Free Republic

Stay classy, MSNBC. On the day after the Republican Party showed gains in a few statewide elections and with key health care and cap-and-trade legislation pending, MSNBC went back to the well to do what it does best - attack the character of one of the network' favorite targets, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. On the Nov. 4 broadcast of MSNBC's "Countdown," with fill-in host Lawrence O'Donnell substituting for Keith Olbermann (still MIA since New Jersey gubernatorial race went Republican), Michael Musto, gay columnist for The Village Voice and author of "La Dolce Musto" dressed up as Palin and reenacted...

September, 9 A.D., Kalkriese Hill, northern Germany: the Germanic warriors waited in grim silence. Three Roman legions, commanded by General Publius Quintilius Varus, advanced across the Rhine into Anglo-Saxon territory. The Romans hoped to expand Roman power, Roman law, and Roman culture. The Germans hoped to preserve their Teutonic laws and institutions and their way of life.  Probably neither side realized that the Battle of Teutoburg Forest would decide the course of Western law and Western civilization for millennia to come.  And now, in the year 2009, the 2,000th anniversary of the battle, very few Americans have even heard of...

Levi Johnston 'To Take Sarah Palin To Court' Over Child Custody The teenager who fathered Sarah Palin's 10-month-old grandson has delivered a fresh blow to the former Republican vice presidential candidate by saying he will "definitely" take her to court to gain access to his child. By Nick Allen in Los Angeles 30 Oct 2009 Levi Johnston, 19, who had a son called Tripp with Mrs Palin's eldest daughter Bristol, has been considering legal action for months but now says it is "inevitable" and that Mrs Palin is preventing him from seeing the boy. A court case over Tripp, during...

Levi Johnston says he's keeping some "huge" things about Sarah Palin from the public. In Part One of a two-part exclusive interview with "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez, which aired Wednesday, the father of Palin's grandson says, "There are some things that I have that are huge. And I haven't said them because I'm not gonna hurt her that way. " ... I have things that can, you know -- that would get her in trouble, and could hurt her. Will hurt her. But I'm not gonna go that far. You know, I mean, if I really wanted to hurt...

The media’s been pointing to the balloon boy story as the ne plus ultra of celebrity-seeking scumbaggery, but there’s an even better example around, isn’t there? Honestly, at this point, the most rational interpretation of his behavior is that he’s trying to get people to hate him. “Sounds like you really resent her now,” she asks Levi during the interview, which was taped in advance. “Well now I’ve heard all the things she’s said. You know, the Sarah Palin I knew before, it was — it was her putting on a front, it was her being fake to me and...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Police in Philadelphia say a homeless man sleeping in a trash bin wound up in the back of a garbage truck and was killed by the vehicle's compactor. Investigators say the truck collected the contents of the trash bin at about 4 a.m. Wednesday in North Philadelphia. The truck's driver activated the compactor a little later. Police say the driver told officers he thought he heard someone say, "Yo! Yo! Yo!" but did not know where the voice was coming from. He heard the cry again, fainter, at his next stop and alerted authorities.

Dinosaurs are a popular topic of study, whether in the public imagination or in scientific research. The scientific community, however, has a dirty little secret regarding the manner in which that research is handled. If dinosaur DNA doesn't "look like chicken" (or a crocodile), it will most likely be discarded as "unreliable data" prior to publication--and thus be effectively censored from public access. Why? Because evolutionary scientists are committed to only publish dinosaur DNA data that match their naturalistic tale of origins. Despite the amazing discoveries of soft tissue from dinosaur bones,[1] dinosaur DNA research results (and other dinosaur "connective...

There are a lot of false urban legends promoted in academia about intelligent design (ID). They often start with myths promoted by misinformed critiques in scientific journals, court rulings, or even talks by activists at scientific conferences. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for this misinformation to then be passed down to college students, who may know very little about ID and lack the resources to correct their professors’ misinformed and misplaced attacks on ID. Not anymore. If you’re a college student, recently gone back to school and expecting to hear a lot of anti-ID views from your professors, we’re pleased to...

ROTTERDAM, the Netherlands — When two inspectors swung open the doors of a battered red shipping container here, they confronted a graveyard of Europe’s electronic waste — old wires, electricity meters, circuit boards — mixed with remnants of cardboard and plastic. “This is supposed to be going to China, but it isn’t going anywhere,” said Arno Vink, an inspector from the Dutch environment ministry who impounded the container because of Europe’s strict new laws that place restrictions on all types of waste exports, from dirty pipes to broken computers to household trash. Exporting waste illegally to poor countries has become...

President Bush favored cap and trade, one of this former speechwriters claims in a new book. In fact, Matt Latimer writes in "Speechless," the President actually ENDORSED the policy in a speech, but no one in the press could figure out what he meant. Cap-and-trade, which would put a limit on businesses' carbon emissions, barely passed the House this year but has yet to make headway in the Senate. Most Republicans are vocally opposed to it.

It seems like all the dictators who started off by getting themselves elected "democratically" have followed similar paths. We can pretty much map them and see if a particular politician seems to have followed it. Formula for Dictatorial Success 1. While trying to get elected you must harp on how awful it is for people and blame this on the current national leader. You must blame corporations and their 'bought' politicians for every problem under the sun. 2. You must promise the voters something for nothing. Actually you must promise them everything for nothing. You must make them really believe...

Once again, a NASA space probe is supporting the 6,000-year biblical age of the solar system...

Polling data has revealed a trend indicating that “America is not a Christian nation.”[1] Although a large majority of Americans outwardly claim to be Christian, their inward beliefs are actually non-Christian. Why is this so? Classic Christianity is based on certain fundamental doctrines that are clearly taught in the Bible, such as the universality of sin, the universality of access to the Savior, and the exclusivity of that Savior.[2] But apparently, many of those who call themselves Christians deny that Jesus Christ is the only Savior. Newsweek reported, “According to a 2008 Pew Forum survey, 65 percent of us believe...

August 29, 2009 — Today’s Evolutionary Just-So Story is brought to you by New Scientist: “Girls Are Primed to Fear Spiders.” Once upon a time, while cavemen were out hunting and gathering, the women back home had to learn to avoid dangerous animals. David Rakison of Carnegie Mellon University put this all into evolutionary terms for the rest of us:...

Cambrian Fossils Still a Dilemma for Darwinism 100 Years After Discovery of Burgess Shale Exactly one hundred years ago leading American paleontologist Charles Doolittle Walcott (right) was hiking along Burgess Pass in the Canadian Rockies when he stumbled upon a slab of shale containing fossil crustaceans. His interest piqued, Wolcott made return trips to the Burgess Shale in the following years where he ultimately collected tens of thousands of fossils. Many of these fossils were extraordinarily well-preserved, and they were mysterious. They included strange forms like Anomalocaris, Opabinia, Wiwaxia, and Hallucigenia. These fossils revealed a mystery: like other Cambrian fauna,...

August 30, 2009 — Our airways are lined with cells that have beating oars called motile cilia. Like galley slaves on a Roman ship, they beat in coordinated waves, setting up currents that propel dust and foreign matter out toward the mouth. Scientists just found out another amazing capability of these motile cilia...

Most people north of the equator have an observable suntan by August. Ironically, a desire to be outside is often coupled with another strong desire to get out of the sun, as indicated by sales of sun umbrellas and other types of sunshades. From a biological standpoint, energy from the sun always needs to be controlled. This means that there is complex biological machinery in place to manage sunlight in some way. The machinery itself would not exist without information in DNA prescribing its materials, manufacture, and operation. Suntans result from this special biological machinery and function like the skin's...

Has science left Darwin so far behind that it is a complete red herring for creationist writers to analyze, discuss or rebut his views? When creationists do that, does it, as one email put it, show that such authors must be “out of touch”? We often hear such comments from our detractors in this “year of Darwin”, but with an increasing frequency the last few weeks. Hence this weekend’s feedback will respond to such charges in general. The usual emailed comments one sees about this seem to imply not only that referring to Darwin’s views is completely inappropriate, but that...

Over the past decade or so, scientific research has revealed surprisingly young-looking features in fossils and other artifacts dated in the millions of years. The discoveries include blood vessels in T. rex[1] and hadrosaur fossil femurs,[2] mummified dinosaur stomach contents,[3] mummified dinosaur skin,[4] live cells from amber deposits,[5] fresh cellulose fibers in supposedly 250 million-year old salt deposits,[6] DNA molecules from Neanderthal skeletons,[7] and fossil feathers with clearly visible stripes.[8] Now “150 million-year–old” squid ink, which was so fresh that scientists used it to write with, adds further doubt in deep time...

Fratricide: New Atheists vs. Framing Atheists As of late there has been a lot of spittle passed between two camps in the Darwin-sphere. Things are getting really nasty, as so often happens among atheist factions. On one side are the new atheists: Coyne, Harris, Dawkins, Dennett, Myers. On the other side are the … well for want of a better word — the "framing" atheists: Ruse, Mooney, Kirshenbaum, Nisbet, Scott. With the exception of a few theist Darwinians (an oxymoron, I know) like Ken Miller, the motivation of the combatants seems to be the same: how to best advance an...

A NASA spacecraft is again testing a creationist theory about the magnetic fields of planets. On 14 January 2008, the Messenger spacecraft, made by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for NASA, flew by Mercury, the innermost planet of the solar system, in the first of several close encounters before it finally settles into a steady orbit around Mercury in 2011.[1] As it passed, its ‘magnetometer’ made quick measurements of Mercury’s magnetic field and transmitted them successfully back to Earth. Probably it will take the Messenger team several months to process the magnetic data accurately. I’m looking forward to...

One Flew Over the Darwinists' Nest Sean Carroll is one of those open-minded science types who are always generously offering the rest of us lectures on the importance of intellectual freedom and open inquiry--at least when the subject of discussion is buried in the annals of history. When it comes to people debating issues today, however, there are other things which must be taken into consideration. Like whether Carroll agrees with them. He is particularly upset about Bloggingheads.tv running a dialogue between John McWhorter and Intelligent Design advocate Michael Behe, a professional scientist. "Unfortunately," he says, "I won’t be appearing...

In recent decades, soft, squishy tissues have been discovered inside fossilized dinosaur bones. They seem so fresh that it appears as though the bodies were buried only a few thousand years ago. Since many think of a fossil as having had the original bone material replaced by minerals, the presence of actual bone--let alone pliable blood vessels, red blood cells, and proteins inside the bone--is quite extraordinary. These finds also present a dilemma...

New research presented in Science documents how, contrary to conventional wisdom, mud can be deposited from rapidly flowing water.[1] These findings cut across beliefs held by geologists for over a century and signal that ‘mudstone science is poised for a paradigm shift.’[2]...

How can we detect design in nature? One idea, proposed by Michael Behe, is irreducible complexity. Behe explains that a machine is irreducibly complex if it has several different parts which all are necessary. Remove any one of those needed parts, and the machine doesn’t function. An internal combustion engine is irreducibly complexity, for instance. Take away the valve, or the piston, or the spark plug, or the wire, and it does not function. Such machines are not likely to be created by blind natural laws--they require forward-looking thought. Assembly is required, and there is no payback until the final...

Welcome to scientism, a belief system founded on the conviction that everything from neutrinos to supernovae to conscious beings who marvel at such things are reducible to material processes explicable through science. It is a conviction based on neither observed fact nor experimental evidence, but rather on dogmatic faith in naturalistic science. In scientism, nature is God, science is revelation, and scientists are the new exegetes. Echoing Dr. Porco, biologist Stuart Kauffman urges us to “reinvent the sacred” by embracing the universe “as a reinvention of ‘God.’” Kauffman has unflagging trust in nature, all the while acknowledging that her laws,...

When Nathaniel Jeanson graduated from high school, he hadn't yet thought about becoming a doctor and researcher in one of the most cutting edge and controversial fields in medicine today: stem cells. "I knew that I didn't like insects or blood, but I liked science," he said in a recent phone interview. Jeanson attended the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and studied molecular biology, though he admitted that he didn't know exactly what it was when he started. But it involved chemistry and was related to disease research, both fields that interested him, and he graduated with his bachelor's degree in 2003....

Researchers recently discovered the worldÂ’s first pterosaur landing footprints, and the find has revealed precise coordination and other features in these mysterious flying reptiles. In a study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, co-author Kevin Padian and his colleagues examined some of the anatomical and behavioral features of these creatures, which are presumed to be extinct. Based on skeletal anatomy and footprints, both found in fossilized form, it is known that pterosaurs walked on all fours. Their wings folded back so that they could walk on special forefeet located on their elbows. Their hind legs were situated underneath...

Australia emissions plan rejectedPage last updated at 02:08 GMT, Thursday, 13 August 2009 03:08 UK The Australian parliament has rejected government plans to introduce an ambitious carbon trading scheme to tackle global warming. The measure was the centrepiece of the government's environment plans, and would have cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5% over the next 10 years. But opposition senators who control the upper house feared the legislation would harm the country's mining sector. The government can re-introduce the legislation after three months. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong confirmed after the Senate defeat by 42 votes to 30 that the...

Hoping to learn more about one of the most glaring examples of waste and environmental pollution on earth, a group of scientists will set sail from San Francisco today to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a massive vortex of floating plastic trash estimated by some researchers to be twice the size of Texas. The bobbing debris field, where currents swirl everything from discarded fishing line to plastic bottles into one soupy mess, is located about 1,000 miles west of California. "This is a problem that is kind of out of sight, out of mind, but it is having devastating impacts...

Doctor says he did not inject JacksonCalcutta News.Net Sunday 28th June, 2009 Michael Jackson's doctor has labelled reports he injected the pop icon with a powerful painkiller prior to Jackson’s death as false. Speaking through his lawyer, Dr. Conrad Murray, told the Los Angeles Times he did not administer the narcotic drugs, Demerol or OxyContin. Dr Murray explained that Jackson was unconscious and not breathing when he entered the bedroom at Jackson’s Holmby Hills mansion in California. He said he checked for a pulse, which was only weak. He then started administering CPR. The LA Times said the account provided...

For those interested in such things. Freepers that have farm experience are aware of how efficient diesel tractors are. I put five gallons in mine and bush hog all summer. Here is a link to some guys that convert vehicles to tractor power and have gotten as much as 50mpg from a full size pickup! http://www.shadetreeconversions.com/

What lies beneath the surface of New York Harbor? For starters, a 350-foot steamship, 1,600 bars of silver, a freight train, and four-foot-long cement-eating worms. The steady transformation of New York’s waterfront from wasteland to playground means more of us are spending time along the city’s edge. That can lead a person to wonder: What, exactly, is down there? Until recently, we had patchy knowledge of what lies beneath the surface of one of the world’s busiest harbors. What we did know came largely from random anecdotes, and depth soundings done the way Henry Hudson did them—by rope and lead...

Imagine using a dump site to produce a fuel resource. Due to a novel technology developed by a company called BlueFire Ethanol, the cellulosic ethanol within municipal and other waste products could be transformed into an alternative fuel resource. The company has patented a process dubbed “Arkenol” that currently stands as the sole viable cellulose-to-ethanol technique. According to BlueFire, production could be implemented with ethanol coming from wood wastes, urban trash (post-sorted municipal solid waste), rice and wheat straws, and other agricultural residues. BlueFire estimates a production of 3.7 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year from its first cellulosic...

The vehicles are made by UNICAT, a company based in Europe that now also has an American branch. The particular model shown in the photographs is designated as the "EX63-HDM / MAN TGA 6x6". The series of photographs included in the email can be viewed on the UNICAT website, along with many other photographs. This model has a roof that lowers snugly over the windows when travelling thus explaining the apparent mystery of the disappearing windows. Photos on site

A new poll shows how dismal the Republicans could have it in 2012, especially if they insist on nominating Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as their presidential candidate. Public Policy Polling has found that if Palin were the Republican Party candidate in 2012, President Obama could expect to win the election by 20% of the vote.

As the days go by, America is seeing more and more the real Barack Obama. And the more one observes and hears, the more it is apparent that Obama is leading the country into the storm drain of history—economically, culturally, and in terms of its national security. Liberal politics is rife with aspiration. Chickens in every pot. Cars and homes for all. Security. Prosperity. Harmony. And no one need sacrifice, have discipline, take accountability, change, or assimilate (except when it comes to embracing the liberal agenda). Cultural solidarity means nothing. Long-term vision is eschewed.

An Eastern Baghdad local leader answers questions from the Iraqi media about 20 waste sanitation trucks turned over to the government of Iraq during a ceremony at Forward Operating Base Loyalty, Feb. 25. Photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. FOB LOYALTY — Twenty waste sanitation trucks were turned over to the Government of Iraq during a ceremony here, Feb. 25.The new trucks, used for sewage maintenance and repair, give the Iraqis additional capacity to work out sanitation problems in eastern Baghdad, said Conrad Tribble, the chief of the embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team with the 3rd Brigade...

Video description: As the nation welcomes Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, one three-year-old looks back fondly on George W. Bush's tenure as Commander in Chief. ----- I can't believe that someone would brain wash this little girl. It is sad and wrong. It's even sadder that the momlogic site would put a video up about it. If you don't mind make a comment against the video. If you don't mind go to the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page and give them a ear full in an email. Thanks, Roland

If making speeches is one of the tests of a President of the United States, then Barack Obama has passed his first test with flying colors. He has understood the varied constituencies, and the various hopes and fears he had to address. He said the kinds of things that all these constituencies wanted to hear. As a speech, it was the best inaugural address since Ronald Reagan. This is not to judge the substantive merits or demerits of what he said. Anyone who judges any political speech by its substance-- much less by what actions follow-- is likely to be...

Trash Buccaneers: Garbage... It's sounds so French, doesn't it?The efforts to stem international piracy took a step backwards when reports surfaced yesterday that a new type of seagoing transport has been targetted by these 21st century buccaneers.The Dream Cousin, a 42-ton garbage trawler, was hijacked off the coast of New Jersey by a group of Snyder Township pirates. The pirates are led by Cap'n Redneck, who hails from Northwood, the capital of Snyder Township."Why should the scallawags of New Jersey have all the finest of all the garbages, I aske ye," said Redneck. "Why, my backyard pile of diapers is...

A man whose home was so full of rubbish that he had to build an intricate network of tunnels to get around may have died after losing his way in the labyrinth. Investigators believe Gordon Stewart, 74, died as a result of dehydration, after becoming unable to find his way out of the mass of carrier bags, boxes, old furniture and other junk. Police had to call in a specialist diving team because the smell from the house, Broughton, Buckinghamshire, was so overpowering. Neighbours had become concerned that they had not seen Mr Stewart for several days and raised the...

Illegal immigrants passing through the desert leave hundreds of tons of trash behind every year. This weekend, near Amado, crews are picking up some of that mess. In just one day, volunteers filled a huge trash bin with 15,000 pounds of garbage collected from the desert. Gabriel Paz, with Arizona Game and Fish, says lay up spots aren't rare. "What ever they haven't dumped on the way, they'll usually dump right here because they know their ride is going to be here soon." Volunteers find everything from abandoned clothing to empty water bottles and personal hygiene products. Steve Hopkins, with...

AS THEY PUT ON PLASTIC GLOVES FOR THEIR first litter hunt, the third graders knew what to expect. They knew their garbage. It was part of their science curriculum at Bridges Elementary, a public school on West 17th Street in Manhattan. They had learned the Three R's -- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle -- and discussed how to stop their parents from using paper plates. For Earth Day they had read a Scholastic science publication, "Inside the World of Trash." For homework, they had kept garbage diaries and drawn color-coded charts of their families' trash. So they were primed for the field...

For as long as man has worshipped a god, there have been forgers, crafty hucksters who seize on a believer's desire to possess material proof of the divine. In Jerusalem, it is a bountiful trade. The old adage is that if all the splinters of the True Cross were gathered from across Christendom, it would yield a wooden crucifix the size of a Manhattan skyscraper. Even back in the Middle Ages, pilgrims visiting Jerusalem told of hawkers who sold counterfeit bones and relics of saints. But indisputable historical evidence that Jesus Christ, or any of the other Biblical prophets, truly...

The bone box, or ossuary, reportedly bearing the Aramaic inscription "Yaakov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua" ("James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus") AFP / Getty [snip] After a two-year investigation, police in December 2004 charged the antiquities collector [Oded Golan] and four others of forgery, alleging that the James ossuary was a clever fake and that Golan had masterminded an international ring of thieves that over the past 20 years had duped major museums and collectors out of millions. Put on trial, Golan denied the charges .... [snip] The extraordinary story of how Israeli detectives built a case against...

When the Watergate burglars bungled their 1972 caper to steal documents from the Democratic National Committee, the initial reaction of the Nixon administration to suggestions that it was somehow also involved was: “garbage.” Turns out it wasn’t garbage: it was truth and resignation igniter fluid. When the Drudge Report first broke the story that a White House intern - Monica Lewinsky - had been illicitly “involved” with the president, then William Jefferson Clinton, the Clinton administration’s initial response was that the story was: “garbage.” Indeed, an independent prosecutor was appointed and a grand jury empanelled. When White House Deputy Chief...

Tina Fey couldn't have said it better and just might on an upcoming "Saturday Night Live." But last night, those were the words of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, during the foreign policy portion of the debate with Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware. It was the weakest part of Palin's performance and Biden's strongest.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth. Some examples: PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere." THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support...

How do people think that the next VP of the United States of America, Sarah Palin, should handle thie stuff about Trig being not her's but her 16year old daughter's baby? I think it should be addressed very soon and she should spell out the allegations so that all know what the left is busy working on. Then I would suggest she laugh it off with a remark like 'I dont know it sure felt like I had a baby." In short point out the absolute absurdity of these people and not dignify any of it with anger Any other...