Free Republic

Bruce Springsteen will not be performing at Barack Obama's closing speech, his campaign said, as the Democratic candidate seeks to avoid association with celebrities. In a break with recent tradition, the Democratic National Convention will be free of major performing artists after Republicans have successfully turned Mr Obama's surging popularity against him. The 2004 convention featured cameos from Patti LaBelle, Willie Nelson, the Black Eyed Peas and Carole King, while in 2000 Stevie Wonder and Luther Vandross played in the main convention hall. Earlier in the week Obama aides said Springsteen was to perform a short acoustic set at the...

ABC Radio news just announced Sen. John Edwards will admit to the affair with Rielle Hunter in an interview with the network, but insists the child is not his. We return you to your regularly-scheduled FReeping.

The head of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department has officially admitted for the first time that there will be no global epidemic of the disease among the heterosexual population outside Africa, The Independent reported.Kevin de Cock said global prevention strategies to address AIDS as a risk to all populations, among the WHO and major AIDS organizations, may have been misdirected. It is now recognized that, with the exception of sub-Saharan African, it is confined to high-risk groups.These groups include men who have sex with other men, drug users who inject with needles, and sex workers and their clients,...

Northwestern rescinds honorary degree offer to Rev. Wright 21 minutes ago Northwestern University has withdrawn its offer of an honorary degree to the former pastor of Democrat Barack Obama. A university official says the school had offered the Rev. Jeremiah Wright an honorary Doctorate of Sacred Theology. But vice president for university relations Alan Cubbage now says the offer has been rescinded because of the controversy surrounding Wright. He also says the school wants "to ensure that the celebratory character of commencement not be affected." Wright is the former senior minister at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. His...

CHICAGO Conrad Black, who led the thieving band of executives that put the Chicago Sun-Times pretty far down the road to ruin, had just been convicted in a Chicago federal courthouse, but Publisher John Cruickshank had something more urgent to talk about Friday afternoon in the tabloid's offices. "We're not going to start being a Democratic paper or a liberal paper or a conservative paper or an ideological paper -- we're an independent paper," he said. "We're not going to be a small L liberal paper. We're not going to bind ourselves to a party or ideology in anything." On...

A Starbucks coffee shop operating on the historic site of Beijing's Forbidden City has closed down after huge protests. An online campaign arguing that the shop was trampling on Chinese culture had drawn more than 500,000 signatures. The Starbucks branch was told it could stay open if it sold other brands but has declined. The Forbidden City was built in 1420 and was home to 24 emperors until the end of imperial rule in 1911. It attracted nearly nine million visitors last year, is China's top tourist attraction and a Unesco World Heritage site. Seattle-based Starbucks said the decision was...

Thank you to everyone who prayed for my bro Jim. He passed Saturday morning. His one wish was to go camping one more time. He did that one week prior to passing. He spoke to another friend Friday afternoon and told her he was doing good. He felt good. His pain was minimal. The next morning he was gone. Please keep his family in your prayers. He was so young.

Saw this from Digg: The National Organization for Women (NOW) and other women advocacy groups have filed suit against the Bush Administration seeking to abolish Fathers Day. During a press conference held after the filing of the lawsuit, Kim Gandy of NOW said, "the day clearly indicates that it is meant to recognize only fathers." The American Civil Liberties Union, filing on behalf of the organizations said the day runs afoul of equal protection and Title IX provisions and should be abolished because it is discriminatory against women. "It is time to move beyond the pattern male discrimination against women...

Drudge is currently flashing a story about an imminent terror threat against German citizens in the country. This morning, the State of Alabama was the announced winner of a $4 billion steel mfg. plant to be located in Mobile, Al by German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp. There was supposed to be a press conference and public announcement with Governor Riley and the CEO and other representatives of ThyssenKrupp. About an hour ago, traffic was temporarily halted on I-85 West in Montgomery as approximately 50 police cars and motorcycles passed by along with 1 Humvee. Information is locked up tight, and none of...

Jan. 11, 2007 — The accuser in the Duke lacrosse sex assault case now says that one of the players never attacked her and has changed the time she alleges the assault took place, according to new motions filed by defense lawyers today. The accuser now "admits that Reade Seligmann did not commit any sex acts on her," defense attorneys said in court papers. Defense attorneys also say the accuser "now claims the attack took place between 11:35 p.m. and midnight, which … is contradicted by the accuser's own cell phone records and the cell phone records of Reade Seligmann...

Excerpt - REDMOND, Wash.--Reversing a licensing change announced two weeks ago, Microsoft said on Thursday that it will not limit the number of times that retail customers can transfer their Windows Vista license to a different computer. On Oct. 16, Microsoft issued the new user license for Vista, including terms that would have limited the ability of those who buy a boxed copy of the operating system to transfer that license. Under the proposed terms, users could have made such a switch only one time. However, the new restriction prompted an outcry among hardware enthusiasts and others. Microsoft is returning...

Search for yourself at Daily Kos and see (all searches are set up for 30 results per page and look back over quarter; searches were done at roughly 2:45 PM): "Bush" (to prove the search engine works) -- 558 results, up to and including today "Wilson" -- latest entry is August 24, well before the news exculpatory to the administration broke. "Plame" -- latest entry - August 11 "Libby" -- latest - July 14 "Fitzgerald" -- August 4 "Fitzmas" -- June 24 -- no results No commentary necessary.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest theme park has called off the country's first "National Muslim Fun Day" because of lack of interest, the park said Wednesday. Alton Towers in central England was to open on September 17 for Muslims -- with halal food, a strict dress code and prayer areas. Music, gambling and alcohol were to be banned for the day and theme park rides such as "Ripsaw," "Corkscrew" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" all segregated by sex. But the park said the event's organizers, Islamic Leisure, who rented the park for the day and were marketing the event,...

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest theme park has called off the country's first "National Muslim Fun Day" because of lack of interest, the park said Wednesday. Alton Towers in central England was to open on September 17 for Muslims -- with halal food, a strict dress code and prayer areas. Music, gambling and alcohol were to be banned for the day and theme park rides such as "Ripsaw," "Corkscrew" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" all segregated by sex. But the park said the event's organizers, Islamic Leisure, who rented the park for the day and were marketing the event,...

Reported in the minute-by-minute sidebar on El nacional (Venezualan Newspaper) Internacionales Agencia internacional desmintió información de supuesta muerte de Fidel Castro La agencia internacional de noticias EFE desmintió haber divulgado información relacionada con la supuesta muerte del presidente de Cuba Fidel Castro. En horas de la mañana una emisora de noticias venezolana dijo citando a la agencia que el mandatario había fallecido. Es por ello, que EFE informó que en ningún momento ha difundido ese hecho. La agencia dijo haber presentado su reclamo a la emisora que reconoció publicamente su error. **** google translate. International agency denied information of supposed...

Rick Roberts has been on topic about the fact that the Mexican flag is flying along with the American flag at the San Diego County Fair, at the Durante entrance.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday denied a report that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is under investigation by the FBI in connection with a corruption probe.ABC News, citing high level Justice Department sources, said information implicating Hastert had been developed from convicted lobbyists who are now cooperating with the government.But department officials, who asked to not be identified, said the story was not accurate and that Hastert was not under investigation. "The story is wrong. Hastert is not under investigation," one official said.

Thinking about starting a medical billing business. You folks know everything else, tell me what to look out for.

AJ Strata has been carefully watching tht NSA "scandal" unravel and has some interesting news ahich confirms his long held belief that this is an important program and not unlawful. Most importantly, he disputes the often-heard argument that FISA was fine as it was because the government could easily get a warrant: General Hayden spoke recently and provided information that is critical to the context of what I wrote below. What Hayden confirmed is all NSA activities were extensions of 1981 executive orders which confirms the Bush administration did not re-direct NSA's surveillance, but directed it to send leads on...

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan has canceled three visits to Colorado after emotions over her protest outside President Bush's ranch boiled over at a church and college campus. A Glenwood Springs church voted Thursday not to allow Sheehan to give a speech scheduled for later this month after some members threatened to leave the church if she came. Church member Mo Barz said he thinks it is inappropriate for the church to host a political speaker. "I was definitely against having her," he said. "I felt all along the church should rescind any agreement they had to...

BRUNSWICK, Maine --Peace activist Cindy Sheehan won't be protesting The Great State of Maine Air Show featuring the Navy's Blue Angels after all. Sheehan planned to be on hand Saturday to join local peace activists, but she chose instead to go to Atlanta to join a bus caravan that grew out of her protest at President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, said her spokeswoman, Andrea Buff.

GLENWOOD SPRINGS - Reflecting the national divide over the war in Iraq, a Glenwood Springs church has decided that the country's most well-know war protester, Cindy Sheehan, is not welcome to speak there. The decision sends organizers scrambling for another local speaking venue for the mother of a soldier who died in Iraq. Sheehan, who has garnered much media attention after camping out near President Bush's vacation home in Crawford, Texas, had been scheduled to speak at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Glenwood Sept. 16. Church member Dean Moffatt, who had helped arrange to let Sheehan speak at...

<p>I was opening up my almost brand new Dell 600m laptop, to replace a broken PCMCIA slot riser on the motherboard. As soon as I got the keyboard off, I noticed a small cable running from the keyboard connection underneath a piece of metal protecting the motherboard.</p>

West Palm Beach Fire/Rescue is investigating a leak of radiological material at 321 South Dixie Highway. The fire department recieved an initital report of smoke in the area with a high radiantion level at the Corodino Environmental Management Group. The fire department has evacuated a four block area between Quadrille, Olive, Dixie, and Fern. The evacuation has proceeded calmly and the fire department has not issued any type of advisory that would affected breathing or other health concerns. There have been no reported injuries.

We all get 'em. The threads that interest us, or not. The infamous posters of "Who Cares!" So in vain and idea of bd476 here is a place for all the Who Cares to get it out of their system. Why do they feel the need to post those two words? Oh Who Cares.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - It seemed pretty logical to reporters who received an e-mail from Bill Jones's U.S. Senate campaign, inviting them to cover a Beverly Hills fund-raiser featuring Jones's star political patron, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, that the campaign actually meant it. After all, Jones's strongest - and at times it seems, only - argument for ousting Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is that Schwarzenegger has endorsed him, and that to truly carry out the spirit of last year's recall election, Californians should send a committed Schwarzenegger partner to Washington. A huge photo of Schwarzenegger graces Jones' campaign Web site, and...

Four parachutists said to have landed on Tip O'Neill Federal Building next door to Fleet Center in Boston. SWAT teams on the way... Developing... Drudge

Sorry for the vanity, but lately I've been getting put on ping lists that I never asked to be on. I was wondering if this has happened to any other FReepers. Anybody else having this problem?

Reported to be "a biotoxin"

{snip) March 31, 2003 OFFICIAL: France Issues Order to Boycott NewsMax With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff For the story behind the story... Sunday, March 30, 2003 11:45 p.m. EST French Government Officially Boycotting NewsMax It's official: The government of France is boycotting NewsMax.com. This past week, NewsMax Pundit Charles Smith called the French Embassy in Washington and spoke with Deputy Press Counsel Agnes Vondermuhal. Ms. Vondermuhal bluntly stated that the embassy had passed details of NewsMax's "Boycott France" campaign, including our recent ad in the New York Times, on to officials in Paris. Apparently, the Chirac government was angered,...

Emily Latella reports from the anchor desk of SNL that a move is afoot to oust Senator Lott and replace him with that eminent Leader, Don Rickles from Oklahoma.

.....

400 points in the last hour. America has faith in our economy and President Bush's words this afternoon.

last chance to vote on the next terrorist event in the us. www.scoogiespin.com