Free Republic

WASHINGTON – Ben Bernanke presided over his first meeting as Federal Reserve chairman in March 2006 believing the nation's economy could pull off a "soft landing" from falling home prices. Three months later, Bernanke had begun to grasp that he and others had underestimated the risk housing posed to the economy. Newly released transcripts of Fed meetings during Bernanke's first year as chairman show that, among Fed officials, he often expressed the most concern about housing. But no official, according to the transcripts, recognized the extent of the damage a housing bubble would cause. A year later, the housing market's...

The New York Times. The Wall Street Journal. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel? Yes, Milwaukee’s scrappy newspaper of record is taking a cue from the big boys and entering the seedy world of paid online subscriptions. Beginning tomorrow, JSOnline readers looking to enjoy the paper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning material (and/or the latest musin’-and-thinkin’ column from Jim Stingl) will have to shell out some cash for the privilege. Non-subscribers will be able to view only 20 articles a month, after which they’ll be publicly scolded for contributing to the downfall of print media and for keeping food off of Eugene Kane’s table. In a...

My Blood Dad is dying in great pain. He has broken his hip the 3rd time. His vitals are too poor to operate. They don't even know if they can move him at all due to the great pain. He has reportedly made his peace with God and forgiven everyone. Please pray that he graduates from this life as painlessly and quickly as The Lord would wish for him. Sigh. BIG SIGH. This is mother's birthday and the day her father died. Sigh. I know some prayer threads are in this forum. If this is not fitting, please move it...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Home prices dropped in nearly three quarters of U.S. cities over the summer, dragged down by a decline in buyer interest and a high number of foreclosures. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that the median price for previously occupied homes fell in the July-September quarter in 111 out of 150 metropolitan areas tracked by the group. Prices are compared with the same quarter from the previous year. Fourteen cities had double-digit declines.

Winding down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was never going to be easy, given the mortgage giants' market dominance and the housing lobby of Realtors, home builders, banks and others arrayed against reform. But if even a Republican House of Representatives can't take a baby step toward a private market after some $142 billion in taxpayers losses, who will? It's a question that House Speaker John Boehner might consider as he reads a letter that Florida Republican Bill Posey and New York Democrat Gary Ackerman are circulating to fellow Members for signatures. The letter supports an amendment to an appropriations...

Good Grief: A Meditation of How Grief can be a Gift in Strange PackageBy: Msgr. Charles Pope As a priest I walk with a lot of people in their grief. It’s a regular part of priesthood. I remember back in 2007 how tough it was for me: The Deacon of my parish, Nerus, like a father to me, died after a long battle with cancer. His final words to me were, “I’m not so good right now, but I’ll be better soon.” My administrative and pastoral assistant, Catherine, like a mother to me, developed a rapid form of Alzheimer’s...

Terrorist, Dying America is a Tremendous Opportunity For U.S. Revolution: College Professor & Obama Radical Buddy Bernardine Dohrn Explains the Anti U.S. Thinking of The Left With Smiling Glee

Doctors are prescribing drinking water for neglected elderly patients to stop them dying of thirst in hospital. The measure – to remind nurses of the most basic necessity – is revealed in a damning report on pensioner care in NHS wards. Some trusts are neglecting the elderly on such a fundamental level their wards could face closure orders. The snapshot study, triggered by a Mail campaign, found staff routinely ignored patients’ calls for help and forgot to check that they had had enough to eat and drink.

Dear fellow-unbelievers, Nothing would have kept me from joining you except the loss of my voice (at least my speaking voice) which in turn is due to a long argument I am currently having with the specter of death. Nobody ever wins this argument, though there are some solid points to be made while the discussion goes on. I have found, as the enemy becomes more familiar, that all the special pleading for salvation, redemption and supernatural deliverance appears even more hollow and artificial to me than it did before. I hope to help defend and pass on the lessons...

Looks like yet another left-winger missed the meme on the New Civility. Attorney and "Ring of Fire" radio show co-host Mike Papantonio, guest-hosting on Ed Schultz's radio program yesterday, revealed two things -- he hates old people and wants tea party retirees to hurry up and die. Don't take my word for it, listen to Papantonio's remarks after a caller said he saw "one of these baggers" push a woman during dueling protests over the weekend in Madison, Wisc. (audio here)- CALLER: And he pushed the woman and, you know, I don't know what caused that or whatever but, two...

A 41-year-old Pikesville woman was ordered Wednesday to stand trial March 10 on charges that she obtained $10,000 from Mike Flynn, the former Ravens player, by fraudulently claiming that she was dying of cancer. It is the second such case to be tried in Baltimore County in a year. Lisa Hoppenstein Cohen, a mother of two and the wife of a chiropractor, told friends and acquaintances — including Flynn and his wife, Mary — that she had terminal cancer and needed money to pay for medical treatment, according to prosecutors. People who gave her money recalled her claiming that one...

Scott Petkov says he's sorry. "We apologize for our actions and stupidity. It was an ignorant thing that we did and it was basically in retaliation about things that were said about my house and my wife."

I am a doctor specializing in the Emergency Departments of the only two military Level One-Trauma Centers, both in San Antonio, TX and they care for civilian Emergencies as well as military personnel. San Antonio has the largest military retiree population in the world living here. (snip)

CNN is hemorrhaging viewers. One article I read said that CNN’s policy of playing it right down the middle is not working. What a hoot! Only a liberal would think CNN plays it down the middle. If CNN really played it down the middle, they would probably have a huge audience. CNN is violating the four basic rules of marketing: Position, Differentiate, USP (Unique Selling Point), and Brand. I won’t bore you with a detailed marketing analysis of how CNN has violated all four.

WASHINGTON – Dallas' top Democratic donors will cut big checks to share dinner later this month with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Most will be motivated by a desire to protect the party's congressional majority. Lisa Blue will have an extra reason: to say thanks for Pelosi's efforts when her husband, Fred Baron, was dying of bone marrow cancer. His only option was an experimental drug whose manufacturer refused to give permission to use it for Baron's condition. "He was a big fan of hers, and now I am as well," Blue said. Baron, the "King of Toxic Torts," built a...

The Lockerbie bomber could survive for 10 years or longer, according to a cancer specialist who last year said he would be dead within three months of his release. Professor Karol Sikora, who assessed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi for the Libyan authorities almost a year ago, told The Sunday Times it was "embarrassing" the bomber had outlived his three-month prognosis. Megrahi, 58, is the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of a US Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie, which left 270 dead. The Scottish government provoked outrage from the United States when it released him from prison in...

The current 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada presents a confluence of sport, civilization, and pageantry -- all of which, upon reflection, are uniquely Western. With the notable exceptions of a few winter sports-loving Asian nations like Japan, South Korea, and China -- nations that have to varying degrees opened to Western technology -- the Winter Olympics have historically been a showcase for the northern nations of Europe, North America, and the former Soviet Union. Whereas the Summer Olympics dwarfs the sister Winter games in terms of worldwide participation and popular interest, the Winter Olympics features sports that necessitate freezing-temperature...

NEW ORLEANS -- It was John B. Baus's 82nd birthday. When he was getting ready to go out with his wife, he had a heart attack and ended up on his way to the emergency room instead. Doctors there worked to stabilize him and performed surgery to implant a pace maker. Mary Adele Baus, his wife, went home after the surgery, assured that her husband was resting comfortably. Instead, at 3 a.m. doctors were working frantically with oxygen and electric paddles to keep Baus alive. In the midst of the effort Baus asked for a Roman Catholic priest, fearing death...

The number of people employed in the industry is now about the same as it was in the mid-1950's. And this is good. Talent and resources should go where they are used most efficiently. Obviously all printed news will soon be online. Those who have talent will move into those areas (lots of us are already here) and will be able to make a living doing it. The greenies will celebrate all the trees that will be spared. And while nobody cheers the fact that people are losing their jobs, we should take comfort that the free market is alive...

"Because too many people are not [ready to meet God]. They're just goofing off, laughing their way through life, like everything's a big joke. They don't pray, they don't trust God, they're not in Church on Sunday, they're in serious mortal sin, and they think they're going to be ready to meet God, and it does not work that way." . . .

The other day, deep in Rego Park, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, Stanley Moscowitz and Walter Israel sat down at a Formica table for lunch at Ben's Best Kosher Deli on Queens Boulevard. Moscowitz, who's 53 and grew up in nearby Forest Hills, ordered first: matzo ball, tip of the tongue, roast beef, rye, Russian, onions and Dr. Brown's diet cherry drink. Israel ordered pastrami on rye bread. His son Jason ordered pastrami on white. In his defense, Jason did not ask for mayonnaise, but the combination of pastrami and white bread enjoys a certain...

After the mortgage business imploded last year, Wall Street investment banks began searching for another big idea to make money. They think they may have found one. The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash — $400,000 for a $1 million policy, say, depending on the life expectancy of the insured person. Then they plan to “securitize” these policies, in Wall Street jargon, by packaging hundreds or thousands together into bonds. They will then resell those bonds to investors, like big pension funds, who will receive the payouts when people...

After World War II, the U.S. government invested an enormous amount of money in medicine; medical research, medical procedures and medical technologies. This investment made contemporary scientific medicine into American medicine, characterized by a continuing flow of new treatment possibilities. These advances raised all kinds of ethical questions. Some were personal and individual, others were social and political. Both type questions are addressed by a new academic discipline called bioethics. The first attempt to develop a scientific medicine took place in Greece in the 5th century B.C. It was called Hippocratic medicine. Closely linked with this first scientific medicine was...

Health Minister Nicola Roxon wants debate about the moral challenge as the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee plans trials to determine when costly drugs become ineffective and should no longer be dispensed.

This just in from an old friend who is a retired high ranking military officer who took HIS oath more seriously than the clowns in Washington and is as angry as most of the rest of us at the travesty unfolding before us. I've cleaned out the email addys and names to prevent ACORN from picketing or firebombing their homes. ******** Monday morning , I heard that our Rep. John Lewis (an unchallenged Civil Rights "icon" who, due to gerrymandering was given the N Atlanta, Fulton County and Sandy Springs district once represented by Dr. Tom Price) had called a...

Ezekiel Emmanuel, Rahm’s health-wonk brother, wants the nation’s seniors to just get on with it. Death, that is. Believing that older Americans have already had their fair share of time, he suggests that they be denied health care resources—out of a concern for justice, apparently. This, from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, sums it up: 'In a January article published in the British medical journal Lancet, Emanuel and his co-authors advocate a health rationing policy that discriminates against older people. They wrote, “Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination … Treating 65-year-olds differently because of...

Dr. John David Manning says it as plainly as it can be said.

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Colby Curtin, a 10-year-old with a rare form of cancer, was staying alive for one thing – a movie. From the minute Colby saw the previews to the Disney-Pixar movie Up, she was desperate to see it. Colby had been diagnosed with vascular cancer about three years ago, said her mother, Lisa Curtin, and at the beginning of this month it became apparent that she would die soon and was too ill to be moved to a theater to see the film. After a family friend made frantic calls to Pixar to help grant Colby her dying...

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Colby Curtin, a 10-year-old with a rare form of cancer, was staying alive for one thing – a movie. From the minute Colby saw the previews to the Disney-Pixar movie Up, she was desperate to see it. Colby had been diagnosed with vascular cancer about three years ago, said her mother, Lisa Curtin, and at the beginning of this month it became apparent that she would die soon and was too ill to be moved to a theater to see the film. After a family friend made frantic calls to Pixar to help grant Colby her dying...

So I’m reading the 9,324th story on the absolutely ridiculous “ethics complaint”against Sarah Palin, filed by operatives of the DNC, namely Sondra Tomkins, who is aided by Shannyn Moore, Jeanne Devon, and Linda Biegel. Standard boilerplate left wing lunacy. This time written by so-called “professor” Amanda Coyne, who runs the Alaska Dispatch, a small internet newser, that’s main purpose seems to be printing attacks against the Governor. Nothing surprising there, as Coyne has turned her hate into a cottage industry. Between her unbalanced and unhinged hate for Palin, she also spends time attacking Palin’s supporters, and filling the pages of...

My father died alone, surrounded by all of us who loved him. His beloved breath was labored for the last, long, eight hours of his life while we hung on every whisper of air that kept him alive. In the living room, my mother, brother, sister and I talked quietly about the past and a future without him. I'd known him all of my life. He was as familiar to me as my own face in the mirror each morning. His impending death was incomprehensible, even to a Christian soul. Funny, we intellectually expect the arrival of death someday, but...

"This is the place where bad times get sent to make them belong to somebody else, thus, it seems easy to agree about Detroit because the city embodies everything the rest of the country wants to get over." --Jerry Herron, AfterCulture: Detroit and the Humiliation of History (1993) Detroit My plane hadn't even finished descending through the snow-drizzly sheets of December gray, when already, I heard someone crack on it. "Ladies and Gentlemen," a Northwest flight attendant announced, "Welcome to lovely Detroit, the one and only home of the Detroit auto worker of America. Happiness is a way of travel,...

On Sunday, Chris O’Brien of the Silicon Valley Mercury News wrote about four dying Silicon Valley icons. For some reason, it wasn’t posted to the website Sunday or Monday, but it’s there now. He aptly summarizes the problems of three of these companies, and I recommend anyone interested in innovation (or the Valley) to read the analysis. In my reading, two of the companies are (effectively) single-product companies where their product is no longer compelling and increasingly no longer competitive. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) once was threatening Intel (INTC) on the performance front, and now they are asset stripping in...

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 4, 2008 (Zenit.org).- When facing death, one is forced to face reality and recognize things for what they are, says Benedict XVI. The Pope said this Monday upon presiding in St. Peter's Basilica at the traditional November Mass for the souls of cardinals and bishops who died over the course of the year. Members of the College of Cardinals concelebrated with the Holy Father. During the homily the Pontiff recalled the names of the 10 cardinals who passed away during the last 12 months: Stephen Fumio Hamao, Alfons Maria Stickler, Aloísio Lorscheider, Peter Poreku Dery, Adolfo Antonio...

Where's it worst? Ohio, according to our analysis, which racked up four of the 10 cities on our list: Youngstown, Canton, Dayton and Cleveland. The runner-up is Michigan, with two cities--Detroit and Flint--making the ranking.

HAVANA - Fidel Castro revealed Thursday that he thought he was dying when he fell ill in July 2006, and hastily made plans to give up power as doctors fought to save his life. "When I fell gravely ill the night of the 26th and dawn of the 27th of July, I thought that would be the end," the ailing 81-year-old wrote in an essay published on the front page of state newspapers. "And while the doctors fought for my life, the head aide of the Council of State read at my urging the text and I dictated the necessary...

A grandfather who went on a massive spending spree when doctors told him he would die is taking legal action against the NHS after learning he had been misdiagnosed. John Brandrick, from Newquay, Cornwall, was told he had pancreatic cancer two years ago after scans revealed a 7cm tumour. The 62-year-old said he was told by doctors at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske that he only had a short time left to live. So he quit his job and stopped paying his mortgage, instead splashing out on a lavish lifestyle of hotels, restaurants and holidays. Then the hospital told...

Vitamin supplements taken by millions of people every day for their health could be increasing their risk of death a new Danish-led study suggests. The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The international research team reviewed the published evidence on beta carotene, vitamin A, vitamin E, Vitamin C and selenium. The team was led by Dr Goran Bjelakovic, from Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark. These dietary supplements are marketed as antioxidants and people take them in the hope they will improve health and guard against diseases like cancer and heart disease by eliminating the free radicals...

Just kind of a tribute to John Palka. Marine (ca. 1965), blues lover, cat lover. Ornery. Not religious. Chicago boy. Missed by those who knew him.

HAVANA - The ailing Fidel Castro is not dying but is recovering from an illness, his younger brother and Cuba's acting president said Sunday in response to rumors that the leader was on his deathbed. Raul Castro, who has been standing in for his brother since July 31, was responding to recent reports including one in Time magazine that said Castro apparently has terminal cancer. Castro is recovering from intestinal surgery but the lack of details from the Cuban government regarding the nature of his illness has sparked a number of rumors about his health. "He is not dying like...

From the desk of Paul Belien on Wed, 2006-09-20 23:11 Dr Koenraad Elst, one of Belgium’s best orientalists and an occasional contributor to this website (if I had time I would translate more of his Dutch-language contributions into English), told me last week that he thinks “Islam is in decline, despite its impressive demographic and military surge” – which according to Dr Elst is merely a “last upheaval.” He acknowledges, however, that this decline can take some time (at least in terms of the individual human life span) and that it is possible that Islam will succeed in becoming the...

The United States of America vs. Bill Keller How hard is it to be executive editor of the New York Times today? The White House calls him a traitor. He gets roasted every day on talk shows and blogs. The newsroom is losing faith. The paper is shrinking. And the worst part is that fighting back means overcoming his own nature... ...For a meeting without historical precedent, the president of the United States had called the Times to the White House to personally try to prevent a state secret from appearing in print—an exposé of the National Security Agency’s efforts...

As we took off from London for New York a few days ago, our three over-excited children asked if there was any chance of the plane being blown up. I explained that the likelihood of that happening was virtually zero, and wondered how we were going to maintain some semblance of order during the flight. One did not wish the sedate American passengers by whom we were surrounded to form the impression that British parents are unable or unwilling to impart the rudiments of good manners.

16th of June DEFEATING DEPRESSION PART 1 “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad” Proverbs 12:25 Depression- from Webster’s New Unabridged Dictionary Low spirits, gloominess, dejection, sadness, a decrease in force, or activity, or amount, a decrease in functional activity. An emotional condition either normal or pathological characterized by discouragement, a feeling of inadequacy, the act of humbling abasement as a depression of pride. Abasement, reduction, sinking, fall, humiliation, dejection, melancholy. Major Depression Facts Major depression is the No.1 psychological disorder in the western world.(1) It is growing in all age groups,...

52wk Range: 21.58 - 35.00 Last Trade: 21.58

NO one with a heart would deny painkillers to a suffering patient whose death was near. But what if the drugs, besides easing pain, could also hasten death — could make “near” closer to “now”? It is a question the doctors and families of dying patients face every day. Much of the time, they are generous with drugs. The practice is generally considered acceptable, even if it does help end a life — provided that the intention is strictly to relieve pain, not cause death. Basically, it’s O.K. if you happen to grease the skids for poor old uncle as...

OUTDOOR COLUMN -- matthews-ONS -- 05jul06 Deer in peril by aqueduct, fencing work By JIM MATTHEWS Outdoor News Service A portion of the burro deer herd in Imperial and Riverside counties is being denied water during the scorching summer heat because of work being conducted by the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) on the Coachella Canal, located on the east side of the Salton Sea and Imperial Valley. The canal, which has delivered Colorado River water to farm fields in the Imperial Valley for decades, is being replaced with a concrete lined canal to eliminate leakage. This will increase the...

The old priest lay dying in the hospital. For years he had faithfully served the people of the nation's capital. He motioned for one of his aides to come near. "Yes father" said the aide. "I would really like to see Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton before I die", whispered the priest. "I'll see what I can do, father" replied the aide. The aide sent the request to the Senate and waited for a response. Soon the word arrived. Kennedy and Clinton would be delighted to visit the priest. As they went to the hospital, Clinton commented to Kennedy, "I...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi could barely speak, but he struggled and tried to get away from American soldiers as he lay dying on a stretcher in the ruins of his hideout. The U.S. forces recognized his face, and knew they had the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. Initially, the U.S. military had said al-Zarqawi was killed outright. But Friday new details emerged of his final moments. For three years, al-Zarqawi orchestrated horrific acts of violence guided by his extremist vision of jihad, or holy war — first against the U.S. soldiers he considered occupiers of Arab lands, then...

Rather than running away from the police, an alleged shoplifter ended up running into them — with grave results. Scott Everette Blake, 46, of Mounds View allegedly tried to steal more than $200 in men's accessories Saturday night from a Marshalls store near the Northtown shopping center in Blaine, said Anoka County Sheriff's Detective Jeff Rokeh. Store security guards watched as he removed watches, wallets and key chains from their packaging, bit off the security tags and stuffed the items in his pockets, Rokeh said. The guards called Blaine police and asked them to stand by as Blake prepared to...