Free Republic

The 2015 death of Murdaugh-linked Stephen Smith is now considered to be a murder, South Carolina authorities revealed — ahead of the planned exhumation of the gay teen’s body. The state law enforcement division had been waiting to drop the bombshell development until after the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial wrapped up and the ensuing drama quieted down, Bland Richter Law Firm announced Tuesday. “SLED officials have revealed that they did not need to exhume Stephen Smith’s body to convince them that his death was a homicide,” said Charleston attorneys Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter, who were retained by Smith’s...

For reasons too boring to go into, I have recently inherited custodial duties of the family dog. When Buster first arrived, more than a decade ago, we spent a fair amount of time together. I took responsibility for training him with a rigorous program lasting several weeks. To this day, if you ask him to fetch, sit, roll over, shake hands—any of your basic doggie tasks—he will instantly lie down and close his eyes. In the early days I walked him a lot too. Time passed. Work obtruded. My wife, at home with young children, became Buster’s primary care giver....

Why hasn't a tornado buster missile or bomb been developed or at least tried? I realize that tornadoes are large and quick moving, but if there's enough time to prepare for one there should be enough time to attempt to stop one. Could a shock wave or some sort of electrical pulse wave from a strategically placed missile/bomb launched from a fighter jet stop a tornado, or perhaps disrupt its balance successfully enough to stop it's devastation on the ground?

In late 2009, the Obama administration transferred 55 so-called bunker-buster bombs to Israel. The 5,000-pound bombs conceivably put Israel in the position to attack Iran's buried nuclear facilities--or to target Hezbollah's buried bunkers in Lebanon

Public Employees: The mayor of Chicago and former White house chief of staff asks for union concessions and work rule changes to balance city coffers. Funny, but when Republicans try that, it's a bad thing. No, we have not entered one of those parallel universes, but it's more than passing strange to see President Obama's former chief of staff seeing the writing on the fiscal wall in the Chicago mayor's office and recognizing the fiscal problems unions can cause when entwined with government. Now Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is seeking ways to balance the city budget. Faced with the same...

TULSA, Okla. -- A book that was challenged as inappropriate by the parents of a Union Public Schools elementary school student will remain on library shelves, the district's Board of Education ruled Wednesday night. The board voted 3-1 to keep the book, "Buster's Sugartime," which the parents said was inappropriate because it alluded to a same-sex relationship. The issue went to the board after the parents took their concerns to the district's Materials Review Committee in October. The committee voted 6-1 to keep the book on the school's library shelves. The parents, Don and Mary Danz, then appealed that ruling...

Security: After Iran admits building a second enrichment facility inside a mountain, the Pentagon shifts money from other programs to urgently fund the mother of all bunker-buster bombs. Why the need for speed? At the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh last month, President Obama announced, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility near Qom for several years." U.S. officials said they knew for some time that the facility existed. The announcement was made after U.S. officials learned Iran had told the International Atomic Energy Agency of Qom's existence. Our knowledge of the facility built in...

Security: After Iran admits building a second enrichment facility inside a mountain, the Pentagon shifts money from other programs to urgently fund the mother of all bunker-buster bombs. Why the need for speed? At the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh last month, President Obama announced, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility near Qom for several years." U.S. officials said they knew for some time that the facility existed. The announcement was made after U.S. officials learned Iran had told the International Atomic Energy Agency of Qom's existence. Our knowledge of the facility built in...

Defense: As the failure of engagement with Iran grows more apparent, the administration that has talked very softly may be getting the mother of all sticks ready. Guess we need high-tech Cold War weapons after all.Western intelligence sources have told London's Times that Iran has perfected the means to develop and detonate a nuclear bomb and is merely awaiting word from its supreme leader to produce its first one. Should the order be given, it would take just six months to enrich enough uranium and another six months to assemble the warhead. Time's up. Recently, and perhaps not coincidentally, Defense...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8, 2009 – The Defense Department is developing an advanced “bunker-buster” bomb that should be ready for deployment this summer, senior Pentagon officials said. The department has been “working on technology that allows us to get at deeply buried, hardened targets” since 2004, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters here today. Development of the bomb has taken longer than originally envisioned because of variables in the budget process, Whitman said, adding that it is now back “on track.” Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell yesterday told reporters that the department is developing a massive penetrator bomb designed to pulverize...

From woad warriors to cancer-buster 13:09 14 August 2006 Z NewScientist.com news service Phil Cohen The medieval Scottish rebels made famous in the movie Braveheart used dye from the woad plant to paint their faces blue for battle. Now Italian biochemists say this plant could become a promising weapon in the fight against cancer. The researchers have demonstrated that under the right growth conditions woad (Isatis tinctoria) produces astonishing amounts of glucobrassicin (GBS), a biochemical which may account for some of the cancer-fighting properties of related plants, such as broccoli. “It can make more than 60 times the amount found...

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has abandoned research into a nuclear "bunker-buster" warhead, deciding instead to pursue a similar device using conventional weaponry, a key Republican senator said Tuesday. Sen. Pete Domenici (search), R-N.M., said funding for the nuclear bunker-buster as part of the Energy Department's (search) fiscal 2006 budget has been dropped at the department's request. The nuclear bunker-buster had been the focus of intense debate in Congress, with opponents arguing that its development as a tactical nuclear weapon could add to nuclear proliferation. An administration official, speaking on condition on anonymity because negotiations on the department's spending bill...

DESPITE the intelligence failure that led the Bush administration to believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the Pentagon is pressing ahead with the development of technologies designed to destroy WMDs. Its latest idea is a bomb that can destroy deeply buried WMD storage bunkers by cutting through earth and concrete inside a bubble of air. Traditional "bunker busters" are streamlined bombs that rely on sheer weight to force their way through soil, rock or concrete. But the new design has a blunt nose that forces the earth ahead of it out to the sides, creating a cavity the bomb...

FREEP THIS POLL-PING YOUR LISTS.... Not only will Maine Public Broadcasting air the controversial episode of "Buster"... MPBN spokespeople are taking an extremely condescending attitude and tone when discussing the decision to air the program featuring Buster the Rabbit's visit with a "gay" household with Lesbian Moms. "Deborah Johnson" Spokeswoman for MPBN ...

NHPTV to air cartoon with lesbian moms By Karen Dandurant kdandurant@seacoastonline.com DURHAM - Cartoon character Buster Baxter has won another battle in support of promoting diversity. New Hampshire Public Television has decided to air the controversia* Sugartime" episode of the children’s program "Postcards from Buster." NHPTV will show the episode on March 22 at 10 p.m., a time when the show’s regular audience will likely be asleep. "NH Outlook" host Beth Carroll will introduce the episode, which will air unedited. A spokesperson for NHPTV said the time slot was chosen to give parents the opportunity to record the program, preview...

A mini-controversy has arisen over an episode of “Postcards from Buster,” a children’s program produced for PBS, which features a same-sex couple from Vermont. The Secretary of Education refused to distribute the episode and asked that government funds used to produce it be refunded. In response gay activist Winnie Stachelberg accused the Secretary of denying children “an education about the diversity of American families.” The program is not, as Stachelberg claims, an effort to promote tolerance, but part of a comprehensive campaign by gay activists to change the culture and marginalize those who oppose the redefinition of marriage. Having lost...

February 16, 2005 Under Fire, PBS Leader Will Leave When Contract Ends in '06 By LESLIE WAYNE Under attack from conservatives and liberals and heading a system with significant fund-raising challenges, Pat Mitchell, chief executive of PBS, has announced that she will not renew her contract when it expires in June 2006. Ms. Mitchell, who joined the Public Broadcasting Service in March 2000, confirmed on Monday that she would leave the corporation as its programs have been criticized by members of the Bush administration, most notably Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. A recent decision by Ms. Mitchell to withdraw a children's...

Crazed right-wing moralists, take note: Before SpongeBob, there was Snagglepuss ... and Huckleberry Hound ... and even Popeye. Recent events in the world of animated children's shows have caused people to question whether the cartoon industry is promoting a homosexual agenda. Allegations have been directed at SpongeBob SquarePants for participating in a pro-gay video, and at Buster the Bunny for his fraternization with a lesbian couple and their children. While some have dismissed these allegations as the rantings of ultraconservative Christians, gay cartoon characters do in fact exist, and some of them are even politically active. I recently asked some...

--> Republican representative – Ohio's David Hobson, who chairs the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee – moved to wipe out funds for the program entirely.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to stick the Bay Area with $2.5 billion in Bay Bridge overruns fails to acknowledge that the state's miscalculation of the true costs, not the span's design, created the problem. Schwarzenegger's staff says the Bay Area's desire for a fancy signature span instead of a plain skyway is a major contributor to the fourfold cost increase on the new Bay Bridge. But Caltrans repeatedly missed the mark with its cost estimates that Bay Area decision-makers relied on in picking the bridge design. When the Bay Area selected the suspension design in 1998, Caltrans said it would...