Free Republic

Crushing scientific dissent By Christopher CookI have a dualistic and conflicted view of science and scientists. One the one hand, I respect greatly the rigor and honesty with which most scientists conduct themselves. I respect the field's idealized desire for the truth, no matter where it leads.On the other hand, I realize that while there is an idealized desire for truth, the unfortunate fact is that science, like every other human field of endeavor, is run by humans. And scientists, like all humans, run the gamut: Some are honest. Some are honest but lazy. Some are honest but do the...

Bill O'Reilly Nails Robert WexlerTue Jul 22, 2008 at 09:11:12 PM Bill O'Reilly did a good number on "local" Congressman Robert Wexler tonight. And I think Wexler is in a bit of trouble. You see, the longtime Democratic rep says he lives in Delray Beach and he's required to maintain a residence in his district. But he really lives in Potomac MD. The house in Delray that he calls his "offical residence" is owned by Lawrence and Roslyn Cohen, the parents of Wexler's wife, Laurie. And it's in a restricted over-55 community, which makes it impossible for Wexler and and...

Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr., emphasis on the Sr., is obviously displaying the early signs of senility. How else do you explain his blatant use of the N-word during that now infamous whispered conversation during a taping of “Fox & Friends” on July 6? “Barack...he’s talking down to black people...telling n—s how to behave.” The fact that Jackson, a self-described civil rights advocate, used the N-word is not that surprising in the scheme of things. I mean after all, we are talking about Rev. Jesse Jackson. This is the same Rev. Jackson who had an affair with a staffer that resulted...

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A Republican state senator from South Carolina is being criticized for a post on his blog that shows photos of Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden wearing similar clothing, along with a line that states the difference between the two is "a little B.S." The image was posted on Sen. Kevin Bryant's blog on Friday without an explanation from the politician. It appears to be a photo of a T-shirt, with images of bin Laden and Obama wearing turbans and the words "OBAMA" AND "OSAMA," with the "B" and "S" each highlighted in red. The American-Arab...

The Obamamessiah is far too busy campaigning to keep track of what his responsibilities in the Senate are to the American people. Perhaps that is why we have this latest little gaffe: (see link for video) Here’s the transcript: This, this, uh, this past week we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to, uh, call for divestment from Iran. The only problem? The U.S. Senate Banking Committee isn’t Obama’s committee. He doesn’t serve on it, nor does he serve on any of its subcommittees. Yet Mr. Smooth Operator over there effortlessly lied...

The suspect, who led police on a multi-state chase, was identified as 27-year-old Grayson Lee Clevenger. Burnsville police said Clevenger answered his cell phone at one point during the chase, telling a detective he couldn't talk because he was being chase by the police.(edit)Detectives followed the vehicle until marked patrol cars could meet up and attempt a stop. In an attempt to end the pursuit peacefully, detectives called the suspect on his cell phone. Clevenger answered the phone, saying, "Dude, I can't talk, I'm being chased by the police" and hung up. (edit)Clevenger eluded police and remains at-large

Washington, D.C (AHN) -- Minimum wage in the United States will see the second of three planned increases. Thursday, the federal minimum wage for workers will increase $0.70 cents to $6.55 per hour, as mandated by the Fair Minimum Wage Act passed by Congress. The third increase is slated for July 2009, when the minimum wage will jump to $7.25 an hour.According to the Labor Department, a half a million Americans currently work for minimum wage. Most of these workers are young, teens and in their early twenties.The increase approved in 2007 is the first in a decade. In 1997...

Barack Obama's VP shortlist might have gotten shorter: The National Enquirer yesterday published a story claiming it had caught John Edwards meeting with an alleged mistress and illegitimate child. Then again, the Enquirer hasn't been able to produce quotes, photos or even eyewitness accounts. And the mainstream media seems to be ignoring it, for the most part. TalkLeft, among others, hopes it isn't true. And thus far, the claims don't seem to have hurt Edwards politically — although the Corner has something worth noting: ...after first seeming to take himself out of the running, he put himself back in the...

Who is the real Sen. Obama?By DAN SERNOFFSKY Lebanon Daily News Who is the puppetmaster? Who’s pulling the strings? In six weeks, the Democrat Party, a political party which likes to call itself “the party of the people,” is expected to officially place in nomination the name of Barrack Hussein Obama as its candidate for the presidency of the United States. The question waiting to be answered is who Barrack Hussein Obama really is. Based on what has happened since he began his presidential campaign after having served in national office for a stunning 143 days, that identity is beginning...

Melbourne: Tried everything but can’t seem to get rid of your post-marriage love handles? Well, don’t question your determination for the failed plan, for the real culprit behind all weight worries is your hubby. Yes, you heard it right. According to health experts, a husband is more of a hindrance than help in a wife's battle with the bulge. "For some women, marriage definitely can be fattening," the Courier Mail quoted Dr Brian Steadman, a leading British authority on nutrition, as saying. "It's hard enough for them to stick to good eating habits when they're single, but they can find...

Team officials admit rules were too stringent and are now allowing sunblock to be brought into New York's Yankee Stadium. The change came after fans howled when they were forced to dump their sunscreen at the gate if it was in containers holding more than three ounces. The Yankees said the prohibition was necessary to prevent possible terrorists from concealing liquid explosives that could be brought into the stadium, The New York Post reported Wednesday. The Yankees' management will do whatever it takes to maximize profit under the guise of security, retired police officer Chester Hicks said to the newspaper....

A baby boy died in an Italian hospital after his Nigerian parents performed a circumcision at home, police said. The mother, 24, and the person who performed the procedure might be charged with manslaughter, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. The 2-month-old boy began bleeding heavily. He was taken to a hospital in Bari, but doctors there were unable to save his life. Fabio Ferri of Bambin Gesu Hospital in Rome told the news agency even hospital circumcisions can be risky because the penis holds a large amount of blood. He said the procedure should never be done outside a...

Gores to host Obama fundraiser Nashville | July 24, 2008 12:01:13 AM IST Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is preparing to host a Nashville fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, say officials. A spokeswoman for Gore, has confirmed that Al and Tipper Gore have agreed to the event although a date and location have not been set, nor even whether Obama himself would attend, The Tennessean, a Nashville newspaper, reported Wednesday. Wade Munday, a spokesman for the Tennessee Democratic Party, said we would certainly welcome the senator with open arms should he arrive in Nashville before the October...

The Castorena Family Organization is a large-scale criminal organization with more than 100 key members who oversee cells of 10 to 20 individuals in cities across the United States, according to public court documents filed by the US government in Colorado and in other judicial districts around the country. Several of the senior leaders of the organization are believed to be based in Mexico, although they enter the US occasionally to oversee the operations of lieutenants of the crime family. The organization is alleged to be involved in the manufacture and distribution of high-quality counterfeit identity documents, including social security...

Fresno, CA (LifeNews.com) -- A California court is scheduled to hold a hearing today in a case of a disabled woman like Terri Schiavo who has been deprived of food and water for nine days. Janet Rivera lost her right to food and water on July 14 when a court-appointed guardian removed her feeding tube despite her family's wishes. Rivera, 46, had a heart attack on February 2006 and she never regained consciousness. She has been on life support for two years Jesus Rivera, her husband, had been his wife's conservator until June 17, when he was replaced for unknown...

North Carolina sheriff's deputies left the children of an arrested illegal immigrant woman on the side of a highway overnight stranded in a car, attorneys say. Lawyers for Maria Chavira Ventura say she was stopped June 14 for a traffic violation along Interstate 85 in Alamance County, N.C. Deputies arrested her for driving without a license, leaving her three children, ages 14, 10 and 6, alone in the car with a man they barely knew, the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer reported Wednesday. The man, a church acquaintance who was catching a ride with Ventura, abandoned the children in the...

The case against a Missouri mother accused of creating a fake MySpace page to harass a 13-year-old girl should be tossed out of court because if she is guilty as charged, then so are millions of Internet users every day, her attorney said in court documents filed today. The papers show that Lori Drew, who was the focus of national outrage after the girl committed suicide, will seize on a weakness in the prosecution case that has been noted by several legal experts since her May indictment: While her alleged behavior may have been wrong, there is no specific legal...

In a surprising twist to a Johnson County murder that gained nationwide attention, Edwin Hall pleaded guilty this afternoon to killing Kelsey Smith. Hall stood before Judge Peter Ruddick as he entered guilty pleas to charges of capital murder, aggravated kidnapping, rape and aggravated criminal sodomy. For the murder charge, he faces life in prison with no chance of parole. For each of the other three counts, the range of punishment is 147 to 653 months.

Call me paranoid, but my generation has seen many nasty things and I wouldn't be surprized to find the "accidental" oil spill that happened just as McCain was about to go to a rig, as a democrat induced happening....I would want to know who piloted the boats involved, were there any unions that back democrats in place, etc.....These things have to be pointed out because the democrats don't care a whit about the country, just that money and power tit they suck on.....and they are capable of doing anything....anything

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have arrested a prominent Internet dissident for violating his probation terms, a rights group said, as the country steps up a pre-Olympic crackdown on dissent to ensure the Games go smoothly. Du Daobin, from the central province of Hebei, was given a suspended sentence for subversion in 2004 having been detained by police in Wuhan for posting online essays in support of fellow dissident, Liu Di. Du was then released into house arrest, Reporters Without Borders said in an emailed statement, but was arrested this week having been accused of posting articles on overseas websites...

THE Supreme Court last month voided Washington, DC's extreme gun ban as a violation of the Second Amendment. Now, across America, public defenders and other lawyers for rapists, robbers and murderers are filing motions contending that their vicious clients have a Second Amendment right to have guns. If this were correct, the Second Amendment would be a very bad thing. Happily, it's not so. The high-court opinion vindicated the constitutional right of ordinary, responsible law-abiding adults to have a handgun to protect their families, homes and themselves. It also flatly stated that this right does not apply to criminals. Federal...

July 23, 2008, 1:00 a.m. Our Government Problem-SolversAt election time, pols can't help but "do something" — even if it makes matters worse. By Thomas Sowell We don’t look to arsonists to help put out fires but we do look to politicians to help solve financial crises that they played a major role in creating. How did the government help create the current financial mess? Let me count the ways. In addition to federal laws that pressure lenders to lend to people they would not otherwise lend to, and in places where they would otherwise not invest, state and...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US lawmakers Wednesday accused China of reneging on a commitment to improve human rights when it won the right to host the Olympics, saying it had instead intensified a crackdown on dissent. "There were early indications that China was prepared to improve its behavior as the games approached," said Howard Berman, the Democratic head of the House of Representatives foreign affairs panel. But "the hope was short-lived, as China failed to honor these commitments," he said, citing as examples Beijing's "failed" pledges to allow greater press freedoms and improve its general human rights situation. Reporters Without Borders...

Agency says getting all people, legal and illegal, to safety is its top priority The U.S. Border Patrol said today it is not checking the documents of individuals who are fleeing Hurricane Dolly, and it has no intention of using natural disasters as a pretext for rounding up and deporting illegal immigrants, 1200 WOAI news reports. Officials in the Rio Grande Valley have been worried about Border Patrol actions ever since a reporter spotted a Border Patrol official conducting a document check during a hurricane evacuation drill in McAllen in May. Some officials had expressed concern that Rio Grande Valley...

NYALA, Sudan (AFP) - Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir danced before thousands of supporters in Darfur on Wednesday, defying a possible arrest warrant for genocide on a heavily-protected visit to the war-torn area. Travelling by plane and in a convoy of army, police and national security vehicles mounted with guns and backed by air support, Beshir was greeted by thousands of supporters in state capitals El Fasher and Nyala. --snip-- School pupils were recruited for the rally and one government employee told AFP in El Fasher that staff were ordered to a disused land under the sun, where a grinning Beshir...

The mayor of San Francisco has obtained the password to the city's multimillion-dollar computer network password from a disgruntled employee during a secret jailhouse visit, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. On Monday night, Mayor Gavin Newsom met Terry Childs, a Department of Telecommunications and Information Services employee charged with computer tampering, in a secret meeting and walked away with the password to the city's new FiberWAN (Wide Area Network), the Chronicle said. The system stores such records as officials' e-mails, city payroll files, confidential law enforcement documents and jail bookings. Childs has been held since July 13 and had reportedly...

Gun regulation is not a public health issue, according to more than 80% of some 2,000 respondents to a MedPage Today poll. When the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine decried the recent Supreme Court decision overturning the District of Columbia's handgun law, they did so claiming the issue is a matter of public health. Now doctors in the trenches have weighed in with their own views. The responses from physicians who are registered members of the site was remarkbly evenly divided. Just over half (52%) said Yes, that gun control is a public health issue. But for...

A mother of young children. A retired corporate executive. A victim of violent crime. Number of right-to-carry permits issued from 4/28/2003 to 12/31/2007 County Number Rate per 1,000 Dodge 166 8.5 Fillmore 160 7.6 Goodhue 387 8.4 Houston 246 12.6 Mower 233 6.1 Olmsted 1,140 8.2 Wabasha 287 12.8 Winona 487 9.8 Total valid permits in Minnesota: 51,347 Source: Minn. Bureau of Criminal Apprenhension These are just some of the people seeking permits to carry handguns whom Sue Bierly has trained at the Minnesota Southern Sportman's Club in Rochester. "They come from all walks of life and professions," said Bierly,...

Brian Ballenger, law director for Northwood, followed through on his promise to contact us this week to continue working to resolve the Northwood Incident. In a phone call with me yesterday, he again confirmed that his office is aware that open carry is legal, and that he has communicated that information to the Northwood Police Chief. Ballenger also reiterated that no charges were going to be filed against OFCC member Edwin Farbrother, an obvious fact since he broke no law. However, he repeatedly stated that he advises against open carry to avoid panicking citizens who may not be aware that...

This past Tuesday a University student, Cassie LeBlanc, was robbed while getting into her car after leaving the library around 9:30 p.m. The robber forced her against her car and asked for her wallet, then he discovered there was no cash. He decided he didn't want it, but after seeing text books on the front seat, the thief decided to take those instead. I was very glad to hear LeBlanc was alright, but a very important question came to mind: What if she had a firearm to defend herself? Would this incident have happened? My answer is probably not. The...

PORTSMOUTH State Sen. Louise Lucas will not be able to use millions of dollars in financing to build a $65 million hotel and conference center in the city. During a charged hearing Tuesday in which investors filled the City Council chambers, Vice Mayor Bill Moody Jr. and council members Elizabeth Psimas and Doug Smith voted against the low-cost financing while Mayor James Holley and Councilman Steve Heretick voted in favor of it. Councilwoman Marlene Randall announced before the vote that she would abstain. Her husband has invested $2,000 in the project. Councilman Charles B. Whitehurst Sr. also abstained. He, too,...

Manager Of Business Shot Robber, Police Say MANHEIM, Pa. -- A would-be robber picked on the wrong victim in Manheim early Tuesday, according to police. Kevin Smith, 19, of Lancaster City was shot twice in the chest and died hours later at a local hospital. The botched holdup occurred just after 5 a.m. when two men followed the operations manager of Power Pro Battery into his office. Police said knowing he was about to be robbed, the manager pulled out his own handgun, turned and fired twice, hitting one of the robbers. The other man got away. Police are now...

EL PASO -- Police have hot filed charges against a Northeast resident who allegedly shot a man in self-defense. The police department's Drive-by-Shooting Response Team (DSRT) was called to assist with a "shots fired" call at the 9500 block of Iris at about one Saturday morning. Officers discovered a 19-year-old man had been shot in the ankle and forearm at a residence in the area. An investigation revealed the victim went to a party at the residence and engaged in an argument that escalated into a physical confrontation, police officials said. Police said a resident of the home grabbed a...

MIAMI-DADE, Fla. -- A homeowner shot a would-be burglar in Southwest Miami-Dade on Sunday, police said. Police said the man shot was one of two thieves who tried to burglarize a house in the 2400 block of 117th Avenue about 2 a.m. Related Content: Images He was taken to Ryder Trauma Center, where he was listed in stable condition. The second man apparently got away. Neighbors said the house, which sits on the side of the street nearest the interstate, has been hit by thieves before. Police said two children, ages 5 and 9, were inside the house when the...

The Dark Knight has no use for FISA By Sharon McGovern This is not a review, though I submit The Dark Knight kicks a** so very hard. Instead, this will be a brief look at themes employed in TDK; a sequel to Batman is a NeoCon. If you haven’t already contributed to the movie’s astonishing opening weekend take, you might want to decide right now if you want to read something that gives away a number of its plot points. The Dark Knight begins with “the bat man� having become a fixture in Gotham. He inspires resentment for the toll...

Berkeley’s treesitters and Memorial Stadium neighbors who had sued to block construction of a gym at the site of the adjacent oak grove were dealt a resounding setback Tuesday. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara J. Miller issued a judgment that upholds the university’s plans for a four-level gym at the grove site and hits the litigants—including the city and the late City Councilmember Dona Spring—with an order that they pay most of the university’s legal bill. Her order also ends, on July 29, the injunction which has blocked construction and the destruction of the grove. Construction could begin immediately...

A federal appeals court yesterday refused to reconsider the decision denying a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal in the 1981 murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. In a two-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit denied Abu-Jamal's request for a rehearing of his appeal in the controversial case, which has helped fuel an international debate about the death penalty. Abu-Jamal's lawyer, Robert R. Bryan of San Francisco, said he planned to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case. In March, a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit left intact Abu-Jamal's conviction but said...

Radovan Karadzic is accused of the most heinous crimes against humanity, from the siege of Sarajevo to the Srebrenica massacre. He is charged with having the blood of 20,000 lives on his hands and of bringing an entire country down by ethnic hatred. Today relatives of the thousands of victims said they had been waiting for this moment of justice for 13 years.

"As Congress heads into a critical week of votes on how to relieve America's home-foreclosure crisis, one of the toughest issues will be how to deal with the racial and ethnic dimensions of the problem. Minorities will be watching closely to see who gets the help."..... ......"Black and Hispanic families have gotten a disproportionate share of subprime lending, and subprime loans are the driving force behind the foreclosures," says Katheen Day, spokeswoman for the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit research and policy group based in Durham, N.C. "We know that black and Hispanic communities are hardest hit.".....

Menino: Bodybuilding Firefighter Should Quit Albert Arroyo Did Not Show Up To Work Monday BOSTON (WBZ) ― The Boston firefighter who claimed to be permanently disabled - but then competed in a body building contest was a no-show at work on Monday and now he might lose his job altogether. Albert Arroyo was ordered to return to work by Fire Commissioner Roderick Frazer. He sent a letter to Arroyo late last week ordering his return to work on Monday. Arroyo did not show up for his shift and he did not contact anyone with a reason for his absence. "The...

After an investigation by Eyewitness News on New Orleans Affordable Homeownership program -- NOAH -- Mayor Nagin held a press conference in response, calling the story “biased and inaccurate” and saying that the story is hurting the recovery effort. On Tuesday, one by one, the Nagin administration discounted a 4 Investigates report from the previous night that highlighted properties NOAH had claimed to remediate more than a year after Hurricane Katrina. The investigation which aired Monday evening used three separate sets of documents obtained in records requests from NOAH that showed properties that didn't appear to qualify for the program....

Abuse shelters are the domestic violence industry's Holy of Holies. Their ministrations are shrouded in mystery, the High Priestesses unnamed, their locations often kept secret. There abused women can become purified of the patriarchal demon and begin life anew. Of course if you're an abused man, don't bother to ask for help. They're likely to claim you are harassing them and call the police. And abuse shelters don't seem to be very interested in helping the youngsters, either. Although abuse shelters claim to serve the children of abused women, what passes for child care may be a gum-chewing, tattoo-adorned teenager...

Republicans always claim the mantle of the anti-Jihadists. And for the most part, they are. But when a supporter of jihad and terrorism comes to the midst of the G.O.P., that anti-jihadist/counterterrorist mantle comes crashing down. The Republican Party simply refuses to denounce pan-Islamists in its midst...

The host committee for the Democratic National Convention set for Denver next month is avoiding paying state and federal taxes on gasoline by gassing up vehicles at a city fuel depot, according to a city councilwoman quoted yesterday on the Web site of the Rocky Mountain News. "There's something there that just doesn't seem right ..." the Denver official, Jeanne Faatz, said at a city meeting yesterday. "I believe this [tax free gas pump] is only for elected officials, government dignitaries," Mayor Hickenlooper said at the session, according to the News. [Snip] Republican National Convention's host committee in [Minneapolis], Teresa...

In a desolate public park in Columbus, Ohio, a man responded to the advances of a topless woman. She asked him to "show me yours." When he did, police officers arrested him. Columbus law says her being topless is OK; exposing his genitalia is not. Why did cops hide in the shadows to arrest a man no one but they could see? On last week's "20/20", Dr. Marty Klein pointed out that the police weren't protecting children. "There were no children anywhere in sight. In fact, there were no adults anywhere in sight." Klein says it's part of "America's War...

Caltrans announced Tuesday its preferred method for improving the 405-101 freeway interchange, which the agency says is one of the busiest in the world. But don't get too excited. The agency also says that it doesn't have the money to design or build the project, which is expected to cost about $135 million. Still, this is one of those classic bottlenecks, and understanding why it doesn't work helps explain a lot of other bottlenecks on Southern California freeways. The big problem is that entrance and exit ramps have been placed too close to one another. The particular issue on the...

A proposal that would place at least a one-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a broad swath of neighborhoods, mostly in South Los Angeles, won unanimous support from a Los Angeles City Council committee Tuesday. If approved by the full council and signed by the mayor, the law would prevent fast-food chains from opening new restaurants in a 32-square-mile area, including West Adams, Baldwin Village and Leimert Park. The moratorium would be in effect for one year, with the possibility of two six-month extensions. The measure, proposed by Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose 9th District includes much of South Los...

With sky-high gas prices, 42 cents won’t get you very far nowadays. However, it will get you a trip to jail. A 43-year-old Bonita Springs man was arrested Monday morning after Naples police say he stole 42 cents from a mall fountain. Laslo Mujzer, 43, 26801 Silverado East Drive, was charged with petty theft under $100, a misdemeanor. Around 11:15 a.m. Monday, a customer at the Coastland Center mall approached a mall security guard, and told her that a man was stealing money from a fountain outside, police reported. The security guard, Heather Watson, found the man, later identified as...

A 41-hour manhunt ended Friday with the arrest of a man suspected of gunning down his cousin’s wife in her east Rogers home. Sergio Morales-Carrera, 23, was arrested in a vehicle in Fayetteville about 2: 10 p. m. by members of the Rogers Police Department’s criminal investigation division, said Lt. Mike Johnson, department spokesman. Morales-Carrera was arrested “without incident,” Johnson said. He was taken to the Rogers jail and later to the Benton County jail, Johnson said. A bond hearing is scheduled for 9 a. m. Monday, he said.Two other men also were arrested on charges of hindering apprehension: Ramiro...