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School plans to layoff 25 faculty and staff members The University of the District of Columbia is asking the city for $4 million to pay for the severance packages of dozens of professors and staff members it wants to lay off. UDC plans to lay off 25 faculty and staff members, and eliminate seven departments and two dozen majors. School officials say it's expensive to eliminate positions because of a strong union presence. The school already eliminated 30 positions. A university spokesperson said the school expects the city to pay for the severance packages because the city ordered UDC to...

Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal entertainment unit is laying off about 500 employees at cable channels, Jay Leno's late-night TV show and the Universal Pictures movie studio, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Monday. The cuts add up to about 1.5 percent of the company's workforce of 30,000 employees, the source said. A large portion of the layoffs occurred at the G4 cable channel, a network about video games and the gaming culture, the source said. Two of the network's shows were recently canceled. Other layoffs occurred about two months ago at "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," which...

Turns Out The Taliban Burn Korans Too In February of this year American troops working at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan burned dozens of their prisoners Korans. Though the Taliban was quick to use the event to inspire locals to kill U.S. troops, it now appears the Islamist militant movement burns Korans as well. Though it is the holy book of Islam, U.S. troops at Bagram prison found inmates were scribbling coded messages to one another in the books margins and destroyed them. Afghan outrage was immense and sparked protests throughout the country; calling into question U.S. policy and troop...

U.S. opening formal probe into GM Volt fire risk Photo 5:46pm EST (Reuters) - U.S. auto safety regulators are opening a formal investigation into fire risks in General Motors' Volt vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Friday it was taking the step after efforts to recreate a May crash test saw fires result from two out of three crash tests performed this month. "While it is too soon to tell whether the investigation will lead to a recall of any vehicles or parts, if NHTSA identifies an unreasonable risk to safety, the agency will take immediate action...

Spike Lee Ridicules Herman Cain: ‘Negro, Please’ Posted By John Nolte On October 19, 2011 @ 3:22 pm In Celebrity News, Politics | 147 Comments The New York Times piece Lee refers to here is the most appalling piece of race-baiting I’ve read in years. You can read my write-up about it at Big Journalism [1]. The reaction the Times was looking for is exactly this kind of thing from Spike Lee.

The "most-recent" proposals cut anywhere from nothing in actual spending (Democrat proposal) for 2012 to $90 billion (Republican.) And neither contains any actual cuts on a forward basis - the Republicans are at least honest about it and say they just "hold discretionary non-defense spending at 2011 levels." That's not a cut in spending.

The responsibility for these horrific murderous acts rest with the Islamist perpetrators. And their Puppet Master. Nor was former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem responsible for the launch of the 2nd jihad Intifada violence:"It [the uprising] had been planned since [PA] Chairman [Yasser] Arafat's return from Camp David, when he turned the tables on the former US president and rejected the American conditions,"--PA Communications Minister Imad Faluji, -March 2, 2001"...it [Intifada] had been planned..."Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount was publicised and known about well in advance. Then used as a pretext to initiate the Intifada that had been...

St. Louis blogger Adam Sharp has posted a series of videos from Van Jones’ recent talk at Washington University. The most exciting clip was when they decided to toss Adam out of the event! But his subsequent posts have been revealing on a number of fronts, including Jones comparing Fox News to Satan. Today Sharp Elbows adds one more clip into the mix. Many of you have followed Glenn Beck‘s analysis of how desperate progressives will begin to drive wedges in this country that may trigger the kind of trouble we’ve watching unfold across Europe. It seems Van Jones is...

9/11/10 Koran burning at Ground Zero captured on video.

By Victor Davis Hanson Everyone is trying to outdo one another in righteous condemnation of the Reverend Terry Jones and his micro-flock, to assure the world that 50 people out of 300 million does not a majority make. That is altogether fine and good, and yet we all know the asymmetry involved — whether it is a scholarly remark made by a pope and the Muslim riots in response, or the policies of many Arab countries forbidding open worship by other religions and, in some cases, the presence of non-Muslims in entire cities. But all that said, our political and...

Is there anyone who has not weighed in on the Saturday night, Sept. 11, bonfire of the Qurans at the Rev. Terry Jones' Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla.? Gen. David Petraeus warns the Quran burnings could inflame the Muslim world and imperil U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Hillary Clinton declares it "disgraceful." Sarah Palin calls it a "provocation." President Obama calls it "a recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida. You could have serious violence in ... Pakistan and Afghanistan," and Muslims could be inspired "to blow themselves up." The State Department has put U.S. embassies on alert in the near 50...

Deridder, LA—Amidst the controversy surrounding the burning of the Quran, Pastor Ima Wright, from the Reach Out And Touch Someone Center in Deridder, Louisiana, has decided to raise the stakes, and destroy the Quran with a nuclear explosion. Pastor Wright came to this conclusion after he told Elective Decisions that God had called at three in the morning with specific instructions to nuke the Quran. So, I sat down with Pastor Wright and we weighed the pros and cons of destroying the Quran with a thermonuclear device...

I can understand people not agreeing with the upcoming “Burn a Koran Day”. But the whole thing has really been blown out of proportion, and people need to stop acting like this is some world crisis. Two of the most recognized people who have spoken out against this day are General Petraeus, and Hillary Clinton. What I want to know is where was their outrage when the US Army burned Bibles?

Westboro Baptist Church, the small Topeka, Kan., church that pickets funerals of American soldiers to spread its message that God is punishing the country for being tolerant of homosexuals, has vowed to hold a Quran burning if Gainesville's Dove World Outreach Center calls its off. "WBC burned the Koran once – and if you sissy brats of Doomed america bully Terry Jones and the Dove World Outreach Center until they change their plans to burn that blasphemous tripe called the Koran, then WBC will burn it (again), to clearly show you some things," the church announced in a news release...

*** Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. After reading the Koran and observing North Africans, he wrote to his wife, "Just finished reading the Koran—a good book and interesting." Patton had a keen eye for native customs and methods, wrote knowingly of local architecture, even rated the progress of word-of-mouth rumor in Arab country at 40–60 miles a day. In spite of his regard for the Koran, he concluded, "To me it seems certain that the fatalistic teachings of Mohammad and the utter degradation of women is the outstanding cause for the arrested development of the Arab. . . . Here, I...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The minister of a Florida church said he has canceled plans to burn copies of the Quran because the leader of a much-opposed plan to build an Islamic Center near ground zero has agreed to move its location. The agreement couldn't be immediately confirmed. The Rev. Terry Jones said Thursday that Americans oppose the mosque being built at the location and that Muslims do not want the Quran burned. He said instead of his plan to burn the books on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11, he will be flying to New York to speak...

In a bold move that is likely to be much discussed in coming days, Fox News said today that it will not cover the burning of the Quran on Saturday if Pastor Terry Jones follows through on his plan to burn copies of Islam's sacred book. The proposed book burning by the Florida minister and his congregation has become a topic of heated conversation and coverage with everyone from President Barack Obama to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and two generals weighing in.

*** I am listening to Sean Hannity and I'm fuming.  He's defending Gen. Petraeus' weak-kneed position on the burning of Korans... and Hannity's not seeing the bigger picture.  "This Koran burning will put our troops in harm's way!" he screams. ??? Ummm, Sean, they already are in harm's way.  And no matter how fierce the fight, how dangerous the battle, that's what our military is trained to do.  That's why they are in "harm's way". Three callers so far.  All three disagree with Sean.  Sean cuts them off, sliding their audio pot down on his switcher to override them, all...

Yesterday, I called on Christian politicians who had opposed, on the grounds of “sensitivity,” the Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan to denounce the insensitivity of the pastor provocateur Terry Jones, who is planning to burn Qurans at his Gainesville, Florida, church on September 11. I also called out Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich by name. Today, Sarah Palin, at least, weighed in. On Twitter, she wrote, “Koran Burning Is Insensitive, Unnecessary; Pastor Jones, Please Stand Down.” On Facebook, she spelled out her position in more detail: Book burning is antithetical to American ideals. People have a constitutional right to...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- FBI agents visited Thursday with a minister of a small Florida church that plans to burn the Quran on Sept. 11, as public safety became a paramount concern and President Barack Obama added his voice to the chorus of opposition. Elsewhere, hundreds of angry Afghans burned an American flag and chanted "Death to the Christians" to protest the planned burning of Islam's holiest text.

I've seen a few threads saying that the preacher who plans on burning the koran is associated w/the church that protests soldier funerals. I had my doubts, so I did a quick google and found this article: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/09/08/2209487/attention-might-fan-quran-flames.html where it describes a member of the westboro church complaining about the florida one because westboro burned korans in DC and no one noticed. The only other stuff I found was on blogs and wiki (which is basically a blog), including the florida church itself. So it may actually be that someone or someones out there is trying to smear this guy...

Here are just a few: "The Holy Koran is sacred, just like the Bible is to Christians," Dr. Mohamed Elsanousi, director of community outreach for the Islamic Society of North America, said in an interview. "Desecration of this book is something people will not tolerate." "Hardball" host Chris Matthews, who called Jones' plans to burn the Islamic holy book "a terrible idea" and warned that it "could cause trouble and even death" when televised in Muslim countries, asked, "What do you think the reaction will be as this goes on international television? What will be the consequence?" "It's obviously intolerant...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- The U.S. State Department has issued a global travel alert to warn citizens of potential anti-U.S. demonstrations over proposed Koran burning event on 9/11.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley this week equated an obscure Florida pastor and his congregants who plan to burn copies of the Koran on Saturday with the Muslim terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on September 11, 2001. “[T]here are a balance of interests here. But this, in our view, has the potential to inflame public opinion around the world in a way that will jeopardize American lives and American interests. It does not represent our core values as Americans. We hope it does not happen. We hope that between now and Saturday, there’ll be a range of voices...

The Koran burning and the Ground Zero mosque are the same thing. They are both legal, and they are both wrong. They are impolite, cruel and hurtful, and protected by the Constitution. Good people would do neither. But good people aren’t behind either. Yes, the loony pastor in Florida is wrong to burn Korans as a protest. But, yes, for the exact same reasons, the loony imam in New York is wrong to put a mosque within the blood splatter of Ground Zero. Yet, ironically, the Obama Administration calls one action “protected” and the other “idiotic.” And the same people...

The small Florida church that has sparked global outrage with its plan to hold a Koran-burning event had its website pulled from the Internet on Thursday by its host. Dan Goodgame, a spokesman for the San Antonio, Texas-based web hosting firm Rackspace, told AFP the evangelical Dove World Outreach Center church had, "violated the Offensive Content section of its Acceptable Use policy." SNIP Goodgame said officials from the web hosting firm had spoken with Jones on Wednesday afternoon and informed him that he had until midnight to migrate to another site after complaints about "hate speech." "It was a fairly...

A Bad Idea International Burn a Koran Day By: Chuck Colson|Published: September 8, 2010 5:00 AM Remembering the terrorist attacks of 9/11 is something we should do. But there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to do it. Pastor Terry Jones’s thoughts about Islam are simple and direct. The title of his book says it all: Islam is of the Devil. The same thought is on a sign outside of his church, the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, and on the T-shirts and coffee mugs the church sells. In order to raise greater awareness of the dangers of Islam,...

LAKE JACKSON, Texas - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Congressman Ron Paul today issued the following statement about a Florida pastor's plan to ban copies of the Quran on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. "A professed Christian pastor in Gainesville, Florida, Terry Jones, plans to burn copies of the Quran on 9/11. He indicts all Islam for 9/11 and argues that it is a hate-driven religion. He's convinced he's on God's side even though he is getting little support from other Christians, who believe that Jesus is the Prince of Peace..... ...our policies of torture, targeted assassination, invasion of...

Hi gang, nice to be back. Unfortunately, as I describe further in today’s column, it’s like I never left. In the column, I suggest we can assess the silliness of the rationalizations of the Ground Zero mosque by applying them to Pastor Terry Jones’s similarly provocative Koran-burning escapade — entirely legal, but a gratuitously offensive thing to do.But that doesn’t begin to cover how vapid the commentary continues to be, particularly from the commander-in-chief — as President Obama took pains to remind us he is in an interview by George Stephanopoulos this morning.According to Obama, Jones’s “stunt” (a fair...

As U.S. President Barack Obama condemned a Florida pastor's proposed public Koran burning, another minister planned a similar demonstration to mark the anniversary of Sept. 11, The Tennessean reported Thursday. Rev. Bob Old of Springfield, Tenn. -- just 30 miles (48 km) north of Nashville -- said he intended to set fire to a Koran at his home Saturday and post a video of the burning Muslim holy book online. "If they want to have their religion, they can have it somewhere else," Old reportedly said of Muslims. "I believe that other religions are a threat to our faith and...

In a loud voice, looney-toons style, "DON'T BURN THAT KORAN... THER'LL BE HELL TO PAY!" Oh really... some thoughts on that... When the senator from Utah proclaimed, "This war is lost", did any military general spout off, "hey this kind of talk could get our soldiers killed"? When John Kerry claimed "our soldiers were terrorizing women and children in the dead of night", did any military spokesman speak with any concern, that this kind of talk may increase the dangers for our military. When John Mertha said our marines murdered in cold blood, did any military brass denounce his claim...

The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, plans to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington by burning copies of the Koran. Taking a LIBERAL stance on this issue, and using the democrats same argument to defend the building of the mosque near ground zero… I think its fine for them to burn the Koran, as long as they follow all the zoning laws and have proper permits to do so. It’s more or less “A ZONING ISSUE” I think… Those who stand in the way of burning these books are...

‘Burn the Quran Day’ Plan Prompts Warnings of Anger, Unrest Wednesday, August 25, 2010 By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) – The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has joined the growing condemnation of plans by a Florida church to burn copies of the Quran on the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. A spokesman for the Jeddah-based bloc of Islamic states expressed concern Tuesday that the planned action by the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville would stir up “anger across the Muslim world and provoke unrest.” The OIC said it hoped the U.S. government would “take...

Britain's left-of-center daily - "The Guardian" - has reported that former international environmental lawyer Polly Higgins has launched a new campaign urging the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to deem environmental damage on par with genocide and crimes against humanity in international courts. "Supporters of a new ecocide law also believe it could be used to prosecute ‘climate deniers' who distort science and facts to discourage voters and politicians from taking action to tackle global warming and climate change," Juliette Jowit, "Guardian's" environmental editor wrote April 9. "Higgins makes her case for ecocide to join that list with...

The earlier,(now locked,) thread, located here, according to some, was a bit long and too complicated to follow. This is the main thrust of Part II of The Free Republic Rino Free America Project. Though the earlier thread is closed for replies, it can be read if you are curious. In the meantime, we start over. We start leaner and meaner, and we are Free Republic. We don't give up. We don't give in. And we do NOT back down. This is PART II of the RINO FREE AMERICA PROJECT!!! CALLING ALL FREEPERS AND STATE MESSAGE BOARDS TO ACTION!!!(Approved and...

Inflationary Pause Before The Deflationary Collapse Economics / Great Depression II Dec 31, 2009 - 12:54 PM By: Janet Tavakoli Washington's Bipartisan Betrayal: The 2015 Global Financial Crisis - The time has come for new year's resolutions. The House passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173) on December 11, 2009. It gives $4 trillion in "emergency funding" to our largest banks during the next financial crisis. Instead of reform, Congress offers even bigger bailouts. Unless we change direction, we will have another crisis by 2015. Congress has made all the wrong moves to guarantee...

Amongst the several revenue-raising proposals in President Obama’s $3.9-trillion budget proposal is a carbon tax that will impact all American families. His budget aims to raise $646 billion through a cap-and-trade tax on energy. Last year, Peter Orszag, who was then Director of the Congressional Budget Office and is now President Obama’s Director for the Office of Management and Budget, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on a similar proposal. Speaking about a cap-and-trade proposal to cut carbon emissions by 15%, he said it would cost the average household about $1,300 a year through higher energy costs. He...

Link only.

One of the nation’s most influential African-American political leaders sharply criticized former President Bill Clinton on Thursday afternoon for what he called his “bizarre” conduct during the Democratic primary campaign. The black leader, Representative James E. Clyburn, an undeclared superdelegate from South Carolina and the third-ranking Democrat in the House, said “black people are incensed over all of this,” referring to statements Mr. Clinton has made in the course of the heated race between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. Black leaders widely criticized Mr. Clinton after he equated the eventual victory of Mr. Obama in the South Carolina...

SAN FRANCISCO - Burning Man became Burnt Man four days early on Tuesday, and a San Francisco performance artist was arrested on suspicion of igniting the signature figure of the counterculture festival in the remote Nevada desert. The early morning fire scorched about 85 percent of the structure, Burning Man spokeswoman Andie Grace said. Event engineers decided it would be best to dismantle it and rebuild a less elaborate version, accomplishing in two days what normally takes weeks so the figure would be finished in time for Saturday night's scheduled burning, she said. The approximately 40-foot-tall wood and neon structure...

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said Friday that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is paying an eternal and deserved punishment for his brutal life's work. "You sure wouldn't want to be where Saddam Hussein is, where we helped put him," Giuliani said during a campaign stop in eastern Iowa in which he praised President Bush's war on terrorism but acknowledged that mistakes have been made in Iraq. During a town-hall meeting with some 100 people, the former New York city mayor was asked to compare what Saddam and former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld did in the war. Giuliani paused...

So affirms Carlos Aguiar Retes, Secretary-General of the Conference of the Mexican Episcopate, which at this moment cannot demand anything of López Obrador, who appears in second place in the vote count, and asks that he accept his defeat. The Catholic Church called on presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the leadership of the PRD for prudence, to not ignite the country and to respect the final loss that the Electoral Tribunal renders on Sunday's presidential election. In a press conference, the Secretary General of the Conference of Mexican Episcopate (CEM), Carlos Aguiar Retes, indicated that at the moment...

THE Republican majority in the US Senate has failed by just one vote to amend the constitution to ban desecration of the national flag. The motion was backed by 66 votes, one short of the two thirds majority need to get a constitutional amendment passed. Thirty-four senators voted against. The measure, backed by President George W. Bush, had been promoted by the Republican majority as it tries to rally its conservative base ahead of key congressional elections in November.

Mexican flag burned after week of protests Associated Press Mar. 31, 2006 07:10 AM Tensions over immigration got a little heated Thursday in Apache Junction. A Mexican flag was brought to school by a Hispanic student in response to what he said was a racist remark directed at him the day before. After he and other students raised the flag on the school's flagpole, the newspaper said another group of students took it down and burned it. The burning and ensuing shoving match between the two groups of students happened before most students arrived at the school. The school's principal...

MIDI - (They) CALL THE WIND MARIAH Get ready for what is in store from our peaceful religion Cartoonists, we are watching you...we'll respond as is tradition If you're Norwegian or a Dane, your actions drive us wild Compared to riots in L.A., you'll find out they were mild Moe Hammid...Moe Hammid...we'll torch you for Moe Hammid Your embassies are firewood...if that is what we're choosing In Europe the great war is on...Europeans will be losing You do not get a second chance...you're subject to beheading If you should draw the prophet, then that is what you'll be getting...

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - This cat used up his nine lives. Fire officials are blaming a 20-pound cat for starting a town of Washington house fire that caused about $25,000 damage. The gray and white cat apparently jumped on an electric range in the basement of a two-story home at about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday and turned on the push-button control, said Darrell Christy, the fire department's chief of operations. Plastic containers on top of the range smoldered. "We eliminated everything except for the cat," Christy said. A smoke detector alerted at least three people in the home, who were not...

ehran, Iran, Jan. 09 – A dozen senior commanders of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) died in a plane crash in northwest Iran on Monday, a government spokesman announced. A Falcon jet belonging to the IRGC crashed 13 kilometres southeast of Lake Orumieh, killing all 15 passengers on board. They included seven members of the General Command of the IRGC Ground Forces. The commanders who died in the crash included Brigadier General Ahmad Kazemi, commander of the IRGC Ground Forces and a rising star in Iran’s radical Islamist military, Brigadier General Saeed Mohtadi, commander of the IRGC’s 27...

French police turn on Chirac as officer jailed By Kim Willsher in Paris and Henry Samuel in Bobigny (Filed: 13/11/2005) After 16 nights battling urban violence by rioters, Jacques Chirac's government is confronting angry new protests - from the police themselves. Firefighters extinguish a burning car in Strasbourg Officers at the forefront of attempts to control the wave of riots and arson attacks across France are furious at moves to prosecute policemen accused of assaulting a youth. As officers were deployed in force in Paris yesterday following a call on weblogs for a mass demonstration, the police union described the...

AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France (Reuters) - With every night that France's rundown suburbs burn, officials grow increasingly convinced that drug traffickers and Islamist militants are using frustrated youths to challenge law and order here. ADVERTISEMENT Many people who watch their cars, shops and schools go up in flames, however, are not buying it. They blame unemployment, racial prejudice and widespread youth boredom for the outbursts. Finding "hidden hands" behind the unrest seems like trying to catch the rioters as they rampage through the night. Some may get caught, but far more slip away in the darkness. "Everybody is fed up seeing our...

The desecration of Taliban dead prompts outrage in Afghanistan There simply wasn't enough room on the rocky hilltop above Gonbaz village in southern Afghanistan for the U.S. platoon and the corpses of the two Taliban fighters. The Taliban men had been killed in a firefight 24 hours earlier, and in the 90 degree heat, their bodies had become an unbearable presence, soldiers who were present have told TIME. Nor was the U.S. Army unit about to leave — the hilltop commanded a strategic view of the village below where other Taliban were suspected to be hiding. Earlier, Lt. Eric Nelson,...