Free Republic

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Demolition crews on Monday started tearing down a disputed youth center that was at the heart of recent street riots in Copenhagen. Workers wore face masks under their helmets to conceal their identities as an excavator tore into the so-called Youth House, a graffiti-sprayed brick building in the Noerrebro district of the Danish capital. A police anti-terror squad on Thursday evicted squatters from the building, triggering three nights of clashes with leftist youth that turned parts of the city into a battle zone. More than 600 people were arrested and more than 20 injured as protesters hurled...

Sales of boxed copies of Windows Vista at retail stores significantly trailed those of Windows XP in each product's first week on shelves, according to new figures from NPD. The market research firm's data showed the number of copies of Vista purchased was nearly 59 percent less than the number for its predecessor XP, looking at the first week of sales. Revenue was also down, but less dramatically, with the dollar value of first-week Vista sales off 32 percent from that seen with XP. Vista went on sale both on retail shelves and on new PCs on January 30. Businesses...

Ballmer delivers sobering message at Microsoft event By John Letzing, MarketWatch Last Update: 6:20 PM ET Feb 15, 2007 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer tempered the expectations of analysts at an event Thursday, telling them their predictions for sales of the company's new operating system are too high, while those for its operating expenses may be too low. The New York event was held by Microsoft (MSFT Microsoft Corporation to lend insight into the company's strategy for its fiscal 2008 beginning in July. Without offering a specific differing forecast, Ballmer told assembled analysts their estimates...

The recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group were broadly welcomed by most Republicans and Democrats in Washington yesterday, but received a far cooler reception in Iraq, Iran, Israel and from the US military.The report, which calls for the withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq by early 2008, negotiations with Iran and Syria, and a renewed Middle East peace initiative, was a rare triumph of political compromise in Washington. But for those directly affected by the Iraq war and the wider regional instability — the Iraqis themselves, Israel and the US troops on the ground — the report...

Sheehan's Texas protests die down Nation: Anti-war demonstrations smaller; critics say movement lost fire. By Angela K. Brown, Associated Press Long Beach Press Telegram CRAWFORD, Texas - This one-stoplight town, especially the road leading to President Bush's ranch, turned out to be much quieter than it was last summer. The 700-resident town's streets were clogged last year as more than 10,000 people began streaming in over the 26-day vigil, which started when Cindy Sheehan demanded to talk to Bush about the war that claimed her oldest son's life in 2004. It was a different picture last month when war protesters...

The progressive network Air America tonight scoops up the slings and arrows it aims at President Bush and moves them to its new home a few blocks downtown. Starting tomorrow, Air America will be heard on WWRL (1600 AM), ending a 29-month run at WLIB (1190 AM). -snip- The move to WWRL will reduce Air America's coverage in some parts of the metropolitan area, since WWRL's signal isn't quite as strong as WLIB's and there are areas where it is hard to pick up. Questions continue to circulate about the financial health of the network, which has experienced cash crises...

Desiree Fairooz, of CodePink, a woman-initiated grassroots organization, traveled from Arlington to participate. After reading from a prepared statement, Fairooz lambasted the war, the president and government leaders who she said were in Iraq with the sole intent to steal oil, build an embassy and make the country "America's 52nd state."

    John Kerry's sorriest moment, until now, sounded like this: "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." But this week he has arguably outdone that equivocation.     "It is essential to acknowledge that the war itself was a mistake," the Massachusetts Democrat told a crowd of cheering leftists Tuesday at the "Take Back America" conference in Washington. "It was wrong, and I was wrong to vote for that Iraqi war resolution." He called on President Bush to withdraw all troops from Iraq by the end of the year. Sen. Hillary Clinton disagreed and was booed. Thus,...

This is my first vanity, so please indulge me. Dixie Chicks tour tickets went on sale today to the public in many market and it's starting to look a disaster, especially in the Red States. There were initial indications that internet pre-sale ticket sales were going badly last week, but this confirms the news. A review of seat availabilities on Ticketmaster indicate first-day and pre-sale ticket sales for the portly traitors are: Detroit-Bad Pittsburgh-Disaster Philadelphia-Bad Boston-Almost Sold Out Wash. DC.-Selling Well Chicago-Selling Well Minneapolis-Bad Fargo-Meltdown Disaster Glendale, AZ-Bad Omaha-Disaster Denver-Disaster Dallas-Disaster Nashville-Meltdown Disaster Tampa-Meltdown Disaster Sunrise, FL-Meltdown Disaster Atlanta-Selling Okay...

The way I see it, Dan Brown should be very happy for Fandango, which allowed millions of theater-goers to see "The Da Vinci Code" before reading the reviews. Normally, movies don't crash, losing 57% of their audience in the second weekend. Especially not when the 2nd weekend is a holiday weekend and the first weekend was not. But normally people who see movies this stupid have already invested in their Jar-Jar Binks Happy Meal Action Figure. Go figure that the Happy Meal featuring a dead, naked museum curator with a pentagram scratched in his back didn't sell to well. (OK,...

Early critics seemed happy to try to break "The Da Vinci Code." Reaction ranged from halfhearted admiration to boredom to derision among journalists at the first press screening of the Ron Howard-Tom Hanks blockbuster in waiting, premiering Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival and opening worldwide through Friday. "`Da Vinci' never rises to the level of a guilty pleasure. Too much guilt. Not enough pleasure," wrote critic Kirk Honeycutt in the trade paper The Hollywood Reporter.

Jeers, hisses and laughter was not "Canned", and what must have been a real disappointment for Tom Hanks who always looks surprised because of his facelift. The movie "The DaVinci Code", which is based upon a fictional story about how Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child, takes two and a half hours to finish, but only thirty minutes to put a number of the audience to sleep, only to be awakened by laughter, where laughter is not appropriate or planned.According to reports some people walked out during the movie's closing minutes, and when the credits rolled there...

CANNES, France (Reuters) - Journalists gave eagerly awaited film "The Da Vinci Code" a cool reception at its first press screening on Tuesday, a day ahead of the world premiere of the adaptation of Dan Brown's controversial novel. The release of the big-budget Hollywood thriller has already prompted a wave of protests from Christians across the world who believe the theories put forward in the novel are blasphemous. One of the central characters suggests Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and they established a dynasty which elements within the Church would stop at nothing to try to cover up. The outcry...

The boycott of U.S. businesses dubbed "A Day Without Gringos," and aimed at supporting migrants in the U.S., appears to have had little impact, the head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico said Tuesday. Monday's protests were timed to coincide with "the Great American Boycott" in the United States, where hundreds of thousands of immigrants stayed away from jobs and schools across the country. "Even though we don't have conclusive numbers, I think there wasn't a lot of negative effect," Chamber President Larry Rubin said by telephone from Washington, where he and other business leaders are lobbying for...

WITH a grin that is instantly recognisable, the candidate strolls past flashing poker machines in a Las Vegas casino, sticks out his hand and introduces himself: “Hi, my name is Jack Carter. My father used to be President.” Even the rows of chain-smoking gamblers, their eyes usually fixed to the whirring symbols before them, turn their jaded faces and look with astonishment at the spitting image of the Georgia peanut farmer who in 1976 came from nowhere to win the White House. Mr Carter, the oldest son of Jimmy Carter, is seeking a US Senate seat for the Democrats in...

'King Kong' Bombing Big Time at Box Office Friday, December 16, 2005 By Roger Friedman What's happened? Peter Jackson's "King Kong" — a three-hour, $300 million extravaganza that wowed advance screening audiences — is a catastrophe in the making. On Thursday, Kong's take was a measly $6,295,755 — off $35.5 from Wednesday's weak $9,755,745 opening day. Kong ranks now as the 21st best Wednesday opening ever — a dubious distinction. Something is certainly wrong. It could be the movie's daunting length, or even a slow middle section that would have benefited from cutting. The leads are all solid actors —...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - From afar, Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly appeared to get a big boost out of the closing days of the special election. The two declared Democratic candidates for governor were busy last weekend courting the base, getting lots of TV time and vigorously denouncing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot agenda. But a closer look showed much of the spotlight went instead to two other Democrats who also were out on the campaign trail last week - Hollywood stars Warren Beatty and Rob Reiner, neither of whom have said they want to run for governor. Still, some...

San Francisco, California (AHN) - Dell Inc., posted preliminary third-quarter earnings below expectations after weak sales in U.S. and Britain. Dell also says it would take charges of about $450 million in the third quarter for costs of repairing some computer systems for customers, cutting jobs and restructuring units. The company said it expects to report revenue of $13.9 billion, below its earlier forecast of $14.1 billion to $14.5 billion and analysts' $14.3 billion estimate. U.S. consumer and British unit sales "fell short of expectations," Dell says. "They were seeing some weakness in desktop and strength in notebooks, but...

  HEAR MAD hillary talks #3:"What, me worry?"THE THREAT OF TERRORISM IS AS CLOSE AS A CLINTON IS TO THE OVAL OFFICE MAD hillary talks seriesWHY MISSUS CLINTON IS DANGEROUSFOR THE CHILDREN, FOR AMERICA, FOR THE WORLD (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) MAD hillary talks series #1ALFRED E."What, me worry?" CLINTON + CRAZY HIL MAD COVER STORY THE THREAT OF TERRORISM AS CLOSE ASA CLINTON TO OVAL OFFICE MAD hillary talks series #2HILLARY'SMIDDLE-FINGER MINDSET Do you really want THAT fingeron the button? by Mia T, 7.25.05COPYRIGHT MIA T 2005 "The Sudanese wanted America to start dealing with...

US Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who had hoped to replace George W. Bush as president yesterday, instead sat in the cold and clapped as the Republican began a second four-year term. Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin patted Senator Kerry on the back shortly before the inauguration Senator Kerry had hoped would be his. As Mr Bush delivered his inaugural address, Senator Kerry, about 10m away on the steps of the US Capitol, joined other lawmakers and the crowd in repeated applause. Senator Kerry looked relaxed, at times wistful. He frequently smiled, able to hide any disappointment over what...