Free Republic

Seems that Governor Schwarzenegger wants to help out his old Hollywood friends with millions of dollars in tax breaks. He makes a case that lower taxes on film and television companies will reverse the trend of runaway production. Currently, California is losing out to at least 40 other states and Canada that are luring away production companies with very attractive tax incentives. Five years ago, 66% of feature film production took place in California. Last year this was reduced to just 31% and the governor wants to help an industry that supports about 250,000 employees. While a non-critical evaluation might...

Feds say 'no' to auto giants Ottawa, Queen's Park out of the loop at Washington auto bailout talksWASHINGTON -- Any chance that Canada would muscle in to play a central role in the U.S. arm-wrestling over an auto bailout vanished faster than cash from the Detroit 3 bank accounts yesterday. "We've had two very high level meetings with senior executives in Detroit and that gave us another level of information," federal Industry Minister Tony Clement said at a rooftop press conference at the Canadian embassy. "Is it enough to make a decision on spending taxpayer's money? I'd have to say...

Nov 20, 2008 7:13 pm US/Central Obama Advisers To Public: Temper Expectations Reporting: Mike Flannery CHICAGO (CBS) ― President-elect Barack Obama and his inner circle fear that some voters expect him to turn around the economy, wind down the war in Iraq and, perhaps, cure cancer -- all by the Fourth of July. They know they must manage and lower those expectations, CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports. A top economic advisor to Obama had a glum warning for the rest of us Thursday morning: Neither the job market nor the stock market will be turning around any time...

Host Don Wade played an interesting Dick Morris sound clip for Stephanopoulos and then asked for his response. That is when Stephanopoulos came right out and said "Dick is a liar." There was no equivocation, no weasel words, just a straight out "liar." Morris was recounting a time when President Clinton called him on the phone and yelled at him for the fact that a Clinton focus group had become news when the group was supposed to be a secret. Morris claimed that Clinton demanded to know who Morris had told of the group. Morris claimed that he only told...

If recent trends continue Hollywood may be looking for a government handout. A surge of liberal style patriotism has gripped the movers and shakers in Hollywood, they have produced movie after movie critical of the war in Iraq. Every one a box office dud. The red ink flowing faster than the blood of Al Qaeda in Iraq as our brave troops hunt them down in every corner of the country. Hollywood reporters seem perplexed -- why isn't the public interested in Iraq war movies? Could it be the clear majority of Americans who consider themselves conservative -- According to this...

This is the story of hope and reality. First the hope from Bloomberg News 10 days ago with the very hopeful title of Oliver Stones' W May End Political Films' Drought: ``W.'' distributor Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. is betting the movie can break a box-office drought for political films. None of the five released in the weeks ahead of the Nov. 4 election has brought in more than half of the $55.3 million in sales generated by Walt Disney Co.'s ``Beverly Hills Chihuahua,'' the current box-office champ, since Oct. 3. ``A lot of eyes are on `W.,''' said Gitesh Pandya,...

It seems that Darcy Burner's flimsy resume is sparser than she would like voters in the 8th District to believe. It is being reported that she did not earn a degree in economics from Harvard; a claim she has made repeatedly during the course of the campaign.

The bailout plan loss is a reflection of what the Presidential election vote will be. They had enough Democrats to pass the bill, they were sure it would pass....but it didn't.

Just think about it. They're both from Scranton, Pennsylvania They've both spent their entire careers in only one job -- Scott at Dunder-Mifflin, Biden in the U.S. Senate. They're both narcissistic, longwinded, thin-skinned, given to inflate their own importance and accomplishments, and have a penchant for harebrained schemes and an uncanny knack for putting their feet in their mouths. And this dialogue seems like it could only have been written for Michael Scott, but alas it wasn't. Video of Joe Biden being Michael Scott here.

LOS ANGELES — Lindsay Lohan's efforts to stump for Barack Obama were reportedly thrown back in her face by the Democratic candidate's campaign ... and her father is none too happy about it. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, LiLo wanted to promote Obama but was turned away by his camp due to her wild ways. Now daddy Michael Lohan is biting back. "For Barack Obama to condemn my daughter for past indiscretions when he admitted to the exact same himself is indicative of what kind of president he would be," Michael Lohan told Pop Tarts via e-mail on Wednesday night.

Apple has taken the place of Microsoft for disclosing more vulnerabilities than any other vendor, according to an IBM security report. The company rose from second place in 2007 to take the top spot away from Microsoft, which had fallen into third place behind open source content management system Joomla.

The Barack Obama presidential campaign is pouring money into the Republican bastion of Alaska to beat John McCain and to help the Alaska Democrats running for Congress against Ted Stevens and Don Young. "We've taken a look at the political dynamic of Alaska and, as a result, have made Alaska one of our 18 battleground states," said Obama deputy campaign manager Pete Rouse. "We believe we can win in Alaska and we're making it a priority."

ET confirms that Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright, stars of Oliver Stone's forthcoming President Bush biopic 'W.', were arrested Saturday morning in Shreveport, LA. The actors and three other crew members were busted outside Stray Cats bar when they allegedly interfered with the arrest of a fellow 'W' staffer, who was facing cuffs for public intoxication and resisting detainment. The trouble began when crew member Eric Felland was allegedly asked to leave the bar and refused. An officer tried to physically remove him, but Brolin, Wright and their 'W' colleagues allegedly attempted to pull Felland away from the authorities. Brolin...

REV. JESSE JACKSON APOLOGIZES TO SEN. BARACK OBAMA FOR 'CRUDE AND HURTFUL COMMENTS' CAUGHT BY OPEN MIC... DEVELOPING...

Cheney gets last laugh By Kevin Bogardus and Rebecca Brown Posted: 06/19/08 07:51 PM [ET] Vice President Dick Cheney has won his battle to withhold records from the public despite efforts by Congress and other critics who say they should be open to scrutiny. The Democrats are conceding defeat. The party’s top investigator in the House of Representatives acknowledges that there is nothing more he can do to force the vice president’s hand. “He has managed to stonewall everyone,” said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “I’m not sure there’s anything we can...

The Anaheim gang member raised by a single mother had received a second chance -- or maybe it was his first -- to turn his life around when he settled a lawsuit against the city and police for $2.5 million.In December, he was waiting for the check and paving his future with good intentions. But four months later he was back in prison for violating parole; he had been caught associating with other gang members.(snip)Attorney Richard Longoria, who represented Muñoz in a criminal case, said his client lacked self-esteem, "which makes it extremely difficult for him to find a way...

NEW YORK: John Kerry, who suffered defeat at the hands of President George Bush in last US elections, now harbours aspiration to become Secretary of State if presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama wins the race to the White House in November. Kerry, who is the third ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, is keen to be nation's top diplomat but does not eye the bigger prize of vice-presidency, Newsweek on Sunday quoted an unidentified source close to him as saying. That could also well be the case for Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd, the committee's second-ranking Democrat and for Senator...

New York Times April revenue drops 2.2 percent on lower advertising revenue NEW YORK (AP) -- New York Times Co. said Monday its April revenue from continuing operations fell 2.2 percent as a rise in circulation revenue and an Easter holiday shift failed to offset lower advertising revenue. The company said its ad revenue fell 5.1 percent to $186.1 million from $196 million in April 2007. Circulation revenue rose 3.3 percent to $87 million from $84.2 million in the year-ago period. The newspaper company said its results benefited from the move of Easter Sunday to March this year. The day...

SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN DURHAM AND ANOTHER CITY IN NORTH CAROLINA — Sen. Barack Obama told a voter this afternoon to consider trustworthiness when going to the polls tomorrow. "I think the majority of people do find me trustworthy, more than they do the other candidate, and we can't solve problems if people don't think that their leaders are telling them the truth. If they think their leaders are just saying whatever it is that helps them get to the next election, you can never ask them for sacrifice, because they are thinking I don't want to be played for a...

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front blamed Tuesday the Philippine government for the current crisis affecting peace negotiations between the GRP and MILF panels. In a statement, MILF Chaiman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim said the government should adhere to the consensus points and a draft proposal on the issue of ancestral domain. He added that such moves could avert the possible disintegration of the peace process and may spark another round of talks.

5 1/2-year sentence is result of bribes taken in Tennessee Waltz sting - MEMPHIS - The Rolex watches, fancy suits and plush hotels are all things of the past for former state Sen. John Ford.Ford, 65, reported Monday to a federal prison camp in Louisiana to begin a 5 1/2-year sentence for taking $55,000 in bribes during the FBI's statewide corruption sting called Tennessee Waltz.Once one of the state's most powerful lawmakers, Ford was known as a flashy dresser with a taste for fine dining and expensive hotels.At the prison camp, he will have half of a double bunk in...

Following yesterday's announcement of a reorganization of the operations and finance areas of ABC News, TVNewser has learned as many as 21 jobs have been eliminated. However, insiders tell us a number of new jobs have already been posted, and that those who were cut are being encouraged to apply for the added positions. In the end, the insider figures around 11 jobs will be lost. In his note yesterday, ABC News president David Westin wrote, "...we will reduce the level of operations management and the number of operations positions overall." ABC News Operations has an opening for a Vice...

CBS reeling from disappointing earning in the last quarter has done some layoffs, at the corporate level, and separate from that, at some local O&O stations. On corporate level, TVNewser reports that CBS News has made cuts in to editorial, technical operations and the bureaus. CBS owns 29 stations, including 16 CBS affiliates ...

Credit the public with sense. Earth Hour, hysterically promoted by The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, the ABC, SBS, Sky News and the federal and state governments, resulted in no significant fall in power usage. Check the graphs from our National Electricity Market Management Company, tracking power use between 8pm and 9pm (a period in which demand always plummets):

Two evolutionary biologists — P. Z. Myers of the University of Minnesota, Morris, and Richard Dawkins of Oxford — tried to go to the movies at the Mall of America in Minneapolis Thursday evening. Dr. Dawkins got in. Dr. Myers did not.

The blogs are ringing with ridicule. Mark Mathis, duplicitous producer of the much hyped film Expelled, shot himself in the foot so spectacularly that the phrase might have been invented for him. Goals don't come more own than this. How is it possible that a man who makes his living from partisan propaganda could hand so stunning a propaganda coup to his opponents? Hand it to them on a plate, so ignominiously and so UNNECESSARILY. In writing this for RichardDawkins.net, I have assumed that our readers will already be familiar with the facts of the case, from Pharyngula and the...

EL-ARISH, Egypt - An underground tunnel collapsed early Wednesday near Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip, burying a Palestinian smuggler alive, a security official said. Mohammed el-Bashiti and five others had nearly finished expanding the tunnel from Gaza into Egypt when the ceiling gave way, said the official, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity. The nearly 2,000-foot-long tunnel, located about 30 feet below ground, was an old one that the smugglers were attempting to renovate. El-Bashiti precipitated the collapse of the tunnel's sandy ceiling when he pushed a pole through to the surface in an effort to show his...

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Chinese authorities pressed into service as many as 14,000 medical staff and hundreds of thousands of army and paramilitary personnel to treat the sick and help with relief work, as more than 77 million people were affected by the toughest winter faced by the country in more than five decades, according to reports. But the heavy snowfall, which has created havoc in nearly 31 Chinese provinces and regions, is forecast to continue for the next three days, reported the Xinhua news service Wednesday, citing the China Meteorological Administration. Over the next ten days, the southwestern, eastern...

RALEIGH, N.C. — The disgraced former prosecutor who led the debunked Duke lacrosse rape case has filed for bankruptcy. Mike Nifong cited more than $180 million dollars in liabilities and only $243,898 in assets of real and personal property.

JAMES WATSON, the DNA pioneer who claimed Africans are less intelligent than whites, has been found to have 16 times more genes of black origin than the average white European. An analysis of his genome shows that 16% of his genes are likely to have come from a black ancestor of African descent. By contrast, most people of European descent would have no more than 1%. The study was made possible when he allowed his genome - the map of all his genes - to be published on the internet in the interests of science. “This level is what you...

Tuesday/Wednesday, November 13/14 - about 4 a.m. Sources inside and outside Iran. A series of explosions rocked the Parchin Military Site (where missiles, including "cruise" type missiles, are manufactured) at Varamin south of Tehran. The Shahab 3, 4 and more recently Shahab 5 solid fuel missiles at the site are hidden in old salt mines in the mountain face in the area, further excavated and furbished for development and manufacture. The main purpose of this Ministry of Defense site, established by the late Shah's father - Reza Shah Kabir - in the early 1900's and taken over by the IRGC,...

Circulation Guarantee to Advertisers Dropped to 2.6M NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Newsweek's new management plans to chop its guaranteed paid circulation by 500,000 copies, dropping its promise to advertisers down to 2.6 million paying readers from 3.1 million, those with knowledge of the move said today. Newsweek cited rising postal and other costs in explaining its decision to cut its rate base. The 16% cutback is one of the largest among a series at big magazines over the last few years, a sweep that has seen ambitions reduced at diverse titles including Playboy, Reader's Digest, Star, Woman's Day and BusinessWeek....

<p>BALTIMORE (AP) — A grieving father won a $2.9 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.</p> <p>Albert Snyder of York, Pa., sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members staged a demonstration at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.</p>

BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) -- A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals in the belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

Chances for a U.S. resolution calling the mass killings of Armenians that began in 1915 genocide eroded dramatically last night, as sponsors dropped off in droves and senior Democrats urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to abandon her support. The number of lawmakers supporting the bill has slipped below a majority... Legislators cited those objections, along with warnings from the Turkish government and from Gen. David H. Petraeus...that the resolution would cause Turkey to scale back its assistance in the Iraq war... The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the nonbinding resolution on a 27 to 21 bipartisan vote last week,...

Radio Show Host's Actions 'Self-Defense,' DA Says...

OJ endorses Hillary Clinton in TV interview

Astronomers have yet to find an Earth-size planet beyond our solar system, but that hasn't stopped them from modeling what these worlds might look like. A new catalog of 14 types of such planets, some fantastical, could help planet hunters spot what has until now remained fictional.

The MoveOn ad that accused General David Petraeus of possibly traitorous testimony before he even began speaking has alienated the majority of American voters -- and even a plurality among MoveOn's allies believed it harnful to their cause. A new Rasmussen poll shows that 58% of those polled disapprove of the accusatory ad in the New York Times, while only a paltry 23% approve (via Memeorandum): Twenty-three percent (23%) of Americans approve of an ad run in the New York Times “that referred to General Petraeus as General Betray Us.” A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 58% disapproved....

Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer-science professor, was about to give a lecture Tuesday afternoon, but before he said a word, he received a standing ovation from 400 students and colleagues. He motioned to them to sit down. "Make me earn it," he said. They had come to see him give what was billed as his "last lecture." This is a common title for talks on college campuses today. Schools such as Stanford and the University of Alabama have mounted "Last Lecture Series," in which top professors are asked to think deeply about what matters to them and to...

The vote, 47-47, fell 13 votes short of the 60 needed to pass.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress registered record-low approval ratings in a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday, and a new monthly index measuring the mood of Americans dipped slightly on deepening worries about the economy. Only 29 percent of Americans gave Bush a positive grade for his job performance, below his worst Zogby poll mark of 30 percent in March. A paltry 11 percent rated Congress positively, beating the previous low of 14 percent in July.

WASHINGTON - Several thousand anti-war demonstrators marched through downtown Washington on Saturday, clashing with police at the foot of the Capitol steps where more than 190 protesters were arrested. The group marched from the White House to the Capitol to demand an end to the Iraq war. Their numbers stretched for blocks along Pennsylvania Avenue, and they held banners and signs and chanted, "What do we want? Troops out. When do we want it? Now." Army veteran Justin Cliburn, 25, of Lawton, Okla., was among a contingent of Iraq veterans in attendance. "We're occupying a people who do not want...

New York Times Shares Hit 52-Week Low for 2nd Day in a Row After August Ad Revenue Report NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of New York Times Co. hit a 52-week low for the second day in a row Thursday as a Goldman Sachs analyst cut his price target and lowered some earnings estimates, citing disappointing August ad revenue results. Appert lowered his price target for New York Times shares to $18 from $19. He trimmed his third-quarter earnings estimate to 5 cents from 7 cents per share and reduced his 2007 forecast to $1.04 from $1.06 per share. Appert...

New York Times August Ad Sales From Continuing Operations Slip 3.2 Percent NEW YORK (AP) -- New York Times Co. said Wednesday its ad sales from continuing operations fell 3.2 percent in August on weakness in retail and classified advertising. Total revenue from continuing operations edged up 0.6 percent. The New York Times' media properties include its namesake newspaper, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe and more than 30 Web sites including NYTimes.com and About.com. Ad sales for the New York Times Media Group climbed 0.2 percent as national ad revenue rose on growth in international fashion, technology products,...

DENVER—A 20-year government effort to restore the population of an endangered native trout in Colorado has made little progress because biologists have been stocking some of the waterways with the wrong fish, a new study says. Biologists called the finding a setback and a potential black eye but said there is still hope for restoring the greenback cutthroat trout because at least four pure populations of the fish have been identified. The three-year study was led by University of Colorado researchers and published online in Molecular Ecology on Aug. 28. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is heading the...

Global Warming Media Disaster: DiCaprio’s ‘11th Hour’ Bombs at Box Office By Noel Sheppard | September 5, 2007 - 13:21 ET More evidence that Al Gore's Live Earth flop was indeed the beginning of the end to the public's fascination with global warming: Leonardo DiCaprio's recently released film on the subject has bombed with moviegoers. As reported by Fox News's Roger Friedman Wednesday (emphasis added throughout): His environmental documentary, "The 11th Hour," has been a total bust at the box office. After 18 days in release, the film has grossed only $417,913 from ticket sales. As Friedman pointed out,...

Call it irony or call it karma. The ex-newspaper editor from Britain who mocked President Bush in 2003 for falling off a Segway scooter has now suffered his own spill from the personal transportation device – and the plunge was caught on camera.

The ex-newspaper editor took great delight in making fun of President Bush for falling off a Segway - the two-wheeled, motorised, gyroscopically balanced scooter that, its makers promise, will never fall over. However, he was bitten by karma and suffered the same fate as Bush.