Joe Biden approached the microphones. He had presumably heard something which had given him a dry mouth and wet pants, and so felt that the secret must be immediately compromised, in order to show how seriously he takes security. "Mark my words, Barack will be challenged in the next six months. And it...

WATERBURY, Vt. -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman. "PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says. PETA officials say a move to...

"Paulo Melo, 29, has been in a coma at the Royal Darwin Hospital for two weeks, after severing his spinal cord in a car crash." - read more below: doctor requested, family objected, court granted

Barry M. Goldwater, Jr. endorsed Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul for president. “America is at a crossroads,” said Mr. Goldwater. “We have begun to stray from our traditions and must get back to what has made us the greatest nation on earth or we will lose much of the freedom we hold dear. Ron Paul stands above all of the other candidates in his commitment to liberty and to America.” “Leading America is difficult, and I know Ron Paul is the man for the job,” he added.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with a certain type of brain damage are known to develop new artistic skills during their illness. A "before and after" look at one such patient's artwork offers some clues as to what is going on when this occurs.The condition known as frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) occurs when sections of the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain deteriorate, leading to dementia. There have been reports of previously inartistic people becoming talented visual artists after developing FTLD. But it is not clear whether the brain atrophy is releasing dormant talent, or the disease itself...

Atlanta, GA (LifeNews.com) -- Using pulses of electric current, a team of doctors reportedly restored some of a brain-damaged man's speech and movement. The process gives hope to incapacitated patients like Terri Schiavo that more research in this area could lead to the ability to bring people out of comas or improve their conditions. The team of neuroscientists was able to treat a 38 year-old assault victim who had barely been conscious for a period of six years. Using the treatment, he was gradually able to use his left arm and was able to utter coherent words for the first...

The maker of a controversial movie that portrays President Bush as an assassination victim admits he hid his true intentions from White House officials in order to film footage of the commander in chief on a visit to Chicago. Gabriel Range, the 32-year-old British director of "Death of a President," told the Los Angeles Times his crew received official White House press credentials by proving they were affiliated with Britain's Channel 4, which will air the film this fall. Range, who filmed the president's arrival at the airport and his speech to the Economic Club of Chicago, spent six months...

Michael Savage went weiner on Israel. Earlier this week, he claimed that the "Palestinians" (who are really just Arabs) are descendants of the Philistines and the Canaanites and that they had once been the rulers of Eretz Yisrael since "time immemorial" (a phrase he stole from Joan Peters, since she wrote on this issue), and that their claim to "Palestine" is equal to that of the Jewish people. He also blasted Israel for overreacting and killing "innocent civilians."

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A 14-year-old who was sucked to the bottom of a hotel hot tub and kept under water for at least seven minutes was likely saved by air his father breathed into his mouth during the ordeal. Aljuwon Pipkin, who was visiting Walt Disney World from New Jersey, became stuck at the bottom of the hot tub last Thursday at the Radisson Parkway Hotel. Officials said a grate at the bottom of the tub apparently broke and created a strong suction that pulled the teen underwater. Click here to find out more! Pipkin's father was at the pool...

A neurologist from Washington, D.C., an autonomic nervous system specialist from Philadelphia and a neuron-psychologist and psycho-pharmacologist -- both from Manhattan -- have spent a lot of time with Steven Domalewski lately.  They, and others, have been at his bedside in a Paterson hospital, using cutting-edge treatments while trying to bring the 12-year-old pitcher out of a coma."He's progressing at a really good rate," Dr. Philip De Fina said Friday. "He has definitely improved. His alertness has improved. His dad has been feeding him little bits of Italian ice, and he's breathing very well on his own."  De Fina...

The case of Terry Wallis, an Arkansas man who suddenly woke up from a 19-year long coma, has raised new questions about the death of Terri Schiavo, who died last year after a court ordered her feeding tube to be disconnected. Wallis fell into his coma in 1984 after a serious car accident. At the time he was 19. According to LifeSiteNews.com, the doctors who have studied the Wallis case have published their initial conclusions in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The report explains that during the car accident Walls’ nerve connections in his brain were severed, putting him in...

Live and learn -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: July 7, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com During the Terri Schiavo debate, there were some cynics, including her estranged husband, who proclaimed the brain-injured woman had no chance to recover or even improve her condition. It would take a miracle, they said. And they didn't believe in miracles. Now a university study of a man who recovered after spending 19 years in a minimally conscious state is suggesting such miracles do happen. In 1984, 19-year-old Terry Wallis was thrown from his pick-up truck near his Massachusetts home. He was not found until about...

Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters, who inspired the rock band's iconic album "The Wall," scrawled "tear down the wall" on the concrete panels of Israel's West Bank barrier on Wednesday. The barrier was the first stop on a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories for Waters, who had been criticized by some fans for planning to play a concert in Israel. "It's a horrific edifice, this thing," Waters told reporters as he stood beside a section of the barrier in Bethlehem. "I've seen pictures of it, I've heard a lot about it but without being here you can't imagine...

No wait, not 6. To hell with that. Make it 10. Ten bucks a gallon, no matter what the going rate for a barrel of light, sweet crude. That would so completely, violently, brilliantly do it. Revolutionize the country. Firebomb our pungent stasis. Change everything. Don't you agree? Here's what we could do: Give gas discounts to cabdrivers (at least initially), metro transit systems and low-income folks, those who have to drive their busted-up '78 Honda Civics to their jobs scrubbing restaurant toilets and flipping burgers and vacuuming the residual cocaine from the seat cushions of numb SUV owners. Everyone...

On the opening of last night's edition of Countdown, host Keith Olbermann said "now he can wizz all over himself instead of everybody else" on the subject of Rush Limbaugh's mandatory random drug test...

More than Low Class? Claims that "Sacred" art in Catholic Churches is inspired by the Devil himself! A new documentary, "Rape of the Soul", claims to "explore the prevalent use of satanic, sexual, and occult and anti-Catholic images in historical and contemporary religious artwork. The film also discusses the acceptance of the artwork at the highest and most trusted levels of the Catholic Church... ..."Artists from DaVinci to Botticelli have imbedded subliminal images into their art for centuries, said Calace...In this case we found penises on crucifixes, anarchy symbols, swastikas, demonic faces and in modern works even the word 'sex'...

Can parents compel their minor children to attend college, if the children have completed the high school requirement?

Conservative pundits love to lecture liberals on "personal responsibility" and "government interference in our daily lives." Apparently it's just rhetoric. Republicans are now taking aim at free speech in our universities by proposing to give students the power to censor their teachers when they feel offended. I wonder if they are even aware of the irony as they attack the very thing our flag represents. How about a solution to the threat of "liberalism" more in line with conservative rhetoric? If our children are mature enough to fight and die in our wars, certainly they can take personal responsibility for...

Family Fights To Take Toddler Home Chris Frank Life Or Death Battle Feb. 28-A life or death decision could be hanging in the balance for a child. Little Brett Shively Junior was rushed to the hospital after a terrible accident where he nearly drowned in a bathtub. Now his family is fighting to bring the little boy home. A hearing is scheduled Wednesday in District Court to decide whether or not a Wichita hospital can remove the ventilator keeping the two year old boy alive. Brett's family says, "We just believe that we're the best people to decide his care."...

Hannity had a thread today, now Savage has one too

SACRAMENTO, Calif.— Agents have seized more than $2.6 billion worth of marijuana plants this year, already surpassing last year's season total by 20 percent, authorities said. The state Department of Justice's annual Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, or CAMP, is still a month away from wrapping up operations after the season peak at the end of September. The raids, many in remote, forested terrain, pit agents against often heavily armed guards protecting their marijuana plots. About three weeks ago, a grower was shot dead and a state Fish and Game warden was wounded during a raid on a 22,000-plant pot farm...

There currently exists controversy concerning smoking marijuana as a medicine. Many well-intentioned leaders and members of the public have been misled, by the well financed and organized pro-drug legalization lobby, into believing there is merit to their argument that smoking marijuana is a safe and effective medicine. A review of the scientific research, expert medical testimony and government agency findings shows this to be erroneous. There is no justification for using marijuana as medicine. The California Narcotics Officers' Association consists of over 7,000 criminal justice professionals who are dedicated to protecting the public from the devastating effects of substance abuse,...

Newborn 'cooling Cap' to Fight Brain Damage Nearing Market The Associated Press Published: Jun 17, 2005 WASHINGTON (AP) - A device that chills newborns' brains moved a step closer to the market Friday: The government's scientific advisers ruled the Cool-Cap may help stave off brain damage in certain infants deprived of oxygen at birth. But the Food and Drug Administration advisers said Olympic Medical Corp.'s Cool-Cap would have to be sold under careful conditions to be sure the emerging technology really helps. The FDA isn't bound by its advisers' recommendations but typically follows them. Research shows that mild hypothermia -...

The public is well aware that if you end up on a terrorist watch list, you may be prevented from flying commercially in the U.S. We go to great lengths to safeguard our skies. Unfortunately, we don’t take the same precautions when someone known or suspected to be a terrorist purchases a gun. Currently, there are nine factors that prevent a gun purchase from being approved during a background check. These factors range from a dishonorable discharge in the military to conviction for a felony. Unbelievably, being a known or suspected terrorist is not one of those nine factors. In...

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Scott Thomas' mother tells FCN his wife plans to put him in hospice and remove his feeding tube if she gains custody of him in two weeks. In the two conversations FCN has had with his wife, she would not confirm those are her plans.

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- 34-year old Scott Thomas married Liza Thomas in 2001. They bought a home and had a baby boy. But one September day, paramedics found Scott on his kitchen floor with several hairline fractures down the left side of his head. Scott spent two months in a coma. Scott's mom, Pamela Patton, says Liza had plans to put Scott in Community Hospice of Northeast Florida, so she filed for temporary guardianship in November and won. For months, Pamela took care of Scott in her home, and worked with him every day. "He watches you, he listens, he smiles,...

Case Similar to Terri Schiavo's Has Wife Deciding Her Husband's Fate by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor May 15, 2005 Jacksonville, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A case similar to that of Terri Schiavo has a Florida woman holding her husband's fate in her hands. Schiavo's family is calling on Jacksonville resident Eliza Thomas to allow her husband to live. Scott Thomas suffered brain injury in September of 2004 and has since been incapacitated and dependent on others. As with Terri, Scott's wife is seeking to move him to a hospice and remove the gastric tube that provides him with food and water....

Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation Urges Wife of Disabled Jacksonville Man to Err on the Side of LifeTo: National DeskContact: Pamela F. Hennessy for the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, 727-445-1766, phenn@zimp.orgCLEARWATER, Fl., May 14 /Christian Wire Service/ –- The volunteers with the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, along with the family of Terri Schiavo, are urging Jacksonville, Florida resident, Eliza Thomas, to allow her 34 year old husband to live.The Foundation has learned that Scott Thomas suffered brain injury in September of 2004 and has since been incapacitated and dependent on others. His mother, Pamela Patton, has petitioned the courts for guardianship of the...

Schiavo-like Woman in Recovery Miracle A severely brain-damaged Kansas woman who couldn't talk or feed herself after a car accident two years ago has inexplicably regained those abilities, confounding the predictions of doctors. Tracy Gaskill, 30, began speaking and swallowing about three weeks ago, family members and medical personnel told the Associated Press. Gaskill had suffered head trauma and internal injuries after her car rolled over on a highway in September 2002.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) - Ten years after a firefighter was left brain-damaged and mostly mute during a 1995 roof collapse, he did something that shocked his family and doctors: He perked up. "I want to talk to my wife," Donald Herbert said out of the blue Saturday. Staff members of the nursing home where he has lived for more than seven years raced to get Linda Herbert on the telephone. It was the first of many conversations the 44-year-old patient had with his wife, four sons and other family and friends during a 14-hour stretch, said Herbert's uncle, Simon...

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - Nearly 9½ years after a firefighter was left brain-damaged and mostly mute during a 1995 roof collapse, he did something that shocked his family and doctors: He asked for his wife. advertisement Staff members of the nursing home where Donald Herbert has lived for more than seven years raced to get Linda Herbert on the telephone. It was the first of many conversations the patient had with his wife, four sons and other family and friends Saturday during a 14-hour stretch, Herbert’s uncle Simon Manka said. “How long have I been away?” Herbert asked. “We told...

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- A firefighter brain-damaged in a 1995 roof collapse had an "amazing" weekend, recognizing and speaking with his four sons and other family and friends for the first time in years, a family spokesman said Monday. "I want to talk to my wife," Donald Herbert said out of the blue Saturday at the skilled nursing facility where he has lived for more than seven years. Staff members put Linda Herbert on the telephone. It was the first of many conversations he had during a 14-hour stretch, Herbert's uncle, Simon Manka said. "How long have I been away?"...

-snip- A St. Cloud area man who suffered a brain injury in an April 8 altercation at a St. Cloud nightclub died Tuesday afternoon, more than a week after he was removed from life support. Justin W. Smiley, 28, of Sauk Rapids, died about 1 p.m. at the St. Cloud Hospital, his aunt, Pam Heldt, said Tuesday. "We're feeling a lot of relief right now that he's finally at peace," Heldt said. -snip- Janelle Kendall, the Stearns County Attorney, said an autopsy is scheduled for today. She said her office is awaiting the results of the autopsy before making a...

The execution of Terri Schiavo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: April 4, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 Creators Syndicate, Inc. Terri Schiavo is dead. She did not die a natural death, unless you believe a court order to cut off food and water to a disabled woman until she dies of starvation and thirst is natural. No, Terri Schiavo was executed by the state of Florida. Her crime? She was so mentally disabled as to be unworthy of life in the judgment of Judge George Greer. The execution was carried out at Woodside Hospice. An autopsy will reveal that Terri's vital organs...

Rick and Tamie Hollis think they know how Terri Schiavo's parents feel. Their son, Dustin Hollis, now 22, suffered brain damage in a 2003 motorcycle accident in Oklahoma City. Unresponsive for months, fed through a tube in his side, he was not expected to improve, and his parents were repeatedly told to face the facts. "Against the advice of all of the doctors and medical experts, we brought him home," Rick Hollis said Friday. "The doctors said he was in a semi-comatose state. They said we would probably kill him." Instead, he has made gradual progress, and his improvement and...

ENDING THE MADNESS by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher March 25, 2005 Now that the Supreme Court of the United States has once again justifiably rejected the pathetic puppy-dog pleas of Bob and Mary Schindler (right) to have the feeding tube of their daughter Terri Schiavo reinserted, they need to just let go and let their daughter slip away from this life into the next. As it stands, Terri is faced with two kinds of unspeakable agony; one, being wilting away from lack of food and water, and the other being indefinitely trapped in a body that has in fact...

John J. Paris, S.J., is professor of bioethics at Boston College, in Massachusetts. ONCE AGAIN A "RIGHT TO DIE" case has captured national attention. What brought the issue to the fore this time were actions by some members of the family of Hugh Finn and by Governor James S. Gilmore 3rd of Virginia, who sought to block the removal of a feeding tube from Mr. Finn, who was being cared for in a nursing home in Virginia. The facts in the case are relatively straightforward. Hugh Finn, a popular, 44-year-old news anchorperson in Louisville, Ky., ruptured his aorta in 1995...

Thanks to the efforts of members and lurkers on Free Republic and their friends with pro-life email lists around the country, a baby's life was saved last August. An urgent request for adoption by a sidewalk counselor in Glendale California was posted here August 24, 2004 (original post). The single mother was told her baby had Downs Syndrome and for that reason no one would want to adopt her baby. Our Blessed friend in Glendale was eventually flooded with over 600 emails from Freepers and their friends willing to adopt the baby. The mother was so overwhelmed that she decided...

Car boot woman may be brain damaged February 18, 2005 - 8:09PM The condition of Melbourne woman Maria Korp, found near death in the boot of a car, has improved but she remains on life support. Doctors said Mrs Korp was now in a serious but stable condition five days after being found unconscious and in a critical condition. The 50-year-old Mickleham mother of two was found in the car near Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance on Sunday, four days after she was reported missing. A spokesman for The Alfred hospital said Mrs Korp had been taken off the critical list...

No one knows how aware Engelhardt is or whether she knew what was happening in the courtroom yesterday. Engelhardt nearly died after the crash and lingered for months in a coma, breathing only with the help of a respirator. She eventually regained consciousness. But her future is uncertain, Teves told DelVecchio.

Prez battles deadly blood infection, possible permanent brain damage Bill Clinton Bill Clinton is secretly fighting serious health problems. The ex-President's recovery from heart bypass surgery has been far more difficult than the public has been told. And The ENQUIRER has uncovered bombshell news: Clinton may have suffered permanent brain damage. What's more, The ENQUIRER has also exclusively learned that he has been battling a deadly blood infection. That's the REAL story behind the recent disclosure that Clinton will not be campaigning extensively for Sen. John Kerry as the November presidential elections nears. PHYSICALLY WEAK Insiders who have seen Clinton...

Bush fails to fund brain cancer research. Tooters newswire : 10-14-2004 Vice-Presidential candidate John Edwards today charged that the Bush administration has failed to invest enough federal resources for the study of the relationship between brain use and debilitating diseases. Edwards said that Bush actually attempted to cut funding to the Cranial Research and Analysis Program (C.R.A.P.). Edwards said, "When John Kerry is president we have a plan to address this. We will not only fully fund research programs such as this but we will introduce new programs which will remove the need the american public to engage in cranial...

Because what the world really needs now is more uptight little companies from Utah that will help us all block out the random messy naked blood n' guts of the world. Companies that will, without anyone asking them to, protect us from media evildoers and exposed flesh and scary exploding things and that part in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" wherein the universe is blessed, for the briefest of moments, with the joy of Kate Winslet's radiant nipples. This is what is happening. This is the happy godlike agenda of Utah's ClearPlay, a twee and shrill little corporation that...