Free Republic

The Senate is set to vote Saturday night, right before the holiday, on a motion to proceed on its latest health care government take-over bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is pushing for yet another weekend vote (commonplace now for the party of “transparency”) because he knows that the American people will be none too happy about the Democrats’ proposal the longer they have to look it over. A vote against the Democrats’ motion will help stop Obamacare before it gets any closer to becoming a reality. While this Saturday night vote might seem like a procedural matter, at the...

RESCUE: Snowmachiners come to aid of passengers, including infant twins. Without a word, with the plane at 4,500 feet, pilot Bradley Amos tapped something on the instrument panel. Seven passengers -- including twin 8-month-old girls -- were in the cabin. Soon came a loud popping sound. The plane's single propeller suddenly stopped turning and the smell of engine smoke filtered past the seats. The Cessna 207 glided without power above the tundra in Southwest Alaska. That was the low point of the Wednesday night flight. Here's the highlight: Within what felt like two minutes, the plane was on the ground....

Now this doesn't mean there were some legit people who were upset about not getting to meet Sarah Palin, but this article is quite interesting.. Since the AP has 11 fact checkers to pore over Sarah Palin's book, I figured I could be one fact checker looking into the allegations about angry protesters at her book signing in Noblesville, IN. The liberal bloggers are going crazy over a video that purports to show a crowd angry because they couldn't get their books signed at an event in Noblesville. So I did some research and this is what I came up...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tells Newsmax that some of his fellow Republicans are calling him a RINO for defending President Barack Obama against personal criticism. “So be it. It is total hypocrisy for us [Republicans] to rail at the way Bush was treated, and then do the exact same thing. It's disgusting,” Huckabee said of those who have labeled him as Republican in Name Only. “I care about issues and will fight on those, but just because someone doesn't think like me doesn't mean that he or she hates America.” Speaking at a meeting of the Hudson Union Society...

The 30-year-old officer was gunned down at his home early Thursday morning. Police are saying the crime was a random act. The officer's wife, mother and two very young children were in the home at the time of the shooting. Metro is firming up the burial plans for the officer but expects the funeral to take place next Tuesday or Wednesday.

DINWIDDIE, Va. – The driver of a Miley Cyrus tour bus was killed Friday when the bus overturned, but the 16-year-old "Hannah Montana" star wasn't on board, Virginia State Police said. Sgt. Thomas Molnar said the bus ran off the left side of Interstate 85, struck an embankment and overturned. The accident occurred around 8:15 a.m. in Dinwiddie County, about 40 miles south of Richmond. Speed and weather weren't considered factors. The driver, William G. Douglas, 53, of Austin, Texas, died at the scene, police said.

A man who strangled his wife during a nightmare in which he dreamed he was attacking an intruder has been freed. Brian Thomas, 59, was released after the prosecution withdrew the case against him at Swansea Crown Court. It had been seeking a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity but said later there would be no purpose in sending Mr Thomas to a psychiatric hospital. Family members who were in court for the hearing, greeted the news with a jubilant cry of "yes". Mr Thomas' brother Raymond spoke of his relief as he left court. "Family and...

During the big Michigan Week jump, Ohio State University's Mirror Lake and a baby pool have a lot in common. The jump, which will take place tonight, is one of many student traditions. But Ohio State also is a research university, so it was inevitable that someone would apply a little science to this ritual. Last year, students in the College of Earth Sciences tested the water in Mirror Lake before, during and after thousands plunged in to psych themselves up for The Game. "Interesting results from last year's study include a lake-wide temperature increase of approximately 3 degrees Fahrenheit...

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NOBLESVILLE, Ind. -- Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was met by a cheering crowd of more than 1,000 people when she arrived in Noblesville Thursday night. Palin stepped off her tour bus, holding her youngest son, Trig, just after 5:30 p.m. at the Borders store at Hamilton Town Center, 6News' Rick Hightower reported. Palin waved to members of the crowd, who were shouting her name, before taking to a stage to welcome her Hoosier supporters. "We had a great time a year ago in Indiana but I think I'm having even more fun now though," Palin said. "You guys,...

FORT HUACHUCA — With the handout of turkeys and food vouchers Wednesday, a major holiday problem for some military families has been answered. But with Thanksgiving needs met, still ahead for the fort’s outreach ministries program is Christmas. Before noon, employees of Sundt Construction purchased and delivered 300 turkeys to the main post chapel administrative offices. The turkeys — with a total weight of more than 2 tons — will be handed out with $50 in food coupons for the post commissary. Josephine Moore, who heads the outreach ministries, said the needs of 300 military families, ranging in size from...

SIERRA VISTA — On May 30 next year, the sound of patriotic music will be the norm on grounds of the Southern Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery. It will be on Memorial Day 2010 when a 40-foot-tall carillon — a bell tower — will be dedicated. On Wednesday, a short groundbreaking ceremony took place to start the construction phase for the carillon. Every year, the national headquarters of AMVETS helps fund two carillons to be placed in cemeteries that are dedicated as final resting places for veterans. Members of the local AMVETS post are sponsors of the project and have been...

For 90-plus years, Bill and Carl Larson had each other's back on their Oklee, Minn., farm. Then Carl wandered off one night, and Bill set out to find him. Except for the three years that Bill was fighting the Nazis and Carl was an Army medic in the Pacific, the Larson brothers had been side by side for more than 90 years. They grew up farming on the outskirts of Oklee, Minn., never married, and stayed on the family farm to raise prize-winning Belgian horses long after their two older brothers, Roswall and George, died decades ago. So when 95-year-old...

This is posted to detail the problems experienced recently by a small NH blog. The Granite Grok, run by Skip Murphy and Doug Lambert (http://granitegrok.com/) is now operating as a solo blog and is currently being run by Skip. Due to an unfortunate comment by Doug last week he has had to quit the blog as well as his work on their weekly radio show, which was also shut down. Skip is trying to keep the blog going and is, quite naturally, a bit depressed by the sudden turn of events. It would be a kindness to read the blog...

What a cat-astrophe! A ferocious feline turned her owners into a pair of scaredy cats in their Midtown apartment yesterday, holding them hostage at claw-point until the cops came to their rescue. Rosa Davila and her son, Victor Marte, 27, cowered behind a bedroom door at their pad on West 42nd Street about a half an hour while the raging Russian blue held them at bay.

A special event on Nov21 this Sat, physicians organize a nationwide rally on all major city. In CA, the rally will be at State Capitol in Sac, CA. It starts at noon. Please spread the words! Go to their website to find out the location in your State. http://www.millionmedmarch.org

DEER LODGE — A half-naked driver who allegedly led Powell County sheriff's deputies on a high-speed chase was arraigned in Deer Lodge district court Tuesday. Louis Paul Coughlin, 34, of Bismarck, N.D., faces charges of assault on a peace officer and criminal endangerment, both felonies, and fleeing from or eluding an officer, a misdemeanor. (C&P) After the impact, Coughlin's vehicle rolled several times. Both vehicles landed on their wheels. Bender estimated the driver's speed at the time of the collision to be 100 mph, and Micu estimated he was going 45 to 50 mph.

Somewhat of a local story for Washington because Forks is out on the Olympic peninsula. Jeesh!! Give it a break! I've had it up to my eyeballz already, this is worse than Harry Potter obsessions!

Former Gov. George Ryan deserves to keep part of his state pension despite a 2006 conviction on corruption charges, his attorney told the Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday. "He and his wife have nothing left but his partial pension," Ryan's lawyer, ex-Gov. James Thompson, told the court. Thompson said state law allows Ryan to retain the portion of his pension that accrued before he served as Illinois secretary of state and governor. The criminal charges on which Ryan was convicted covered his time in those offices. Ryan previously served as lieutenant governor, in the Illinois House of Representatives and on...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A police officer testified Wednesday that a 15-year-old girl told investigators she killed a 9-year-old neighbor because she wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone, and a judge ruled the teen should stand trial as an adult. Authorities have not publicly identified the suspect, but her attorney referred to her in court Wednesday as Alyssa. Police testified that Elizabeth Olten did nothing to provoke the attack against her, and that the teenage suspect led authorities to the girl's body after they questioned her. Asked by juvenile justice attorney Samantha Green whether Alyssa...

Police arrested a mail carrier after she was found drunk inside a residence while on the job in Marion earlier this month, authorities said Tuesday. Kristine A. Pflughaupt, 46, of Marion, was charged with public intoxication Nov. 3 after she was found sitting on the kitchen floor of a house at 260 Sixth Avenue, eating leftover noodles from Marie O’Kelly’s refrigerator. Marion police Lt. Steve Etzel said Pflughaupt entered the home through an unlocked front door. She apparently was intoxicated when she was dropped off to complete her route, he said. “She was in uniform and had mail and a...

CLEVELAND — Slow and worry-free, it’s doubtful Mary came unglued after finding out she is actually a “he.” After all, Mary doesn’t have many stressors in her, uh, his life. “She’s very deliberate … she keeps a careful pace,” Cleveland Metroparks Zoo spokesman Tom O’Konowitz said Tuesday after word went out that zoo officials and handlers had mistakenly believed for 50-plus years that the massive land tortoise was a female. A routine physical exam earlier in the month revealed the tortoise was in fact a male. “This is definitely a first for us,” O’Konowitz said. “It came as something of...

Partner also acquitted, couple have reconciledA judge acquitted a Clayton County school board member charged with domestic violence. Clayton State Court Judge Linda Cowen threw out the case against District 7 representative Trinia Garrett on Tuesday after Garrett's live-in boyfriend refused to testify against her. "The only evidence was what they had against each other," Garrett's attorney Herbert Adams Jr. told the AJC Tuesday. "They said they wouldn’t testify against each other." Police arrested Garrett, 36, in April after she allegedly got into a fight with her live-in boyfriend, Albert Stocken. Stocken, 58, was also arrested. Both were was charged...

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 Palin on Nidal Hasan: "Profile Away" I spoke to Governor Palin by phone this afternoon. Lots of interesting material, but to me the most interesting takeaways were the following: 1) I asked about Palin's upcoming visit to Ft. Hood. "We had planned on that before the tragedy struck," she said. She commented on the trail of evidence linking the alleged Ft. Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Hasan, to militant Islam. "There were such clear, obvious, massive warning signs that were missed," she said. "This terrorist, even having business cards" that identified him as an "SoA" or soldier...

Police Say Alcohol Likely Played Role SEATTLE -- Seattle police say a man who thought he was ninja was impaled on a metal fence when he tried to leap over it. An officer who was looking for an assault victim nearby Monday night heard the man screaming for help. Police supported him to prevent further injuries until medics arrived and took him to a hospital, where he was in serious condition in intensive care on Tuesday. Police spokeswoman Renee Witt wrote in a department Web site posting that officers thought the man might have been involved in the reported assault,...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-nine percent (39%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -12

Man Contracted To Collect Dead Deer Trying To Dispose Of CarcassesBUFFALO TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Rotting deer carcasses collected by an Armstrong County man contracted to remove them from southwestern Pennsylvania roadways have angered some neighbors. The man whose job it is to collect the dead deer left on roadways said there have been so many, he has been overwhelmed. Randy Good has a contract with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to pick up dead deer in five counties. He said he's been picking up 50 or more a day. "We've gotten over 900 deer in the last two weeks, and...

Chinese artist Liu Bolin warms his hands as his sculpture "Burning Man Obama" is tested at a workshop in Beijing A man wears basketball sneakers with an image of US President Barack Obama and the words "change" and "yes we can" along a street in Beijing Fridge magnets are seen at a shop in Beijing, including one of Chinese president Hu Jintao and some with the "Oba Mao" design by Liu Mingjie, in which he superimposed the face of Barack Obama over that of Chairman Mao The owner of a shop in Beijing shows a card sold at his...

A new aviation business park and long, isolated runways in eastern North Carolina could be keys to attracting commercial space-travel companies here, according to experts who attended a forum Thursday at Elizabeth City State University. Leaders in the industry spoke during the daylong NewSpace Commerce Forum, including Jeff Greason, CEO of XCor Aerospace in California; Robert Richards, CEO of Odyssey Moon Lt d.; and Jeff Krukin, a consultant in the field who helped organize the forum.

Okay - I don't really know if I want to share this, because I am going to have to leave work early, and get home late, and I really want to get my book signed, but...(major run on sentence alert) Glenn Beck is going to be at the Books a Million on Indiantown Road in Jupiter this Friday (11/20) rom 5-6 p.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- It was an Internet romance and it led to an attempted murder and a suicide in Orlando. Police say a woman, scorned by a man she thought was her online lover, showed up at his Middlebrook Pines Apartment (see map) late Sunday night with a handgun. The man survived the shooting, but then the shooter killed herself. Paula Harris, 30, drove all the way from the Atlanta, Georgia area, according to investigators, and checked into the Holiday Inn at Universal Boulevard and Sand Lake Road (see map), just over four miles from 44-year-old Andre Barboza's Orlando apartment....

Thomas Christie calls his small office, buried deep in the Lincoln Public Schools' administrative building, his museum. Now, he'll have to make room on the wall for a national award honoring the district's multicultural education program. The National Association for Multicultural Education each year honors innovative programs for their outstanding contributions. This year, it chose a program that can trace its beginnings back 37 years - 20 years before Nebraska legislators passed a law requiring all districts to have multicultural education. It grew and changed during that time, when the nation passed Title IX and the district created an equity...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin wildlife officials say hunters are seeing between one to three deer per outing during the state's early hunting seasons. The Department of Natural Resources used a preliminary count of deer registration stubs and hunter observation reports on the agency's Web site to reach those conclusions. Bowhunters took about 22,000 deer through Nov. 5, down from about 31,000 last year. The antlerless harvest fell by about 40 percent, and the buck harvest climbed about 7 percent. Wildlife managers attribute those figures to the lack of earn-a-buck regulations and fewer herd control units this year.

A Swedish man who saved a woman from assault has been sentenced to prison rather than being applauded for performing a civic duty. In a case which has provoked outrage across the country, Per-Anders Pettersson was found guilty of aggravated assault despite the would-be Samaritan’s claims he was acting in self-defence on behalf of 66-year-old Gard Forsgren who was being attacked in her car. Forsgren, now 69, was assailed in 2006 while inside her vehicle near Nas in the central Swedish county of Dalarna when Pettersson intervened. He dragged the woman’s attacker from the car and hit him two times...

Lt. Col. Henry "BOO" Bourgeois that flew on the 2nd Tour with Pappy Boyington.Henry Mayor "Hank" Bourgeois, one of the last surviving aviators from World War II's famed Black Sheep Squadron, died Monday at St. Tammany Parish Hospital in Covington. He was 88. (Near New Orleans)

SNIPPET: “Accusing the alleged cop killer of waging a “one-man war against police,” King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg announced charges that could see Christopher J. Monfort executed. Monfort, 41, has been charged with aggravated first-degree murder in the Oct. 31 slaying of Seattle Police Officer Tim Brenton, Satterberg announced Thursday. Prosecutors also charged Monfort with three counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of arson, asserting that the man rigged several bombs at a City of Seattle garage hoping to kill officers and firefighters. Like Monfort’s other intended victims, Brenton and partner Officer Britt Sweeney were “targeted solely because...

I posted this on another thread but since some have responded to it, I Figured I would create its own thread. You all gotta check out this video. Is Chris Matthews finally getting it, or is he just being his usual flip-flopping self.

We have a stunning update to a story News Channel 4 first brought you earlier this week. On Monday we told you about a deadly house fire. We now know the identity one of the victims. 21-year-old Brooke Phillips starred in "Cathouse," an HBO reality television show that followed the lives of prostitutes at a brothel in Nevada. The young woman was also a mother and had recently found out she was expecting another child. The Bunny Ranch website boasts one of its newest workers, 21-year-old Hayden Brooks. Her legal name is Brooke Phillips; a Moore, Oklahoma native who died...

As a longtime Patriots season-ticket holder, Chris Diehl expected his afternoon to be highlighted by the events that took place between the lines last Sunday. But before the first quarter had even begun in Foxborough's Gillette Stadium, his day already was made. It had nothing to do with his beloved team, either. Only his beloved country. ``As the National Anthem came to a close, I told my son to watch to see which of the Patriot players approached the veterans being honored to thank them for their service,'' Diehl wrote in an e-mail. To Diehl's disappointment, the Veterans Day ceremony...

Subject: A Novel Idea Vermont State Rep. Fred Maslack has read the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as Vermont 's own Constitution very carefully, and his strict interpretation of these documents is popping some eyeballs in New England and elsewhere. Maslack recently proposed a bill to register "non-gun-owners" and require them to pay a $500 fee to the state. Thus Vermont would become the first state to require a permit for the luxury of going about unarmed and assess a fee of $500 for the privilege of not owning a gun Maslack read the "militia" phrase of...

There is an obvious double standard when comparing the criticism George W Bush took to that of Obama is receiving on actions taken by both Presidents regarding specific issues....

TAMPA, Fla. — Florida police say a man arrested for repeatedly calling 911 looking for sex claimed it was the only number he could dial after running out of cell phone minutes.

There were hardly any malls when Norman Rockwell was painting his Saturday Evening Post covers of small-town life, domestic bliss, and unfettered patriotism. Yet somehow an exhibit that re-creates in 3D those beloved icons of the American experience seems right at home in the commercial, crowd-pleasing atmosphere of the King of Prussia mall. For Rockwell was perhaps the most crowd-pleasing of all American artists. As the movie at the start of "Rockwell's America: Celebrating the Art of Norman Rockwell" relates, his work is recognized by almost everyone in the country, and has been reproduced more than Picasso, Michelangelo, and Rembrandt...

A 39-year-old woman visiting a miniature horse farm in Barnstead was killed this week after being struck by her own SUV. Barnstead police Sgt. Joseph McDowell said Deborah Colbath of Barnstead apparently did not put her vehicle in park when she pulled into a driveway at 158 Garland Road at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday. When she got out and walked in front of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, it rolled forward, knocked her to the ground and continued to roll with her under the car. Emergency medical crews used heavy equipment to lift the car off Colbath and rushed her to Concord...

I heard on the local tv station, WAVY, that the National Guard had been sent to Gloucester. No one knows what is going on there. Any word from anyone??? We are in the middle of the worst storm since Hurricane Isabel.

ESCANABA - Although it has been confirmed there are cougars in the Upper Peninsula, the Department of Natural Resources is not looking to develop management plans. Brian Roell, a wildlife biologist with the DNR, said although there has been confirmation made recently through a trail camera in the eastern Upper Peninsula, cougars will remain a non-game species in Michigan. "As a non-game species, it remains illegal to shoot cougars in Michigan," said Roell. He also said while the photo taken confirms the presence of cougars in the state, there is no evidence of the presence of a breeding population of...

LA MARQUE — The owner of one of the world’s fastest production automobiles accidentally drove his fine-tuned, French-built car into a saltwater lagoon Wednesday. The man, who police said was from Lufkin, was uninjured after escaping the partially submerged Bugatti Veyron as it came to rest in about 2 feet of saltwater. The two-seater, with 16 cylinders and four turbo chargers, can reach speeds of more than 250 mph. New models sell for about $2 million.

Brazilian authorities defended the reliability of the nation's electric grid after a massive power failure Tuesday darkened about half the country and revived concerns about Brazil's ability to provide energy infrastructure to match its surging economy. Blackouts hit about 800 Brazilian cities, including Rio de Janeiro and the economic hub of São Paulo, around 10 p.m. Tuesday night after three high-power transmission lines collapsed, triggering a domino effect that prompted a 14,000-megawatt hydroelectric plant to go offline, officials said. Paraguay, which shares the dam with Brazil, also suffered a major blackout. Energy Minister Edison Lobão said the outage was provoked...

LA MARQUE — The owner of one of the world’s fastest production automobiles accidentally drove his fine-tuned, French-built car into a saltwater lagoon Wednesday. The man, who police said was from Lufkin, was uninjured after escaping the partially submerged Bugatti Veyron as it came to rest in about 2 feet of saltwater. The two-seater, with 16 cylinders and four turbo chargers, can reach speeds of more than 250 mph. New models sell for about $2 million. The man, who refused to give his name, was looking at real estate in Galveston. About 3 p.m. a low-flying pelican distracted him as...

Riverside County fire officials say a skydiver has been killed during a jump near Murrieta. Officials say the skydiver, a 40-year-old man from Boston, landed on a driveway in the rural La Cresta area west of Murrieta late Wednesday afternoon. Officials say the skydiver had departed from Skydive Elsinore at Skylark Airport. Skydive owner John Hamilton says the man was with four others who jumped without problems, but this man appeared to have hit the tail of the aircraft.