Free Republic

You've got to love brutal honesty, especially when it comes from the financial media. The Senate's version of a bailout bill, which passed last night by a margin of 74-25, included "sweeteners" - or obscure tax breaks - including benefits for the manufacturer of wooden arrows used in children's toys and another for litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Melissa Francis, co-host of CNBC's "The Call," and "Squawk on the Street" co-host Mark Haines called it all "crap" on their Oct. 1 special coverage of the vote on the network. Their description was similar to the one used...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGaDjSXhB8s&eurl=http://pulse.plaxo.com/pulse/events/show/91225053

ANOTHER DEADLY combination of too many guns and too little mental healthcare has exploded in Washington state, where a 28-year-old man allegedly killed six people on a two-hour shooting rampage Tuesday. The tragic story could get lost in the week's focus on presidential politics, but the presidential campaign is precisely where these issues should be debated.

On the 17th of June, our esteemed founder, JimRob, made the following statement: Boycott AP! We don't need their steenking liberal propaganda anyway. This statement was made in response to a new "fair use" statement made for bloggers that stated that the AP's version of 'fair use' was a five word extract and that the AP reserved editorial control over any blog entry that dared even use those five fair words. Due to the ubiquitousness of the AP, it was not possible to simply add "ap.org" to the list of exerpt only sites; it depended largely upon the diligence of...

Fifty-five percent of the 948 registered voters interviewed in the poll said they preferred to see Mr. Dukakis win the 1988 Presidential election, while 38 percent said they preferred to see Mr. Bush win. The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.

Every time I saw a car towing a motorboat this holiday weekend, I wondered what was going through the head of the towee. Did they have a sense that darkness was falling on their careers in motor sports? Did they have an inkling that an oil-and-gas crisis is upon us and just not give a shit? Or were they just going through the motions, following some implacable rote programming induced by, say, forty-odd years of TV addiction and a diet based on corn-syrup byproducts? The holiday to me was a creepy hiatus from an ever more desperate reality overtaking the...

Bloggers: Big Media Is Watching As content recognition software gets more sophisticated, expect more copyright-related battles online like the recent AP-blogger flap by Peter Burrows The Associated Press unleashed a firestorm in the blogosphere earlier this month when it demanded that a political site take down AP content it said violated copyrights. Bloggers, including Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.com and Markos Moulitas of Daily Kos, cried foul, saying the AP's move threatened the free flow of information over the Web. The furor abated a few days later when the AP tempered its demands. But the dustup between the AP and bloggers...

<p>In his upcoming biography of Jesus, "Basic Instinct" director Paul Verhoeven will say that Jesus was probably the son of Mary and a Roman soldier who raped her during the Jewish uprising in Galilee, according to the Hollywood Reporter.</p> <p>Verhoeven also claims that Christ was not betrayed by Judas Iscariot.</p>

BAGHDAD, (AP) -- The U.S. military says it will release Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein after more than two years in custody. The statement said Hussein will be freed Wednesday now that Iraqi judicial committees have granted him amnesty for all allegations. Hussein has been in custody since April 12, 2006 when he was detained by U.S. Marines for alleged links to insurgents.

NEW YORK - Rap music has increasingly glamorized the use of illegal drugs, portraying marijuana, crack and cocaine as symbols of wealth and status, according to a new study by the journal Addiction Research & Theory. The report found that rap artists had moved away from the lyrics of the early days of the genre when they often warned against the dangers of substance abuse. "This study showed that in fact much early rap music either did not talk about drugs at all, or when it did had anti-drug messages," said Denise Herd, of the University of California at Berkeley,...

A longtime Republican district fell to the Democrats Saturday when a wealthy businessman and scientist snatched former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's congressional seat in a closely watched special election. Democrat Bill Foster won 52 percent of the vote compared to 48 percent for Republican Jim Oberweis. With 565 of 568 precincts reporting, Foster had 51,140 votes to Oberweis' 46,270.

An employee of an Auburn nursing home called firefighters for help because the toilets were exploding with steam...

Two shop-owners were today fined for selling chocolate cake - which had been sprinkled with human faeces. A horrified customer ate the foul-smelling gateaux but noticed that it didn't taste or smell "quite right" and handed the cake to public health scientists. The analysts soon established that the sweet treat was covered in faeces and legal proceedings against the shop owners were started. Shop owners Saeed Hasmi, 25, and Jan Yadgari, 23, were fined £1,500 for selling food unfit for human consumption. The pair - who ran the Italiano Pizzeria in Roath, Cardiff - admitted the charge but did not...

Tonight’s Super Tuesday Primary leaves little to be positive about, even for McCain supporters. Tuesday merely proved the degree to which the GOP is fractured, unenthusiastic, and weak. Romney and Huckabee still have life in them, but McCain was the night’s big winner. November is well off, but at this stage the fall forecast is dim. The Republicans will be entering the race with a 72 year old Senator, despised by large swathes of his own base, sluggishly propelled by a divided and deeply demoralized GOP electorate that is likely to produce an anemic campaign war chest. By contrast, the...

For fans unmoved by the prospect of a Tom Petty Super Bowl halftime show, the cable industry has an answer. Many answers, in fact. There's grown men stuffing themselves with eggs and ham. There's Deion Sanders skirmishing with his wife over household chores. There's kittens squaring off on a football field. After five years of letting the Super Bowl halftime show air pretty much uncontested, networks are again taking aim at the extravaganza. Sensing vulnerability in the NFL's decision to cast the rock musician known for "Free Fallin'" and "American Girl" as its headline entertainment, nets are in a counter...

It was a pretty foul thing that was happening at an apartment building on Schroeder Road. Every so often, apartment residents at 6769 Schroeder Road would find human feces in their laundry if they left it untended in a basement laundry room. Two people also reported finding feces in their shoes and boots in an apartment hallway. And residents said they have had to throw out a comforter, baby clothes and other items after feces were found in the washing machines. But that ended Jan. 13, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday, when Madison police arrested Ronnie A. Ballard,...

LONDON - An artist is inviting Londoners to come face-to-face with the wretched labour of one of India's lowest castes - by filling an art gallery with 21 big blocks of human excrement. The monoliths are the brainchild of Santiago Sierra, whose previous work includes pumping a former German synagogue full of poisonous car exhaust (visitors wore gas masks) and an attempt to write the word "Submission" in giant, flaming letters near the U.S.-Mexico border. Elena Crippa, curator at the Lisson Gallery where the work is being displayed, said the Spanish-born artist's intention is to confront audiences with the horror...

This was written by the bloggers girlfriend. Top 5 Reasons Why Hip Hop Is Considered Dead": In the year 2007, it is likely to hear people talk of the long awaited Hip-Hop album releases and who’s really hot. Though with almost an equal amount of negative characteristics to Hip-Hop, it is also likely to often hear a simple three lettered phrase, “Hip-Hop is dead.” Now, this doesn’t mean go throw Nas and Jay in the bin, it just means that the art is due for a major repair. There are a number of reasons as to why people turn away...

Air America leaves austin airwaves Air America, the home for defiantly liberal talk radio, has quit Austin's airwaves, although it can be heard online or on XM Satellite Radio. Its broadcasting home in Austin, KOKE 1600 AM, now has a Spanish-language format. Dave Kaufman, Air America's vice president of affiliate relations, said Monday that the shift happened last week as part of an expected change in station ownership. "Definitely disappointed," Kaufman reacted. A blogger writing on democraticunder ground.com was dismayed. "This is a city that is overwhelmingly Democratic, but the right-wing talk radio stations in town consistently get much better...

Dr. Farhan Siddiqui, center, performs a traditional call to men's prayer in the foyer of City Hall on Tuesday during a forum to discuss Islam and mark the approaching end of Ramadan. Video: Ramadan forum and dinner at Macon City Hall The sun had set, and it was time for the Maghrib prayer. A young Muslim clergyman, clad entirely in white, faced east toward Mecca. The Macon City Council dais sat a few feet in front of him. Behind him, filling the space in front of the council chamber seats, stood two rows of men, including Jack Ellis, Macon's mayor....