Free Republic

Maldives Cabinet Meets Below Waves to Highlight Climate Change Threat By Steve Herman New Delhi 17 October 2009 In an effort to highlight climate change, the Cabinet of the government of the Maldives, an Indian island nation, has held a meeting under water. Meetings of government ministers can sometimes be a dry affair. That certainly was not the case during the latest gathering of the Cabinet of the Maldives. President Mohamed Nasheed and 11 of his government ministers, plus the vice president and Cabinet secretary, donned scuba gear and plunged six meters below the shimmering turquoise surface of an Indian...

Police: Teen Tricked Other Boys Into Sending Nude Photos Of Themselves, Then Blackmailed Some For Sex (AP) An 18-year-old male student is accused of posing as a girl on Facebook, tricking at least 31 male classmates into sending him naked photos of themselves and then blackmailing some for sex acts. The students go to New Berlin Eisenhower High School in New Berlin, which is in Waukesha County about 15 miles west of Milwaukee. According to the criminal complaint, Stancl first contacted the students through the social networking site Facebook, pretending to be a girl named Kayla or Emily. The boys...

I mostly listen to my MP3 player while driving during the work week . My selections are supposed to be mostly calming My current stuff 2 Christmas albums Enya And Winter Came Manheim Steamroller Christmas 1984 Enya Watermark 1 Celtic Women Album A New Journey 4 Thomas Newman soundtracks Cinderella Man, Road to Perdition, Horse Whisperer, Shawshank Redemption 1 John Grisham Audio Book The Innocent Man 1 David McCullough Audio Book 1776 Denis Miller Radio Show Podcasts About an hour and three quarter each. December 4th, December 5th

81 protesters arrested at Supreme CourtFri Jan 11, 3:56 PM ET WASHINGTON - Eighty people were arrested at the Supreme Court Friday in a protest calling for the shutdown of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Demonstrators wearing orange jump suits intended to simulate prison garb were arrested inside and outside the building in the early afternoon. "Shut it down," protesters chanted as others kneeled on the plaza in front of the court. They were charged with violating an ordinance that prohibits demonstrations of any kind on court grounds. Those arrested inside the building also were charged under...

First prize winner, for sure. Today I am announcing this column's inaugural blue ribbon award for the totally dorkiest look of the year. There's no contest here. Without any doubt, the dumbest sight anywhere in 2006 is a human ear with a Bluetooth technology device sticking out. For starters, it looks ridiculous — like a reject part from the Borg (evil cyberbeings). Is anyone so important she or he must be linked to Verizon Wireless or Cingular or any mobile service on an 24/7 basis? I don't think so. And if one has to be on call for any reason,...

STOCKHOLM -- Idiots in the office are just as hazardous to your health as cigarettes, caffeine or greasy food, an eye-opening new study reveals. In fact, those dopes can kill you! Stress is one of the top causes of heart attacks -- and working with stupid people on a daily basis is one of the deadliest forms of stress, according to researchers at Sweden's Lindbergh University Medical Center. The author of the study, Dr. Dagmar Andersson, says her team studied 500 heart attack patients, and were puzzled to find 62 percent had relatively few of the physical risk factors commonly...

America's war on drugs is actually a Raid on Taxpayers. The war costs an estimated $70 billion a year to prosecute, and the drugs keep pouring in. But while the War on Drugs may have failed its official mission, it is a great success as a job-creation program. Thousands of drug agents, police, detectives, prosecutors, judges, anti-drug activists, prison guards and their support staffs can thank the program for their daily bread and health benefits. The American people are clearly not ready to decriminalize cocaine, heroine or other hard drugs, but they're well on their way to easing up on...

Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashed his car near the Capitol early Thursday, and a police official said he appeared intoxicated. Kennedy said he had had no alcohol before the accident. Kennedy, D-R.I., addressed the issue after a spate of news reports. "I was involved in a traffic accident last night at First and C Street SE near the U.S. Capitol," Kennedy said in a written statement released by his office. "I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident. I will fully cooperate with the Capitol Police in whatever investigation they choose to undertake." Kennedy appeared to be intoxicated when he crashed...

Cuellar defeats Rodriguiz in TX-28 And in a stunning, I repeat, stunning development, the Kos kids invest a lot of time, energy, money, and wishful thinking into another LOSER. As much time as they devoted to defeating Cueller (another Dem by the way), you'd think he was the guy who invented Diebold. Oops, did I say that? Anyways, they are not deterred. They are currently recruiting both Michael Dukakis and Walter Mondale for 2008. By then, they believe they will have surpassed UCLA's mark of 88 games without a blemish. I think they can do it.

Michele Naar-Obed knows she will not stop the war in Iraq by walking the streets of Baghdad, unarmed and unguarded, calling for an end to the violence, but she considers it her duty to try. She is 49 years old, a mother, a wife, a pacifist who can't stand to be passive. Soldiers put their lives on the line for their country; she will risk hers too, in pursuit of peace. Four of her colleagues in the pacifist movement were kidnapped in Baghdad late last month. The men — fellow members of Christian Peacemaker Teams — have been threatened with...

The UK Government Could Revert Cannabis to a Class B Drug, but Harsher Penalties Will Only Feed the Black Market, Writes Ethan Nadlemann Young people laugh at the adult world when we talk about the war on drugs. People pretend we need prohibition on cannabis to protect the young. But it's precisely young people who have always had the greatest access to cannabis. If people in their fifties and sixties want cannabis, they ask their children. The British government says it is time to consider whether cannabis should revert to a class B drug. That would be an incredibly stupid...

IN 2004, law enforcement officials arrested 771,605 people for marijuana violations, according to federal statistics. Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project was so alarmed he sent out a press release noting that there were more arrests for marijuana charges than all violent crimes combined. The number of arrests for possession alone was 684,319. Said Mirken of the 771,605 statistic: "This is, in fact, an all-time record. This number of arrests is the equivalent of arresting every man, woman and child in San Francisco." Some 40 percent of Americans say they have used marijuana or hashish in their lifetime, and...

LOS ANGELES - Potato chips and french fries could soon come with a warning label if the state's top attorney prevails in a lawsuit filed Friday against nine fast food chains and snack-food makers. Attorney General Bill Lockyer asked for a court order requiring McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Frito Lay and other companies to warn consumers that their fries and chips may contain acrylamide, a chemical the state says causes cancer. "In taking this action, I am not telling people to stop eating potato chips or french fries," Lockyer said. "I know from personal experience that, while these snacks may...

Patients arrive broke, busted or abandoned at our methadone clinic in a raw section of Northeast Washington. They are opiate addicts, primarily dependent on heroin, though some take vast doses of street-bought painkillers like OxyContin. Drinking the pink methadone solution every day prevents withdrawal sickness. About half of our patients have also spent years on crack or alcohol. Not all have stopped, but at least they have cut back. We see almost no methamphetamine users, but that is a simple accident of geography - the corrosive drug hasn't yet reached epidemic proportions in this part of the country. The personal...

...“We need to get our troops out of Iraq. The only reason Bush wants to stay there is because his buddies are getting rich and feasting off the blood of our children.” She also wants a complete military withdrawal from all Arab countries to make us safe from terrorism. Is not ridding the world of Saddam Hussein a noble cause? “We sold him weapons and were once his friend — we made him,” she said. “I have to wonder for the rest of my life if the gun which took Casey’s life was sold to Saddam by the US or...

Anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son Casey was killed in Iraq, is calling for Bush's "impeachment," and for Israel to get out of Palestine! "You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you'll stop the terrorism," Sheehan declares. Sheehan, who is asking for a second meeting with President Bush, says defiantly: "My son was killed in 2004. I am not paying my taxes for 2004. You killed my son, George Bush, and I don't owe you a penny...you give my son back and I'll pay my taxes. Come after me (for back taxes) and we'll...

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush and his motorcade passed the growing camp of war protesters outside his ranch Friday without incident. As Bush passed on his way to and from a political fundraiser, law enforcement blocked two intersecting roads where the demonstrators have camped out all week. Officers required the group to stand behind yellow tape, but no one was asked to leave. The motorcade didn't stop. Cindy Sheehan, the California mother who started the vigil along the road leading to Bush's ranch, held a sign that read: "Why do you make time for donors and not for me?" It...

Many argue that communism will never be possible because of "human nature". The essence of this false argument is the belief that a communist society would consist of an all-powerful central government that would tell everybody what to do--and would therefore undermine the creative initiative of individuals and the search for happiness. • This argument is based on two false assumptions: (1) It assumes that a communist society will look like the former Soviet Union, or the current China, North Korea, etc (ie: corrupt police states with a feudal-style ruling class) (2) It assumes that people will only work in...

A surprise came as Kansas City's Priest Holmes was the first pick in the drfat by the 22 Rush Limbaughs. Most drafts have Indy's QB Peyton Manning going first. Manning went 2nd to the Rearden Mettle team. For all the draft results, go to http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/215944/draftresults

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cmp/20050715/tc_cmp/165702500 UN Panel: No Single Nation Should Control Internet Addresses Aoife White Thu Jul 14, 9:38 PM ET BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP)--A U.N. panel created to recommend how the Internet should be run in the future has failed to reach consensus but did agree that no single country should dominate. The United States stated two weeks ago that it intended to maintain control over the computers that serve as the Internet's principal traffic cops. In a report released Thursday, the U.N. panel outlined four possible options for the future of Internet governance for world leaders to consider at a November "Information...

Here is the list so far for sponcers to this hate America fest: ANSWER Code Pink UFPJ NION Al Awda World Workers Party Ruckas Revolutionary Communist party Moveon.org ACORN Campus Antiwar Network International Socialist Org Greens Party Muslim Student Association CPUSA

WASHINGTON, July 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Beginning this week, XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR - News), the nation's leading satellite radio provider with more than 4.4 million subscribers, is now the exclusive satellite radio home of Air America Radio, the national progressive entertainment talk radio network home to Al Franken, Randi Rhodes and Janeane Garofalo. In April, XM and Air America Radio announced a long-term partnership to make XM the exclusive satellite radio provider of Air America Radio programming. As part of this new partnership, Air America Radio's on-air personalities, including Al Franken, will regularly take their progressive political talk on...

<p>What a pile of crap Live 8 turned out to be. I tried to watch it, but I couldn't make it happen.</p> <p>My wretching began when Will Smith showed his stupid face onscreen. He begged us all to make a difference, because "every 3 seconds, someone dies from starvation in Africa." Bullshit!!!!!!!!!! Has anyone done the math on this lie? I have. That would amount to 10, 521,000 deaths PER YEAR from starvation. That's based on a continental population of 850 million. That's about 1 1/2% of the population dying from starvation. If this were the case, it would stop itself when it reached it's fulcrum, which it would do quickly.</p>

PALO ALTO: After neatly spreading out a red-and-white checkered blanket with the contents of two wicker picnic baskets, Shannon Clark and Mike Reis settled in for the evening's entertainment: an anarchist protest rally in Palo Alto's Lytton Plaza that police feared might turn violent. "We are spectators," said Palo Alto resident Clark, 18, heading to UCLA in the fall who describes herself as a pro-Bush libertarian. "This is kind of our Saturday-night-out event." Indeed, the "Revolutionary March Against War & Empire" by the Palo Alto chapter of Anarchist Action -- targeting the war in Iraq and corporate greed -- brought...

It is arguable that the most famous line in “Revenge of the Sith” comes from Padme Amidala. When Palpatine announces to a rapturous Senate that the Republic is to be re-organised as the first Galactic Empire, she says: "So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause”. We are supposed to infer from this statement that freedom has been traded for security, and democracy traded for a dictatorship. As such, it is supposed to be a dark day, a tragedy, one which will take 20 years and the original three films to remedy. However the question that no one asks...

Larry O'Donnell running his silly mouth again..now talking a new civil war..a real one..!

My favorite? Finally the Fenway Franks won't be the biggest weenies in town. Click on the link for the rest - there's a few really funny ones in there.

Special Announcement: Episode III Title July 24, 2004 Starwars.com is pleased to announce that Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith is the full title of the next Star Wars film, scheduled for release on May 19, 2005. The Sith are masters of the dark side of the Force and the sworn enemies of the Jedi. They were all but exterminated by the Jedi a thousand years ago, but the evil order continued in secrecy. They operated quietly, behind the scenes, acting in pairs - a Master and an Apprentice - patiently biding their time before they could take...

While some long-time critics of President Ronald Reagan stifled their inclination to criticize the dead, others launched the kind of venomous attacks that marked his long career in politics. Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy said yesterday he regretted Reagan died without ever standing trial for 1986 air strikes he ordered that killed the Libyan president's adopted daughter and 36 other people. Ronald Reagan ordered the April 15, 1986, air raid in response to a discotheque bombing in Berlin allegedly ordered by Khadafy that killed two U.S. soldiers and a Turkish woman and injured 229 people. "I express my deep regret because...

LEE COUNTY, March 17, 2004— Army specialists say a device found in a Fort Myers salvage yard Tuesday afternoon was likely an old Navy missile. Officials with Patrick Air Force Base say workers were attempting to cut the rocket apart with a blow torch when it ignited and began racing around the scrap yard – with its high-explosive payload intact. The incident happened at Garden Street Metal and Tool on Metro Parkway in Fort Myers. "I turned around, I saw this thing shooting flames out the back," said Rob Weber. Weber had no idea what he was dealing with. "I...

NEW YORK - Comedian Al Franken is baiting conservatives again, and this time he's bringing along a bunch of friends to back him up. Franken will be the lead personality on Air America Radio, a startup venture promising a liberal alternative to powerhouse radio talk show pundits like Rush Limbaugh. The backers of Air America announced their programming lineup on Wednesday and said they planned to launch the network on March 31 in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. Franken will be joined by fellow TV comedian Janeane Garofalo (news), both of whom will have co-hosts for their...

Sundays Face the Nation program was put in its place by the honorable Doctor James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Host Bob Sheefer could not force any of his pre-arranged "trapdoor" questions in an interview with Dr. Dobson.

Hillary's Afghan photo op: a medialess turkeyBush Stuns Nation With Surprise Visit to Baghdad...Liberals Respond To Bush's Trip With CriticismBy Jon Christian Ryterwww.jonchristianryter.com Once again George W. Bush's political detractors have been upstaged by the man that none of them thought was smart enough to occupy the White House. This time, Bush outfoxed the fox who has been secretly sniffing around outside the chicken coop at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. As the liberal media proudly announced that Sen. Hillary Clinton [D-NY] would be dining with American troops in a relatively secure area in Afghanistan (filing video tape footage for her...

  Why Did the Bush Administration Really Decide to Invade Iraq? 12 July 2003 Three months after US military forces smashed the last major Iraqi resistance to the US invasion and captured Baghdad and in view of the fact that no weapons of mass destruction have yet been found, Americans are starting to wonder what really motivated the Bush Administration to take the nation into a war against a country like Iraq. This is particularly the case since it has become increasingly clear in retrospect that Iraq did not pose anything resembling the imminent threat to the United States that...

SECRET DEMOCRAT MEMO DISCOVERED The memo is apparently from a group called the Democrat Operative Response Committee (DORK). The memo resulted from Bush’s landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln. That “what a stud” moment has caused some real soul-searching about the current Democrat candidates for president. Democrat Operative Response Committee (DORK) NOTE: SECRET DOCUMENT MEMO RE: We must counter-act Bush manliness image Dear Fellow Democrat: Many of our members have had angst about the President’s showy landing on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. Mainstream Americans (such as the Dixie Chicks, Martin Sheen, and Janeane Garofalo) overwhelmingly agree with us that this...

Well, I found I had enough time to make it down for a counter rally. There wasn't many of us there, but they didn't mess with us anyway. I didn't have time for my signs, so I just went and grabbed my "No Jackasses" pin and put it on my coat and left. I drove down and saw the Burger King on Michigan Street. I didn't see anyone there except the pieceniks. I know the busses were out for these people. There was a church in Grand Rapids(Congregational) that was there. Many came north from Kalamazoo which is more left...

Okay - everybody - lets have a thread that not only lists, but EXPLAINS the origin and meaning of all these "freepisms" that are constantly showing up in this forum. I expect you "old timers" to chime in and offer your wisdom. Let's start with the infamous "moose", and "cheese" comments, along with the "time for a shower" - and many others that are out there. I know that there are several threads that individually address these 'sayings' but let's put everything together into one nice "library".. OKAY?

You are invited to attend an emergency NATIONAL ANTI-WAR CONFERENCE DATE: Saturday, June 1 TIME: 9 am to 8 pm LOCATION: New York City (at F.I.T.: W. 27th St. and 8th Ave., Manhattan) JOIN HUNDREDS OF ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS AND ORGANIZERS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY TO: * Analyze the Bush administration?s war plans in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Caribbean and Africa * Discuss strategies and tactics for building a new movement * Coordinate defense of civil rights and civil liberties * Plan and organize upcoming actions against war, racism and repression Featuring many PANELS and WORKSHOPS, including a special...