Free Republic

NBC's Revolution (Mondays, 10 p.m. ET/PT) features swordfights, gun-fights, and crossbow fights, chases on horseback, chases on trains, and chases on foot. .... the show’s politics can plausibly be interpreted as Hollywood’s stereotype of a Tea Party worldview ...The show manages a degree of sophistication without ever becoming obscure. On one hand, it’s clear that Monroe and Neville are baddies, that Miles is an honorable rogue in the mode of Han Solo, and that the crossbow-wielding Charlie is a retread of the Hunger Games’s Katniss Everdeen. On the other hand, flashbacks to before and just after the blackout show the...

The Barack-and-Bill double act on display this fall marks a new and intriguing phase in a psychological entanglement so rich that if Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung were alive, they would surely be squabbling over it instead of Sabina Spielrein’s hysteria. No one close to Obama or Clinton even bothers with the pretense that there is any real affection between them. But most concur with the assessment of a Democratic operative with tentacles deep in both worlds: that “the relationship today is totally transactional—and highly functional.”

TinyURL Link (cold): http://tinyurl.com/82acmxs New pictures of the China's J-20 Mighty Dragon stealth fighter have surfaced and are making their way across military blogs. This newest round of photos show the J-20 in the skies somewhere over mainland China. [Link: Image Link. ] The prototype is said to be using the Saturn AL-31 turbofan engine developed by the Russians for their Su-27 air superiority fighter. ...... The J-20's development is also moving along much faster than anyone had expected. Back in 2009, Gen. He Weirong, deputy commander of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force said in a TV interview that...

As oil prices creep back above $100 a barrel, Senate Democrats are dusting off a plan first unveiled in 2008 to take away federal leases from oil companies that rent federal land but don’t use it for drilling and exploration. The revived bill, which is co-sponsored by Sens. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Bill Nelson of Florida and Charles Schumer of New York, would charge oil companies an extra fee on every acre they are not using for energy production and would force companies to show that they are actively seeking energy sources in the area.

Independent News & Media is likely to close its flagship London title The Independent by Christmas, the publishing group's second biggest shareholder Denis O'Brien said on Friday. "There's no point in us as a company subsidising a newspaper that really nobody wants to read in the United Kingdom," O'Brien told Bloomberg TV in an interview on the sidelines of the Global Irish Economic Forum. "It's not a relevant newspaper anymore and this newspaper's going to be closed by Christmas,"said O'Brien, who has been at odds with the company's board over plans to refinance a 200-million-euro debt issue that was meant...

The Bush Administration has apparently caved to European demands to join Kyoto, despite rejection of the treaty by the people of the United States and the Bush Administration's own statement of principles when it rejected the accord. The German press's recent interpretations of American diplomats' remarks in Europe, to the effect that the United States Government will now, for the first time in its history, accept legal binding of its own people by an arbitrary international regime of imperial character and reach, were correct. Bloomberg article here: Bloomberg August 30, 2007, story by Mathew Carr and Jonathan Tirone.

ABSTRACT:We propose a model of motivated skepticism that helps explain when, how, why and under what conditions citizens are prone to be biased political information processors. We report the results of two experimental studies that explore how citizens evaluate arguments about two political issues – affirmative action and gun control – to test hypotheses predicting motivated reasoning. As predicted, in situations where participants (Ps) are presented with a balanced set of pro and con arguments, we find strong evidence of a prior attitude effect such attitudinally congruent arguments are evaluated as stronger than attitudinally incongruent arguments. When reading the pro...

LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The chairman of British investment advisory firm Koryo Asia, which has bought North Korea's Daedong Credit Bank, said on Tuesday it was pressing the U.S. to ease sanctions against the isolated communist country. Colin McAskill confirmed to Reuters a newspaper report that Koryo Asia had taken over Daedong Credit Bank. Koryo is also an adviser to the Chosun Fund, which invests in North Korean assets. "We will take on the U.S. over the sanctions stand-off. They've had it too much their own way without anyone questioning what they are putting out," McAskill said in a...

We do Muslims no favors by excusing attitudes or practices that ought always to be deemed inexcusable. In Australia's Victoria state, the Herald Sun reported recently, police have been issued a "religious diversity handbook" that advises them "to treat Muslim domestic violence cases differently out of respect for Islamic traditions and habits." Sikhs, for example, "should not be disturbed" when reading their holy scriptures, a practice that normally takes 50 hours. Photographing Aborigines is discouraged, since it might raise fears of "sorcery and spiritual mischief." And Muslim wife-beaters should be treated with kid gloves, in deference to Islamic norms. "In...

A U.N. treaty governing the oceans could clear the way for U.S. oil companies to tap deep oil and gas reserves offshore, which supporters say would bolster America's energy security. But that access might be blocked, because conservatives opposed to the multinational treaty are fighting hard to keep a strong Senate majority from ratifying the pact. When Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice called in January for prompt ratification of the treaty, she gave American oil companies their best hope yet to tap oil and gas reserves lying under thousands of feet of seawater. <snip>.......... In 2003, about 62 percent of...

Expiration of the Assault Weapon Ban. The 1994 federal assault weapon ban is scheduled to expire Monday, September 13. Is this a good thing or bad thing? --Good thing. It was a phony political ban based on cosmetic features of weapons that had nothing to do with crime prevention. --Bad thing. Gun control measures like this are reasonable and necessary to make our streets safer. --No impact. Did nothing to reduce crime but, at the same time, was not an unreasonable curtailment of individuals' 2A rights