Free Republic

America has been greatly blessed by God and has stood as the greatest country in the history of the world for over 200 years. America has many foreign and domestic enemies that are seeking her destruction.This thread is a daily call and reminder for people of faith who believe in God and in the power of prayer to make a commitment to intercede for America at this critical time in her history2 Chronicles 7:14If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I...

When I first encountered the Persian word mofangi, I struggled to grasp its meaning. It implies a certain timidity, physical weakness, and awkwardness. Seeking to put some flesh on that definition, my language tutor told me to envision Grand Ayatollah Hosein Ali Montazeri. "He's more than a little mofangi," remarked the tutor, expressing the condescension that well-educated, leftwing Iranians often have for the clergy who stole their revolution. That was in the mid 1980s, and Montazeri was the number two cleric in Iran, a mullah who once passionately believed in exporting Iran's revolutionary tumult and was instrumental in building the...

BELLEVUE, Wash., Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A ten percent drop in murders during the first six months of this year at a time when gun sales were up dramatically is more proof that there is no correlation between gun ownership and violent crime, the Second Amendment Foundation said today. The FBI released data Monday that shows murders dropped by 10 percent from the same period in 2008. Meanwhile, according to data released by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) shows that during the first six months of this year, gun sales were up. January 2009 background checks...

JENNINGS, La. — A South Carolina family passing through Jennings on their way to Texas was pulled over, hauled off to a church, "tried" for not stopping to enjoy local hospitality and "sentenced" to gumbo, presents and a tour."We do this every year at Christmastime to some unsuspecting out-of-town person," said Gayle Jones, a member of the Jennings Optimist Club, which has made it part of a more than 30-year holiday tradition. Neither Leonard nor Lori Pavia of Greer, S.C., could figure out why the deputy had pulled them over as they headed to see friends in McAllen, Texas. "I...

SCIENCE is one of the great achievements of the human mind and the biggest reason why we live not only longer but more vigorously in our old age, in addition to all the ways in which it provides us with things that make life easier and more enjoyable. Like anything valuable, science has been seized upon by politicians and ideologues, and used to forward their own agendas. This started long ago, as far back as the 18th century, when the Marquis de Condorcet coined the term "social science" to describe various theories he favored. In the 19th century, Karl Marx...

One might expect Democrats to be euphoric during this holiday season. After recapturing control of Congress in 2006, and last year taking back the White House by electing America's first African-American president, Democrats are now on the verge of passing a historic health care reform law. But instead of celebrating, they are bitterly divided. Former Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean and liberal bloggers are urging the Senate to defeat the health care bill. Many are criticizing President Barack Obama for compromising too much, saying the proposal doesn't go far enough, while more moderate and conservative Democrats are petrified the bill...

HARRISBURG - Investigators questioned Sen. Jane Orie's chief of staff for "many hours" and tape-recorded the interview, according to a letter her attorney sent to the Allegheny County district attorney. The letter from attorney Jerry McDevitt to District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. refers to the interview, but doesn't say when it occurred or elaborate on what its focus might have been. McDevitt also filed an open records request for information from Zappala's office. The letters McDevitt released today say Zappala's investigators obtained two boxes of documents from Orie's office — which a staff member carried out — days before...

The Cardinal who broke his leg during Christmas attack on Pope: Who is Card. Etchegaray? 87 year old Roger Marie Élie Cardinal Etchegaray was born September 25, 1922 and ordained a Priest July 13, 1947. He is Cardinal-Bishop of the Porto-Santa Rufina Diocese in Italy and serves as President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which was established in January 1967 and "promotes justice and peace in the world in accordance with the Gospel and the social teaching of the Church." After the attack on Pope Benedict XVI last night during Midnight Mass at the Vatican, it...

(Such a nice feel-good story here at Christmastime--aww....gee...but what about those missing kindergarten records from the Noelani Elementary School...) Retracing the footsteps of young Obama By John King, CNN Chief National Correspondent December 18, 2009 8:38 a.m. EST "Uncle Jack" Christensen takes tourists to some of the key sites in President Obama's early years. Students at school Obama attended said he inspires them to believe anything is possible Honolulu, Hawaii (CNN) -- Jack Christensen often walks away from the Baskin-Robbins with fewer followers than he had when he got there. "We lose some people in there," Christensen told us with...

Yukio Hatoyama, the new Japanese Prime Minister, has stunned a nation already mired in huge public debt by unveiling the country’s biggest ever postwar budget: a 92.3 trillion yen (£630 billion) spending spree aimed at “saving people’s lives”. The unprecedented budget, which supposedly shifts Japan’s fiscal spending focus “from concrete to lives”, comes amid rising concern about the solidity of sovereign debt in the world’s second-largest economy. The new budget will require additional debt issuance of Y44.3 trillion — within the Government’s expected band, but still at a level that will raise Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio to nearly 195 per cent....

In January 2009, retired Gen. Mauro Tello Quiñones took command of a police unit charged with combating drug-related violence in the popular Mexican tourist destination of Cancún. The assignment lasted just one week. In early February, Tello and two aides were kidnapped and killed. Before murdering Tello, the assailants broke his arms and legs and tortured him for hours. The incident provoked shock across Mexico, with the governor of Quintana Roo state calling it "truly horrible." Even by the standards of the violent drug war that has consumed Mexico of late, this crime stood out for its brazenness and brutality....

A White House official said the incident was an attempted act of terrorism. The FBI is investigating and President Obama, celebrating Christmas in Hawaii, was told of the incident about three hours after the plane landed, officials said. Obama has told White House officials that all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel, a spokesman said. Nevertheless, officials said, they are not prepared to raise the terrorism alert level, currently at orange -- or the second-highest of five levels -- for domestic and international air travel.

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(Is Obama a star for the ages, or is he fading fast?) In February 2007, Barack Obama announced he would stand for the presidency of the United States in 2008. One year into that far-from-inevitable presidency, no figure has ever so thoroughly pulled toward himself the nation's political energy. He's a star alright. One of his most eager admirers, Bruce Springsteen, sang at the dawn of his own emergence years back: "I burst just like a supernova." But here's NASA's definition of a supernova: It's a stellar explosion, an incredibly luminous star, able to outshine a whole galaxy . ....

BookTV discussion scheduled for tonight at 8:00 CT on CSPAN 2.

For Democrats like Harry Reid, who called them "evil-mongers," and Nancy Pelosi, who called them "unAmerican," the NBC News poll must have hit like a sucker punch at a Georgetown wine-and-cheese. The Tea Party movement, those folks rallying against spending last spring and Obamacare in the summer town halls, are viewed more favorably than the Democratic Party. Forty-one percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Tea Party movement, to 35 percent for Obama's party. Only 24 percent view Tea Party activists unfavorably, while 45 percent hold a negative view of the Democrats. While Tea Party types played a...

California's budget coffers are emptier than a politician's promise, but there may be a silver lining to the state's dark financial clouds: Fewer new laws. Legislators approved only 872 bills in their 2009 regular session, and just 632 have become or will become law by Jan. 1. While that may seem like a lot more new laws than we need, it's actually the fewest bills passed, and the fewest signed into law, in more than 40 years. In fact, according to legislative consultants, it's 131 fewer to become laws than last year; 393 fewer than 10 years ago, and a...

Don't everybody thank me at once. Here's the Saturday Night Live skit featuring Obama and Jintao.

A passenger on a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight tried to detonate an explosive device that was strapped to his leg and later told investigators that he was trying to blow up the plane and had affiliations with al Qaeda, according to a senior U.S. official. The passenger was identified by authorities as Abdul Mudallad, a 23-year-old Nigerian national, according to Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican who is the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee. The device was technologically advanced and potentially devastating, Mr. King said. "This was not a firecracker," he said. Stephanie van Herk, a...

<p>There are two interesting articles in the WSJ relating to the "Health Reform" bill, one by Karl Rove and the second coming from The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.</p> <p>Taxes start going up now, Medicare cuts begin after next fall's election, and spending for subsidies commences in five years. The price tag is not the first decade's announced $871 billion cost: It is $2.4 trillion. That's the cost of the tax credits in insurance exchanges, and the additional Medicaid costs the reform generates, over the first 10 years it's fully up and running, according to Congressional Budget Office numbers compiled by Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee.</p>

The democrat's Supreme Court ruled abortion was legal throughout the United States despite state laws regulating individually by "inventing" (re-defining) a patient's "right to privacy" in medical terms. That is, by re-defining the natural "right to privacy" for matters between a doctor and patient as a reason for REMOVING a specific specially-selected form of medical treatment (abortion) from state regulation in Roe vs Wade by a narrow 5-4 vote on ideological lines, the socialists/democrats on the Supreme Court moved medicine from state control to national control. Well, more accurately, they moved it from state control into national "illegal to control"...

Sprott Asset Management has "pulled forward" something I intended to cover in my "year end review" Ticker but since he's put it out there I think I need to cover it now: As a thought experiment, we separated all the various US Treasury owners and asked our readers whether each group could afford to increase their 2009 treasury purchases by 200%. In the end, we surmised that most groups couldn’t, and prepared our readers for the worst. Almost seven months later, however, nothing particularly bad has happened on the US debt front. There have been no failed auctions, no sovereign...

The body of a Maryland girl who authorities say was abducted by a registered sex offender was found Friday after thousands of volunteers fanned out to look for her. Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis said that the body of 11-year-old Sarah H. Foxwell was discovered at about 4 p.m. near the Delaware state line. He offered few other details. Thomas J. Leggs Jr., 30, has been charged in her kidnapping. Leggs is a former boyfriend of the girl's aunt, who is her legal guardian. A public defender representing him has not returned a phone call. Thousands of volunteers gathered in...

<p>SALISBURY, Md. — The body of a Maryland girl who authorities say was abducted by a registered sex offender was found Friday after thousands of volunteers fanned out to look for her.</p> <p>Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis said that the body of 11-year-old Sarah H. Foxwell was discovered at about 4 p.m. near the Delaware state line. He offered few other details. Thomas J. Leggs Jr., 30, has been charged in her kidnapping.</p>

Generic Congressional Vote Rasmussen Reports Republicans 44, Democrats 36 Republicans +8

Rep. Peter King has named the suspected terrorist who attempted to blow up an Amsterdam to Detroit flight today as "Abdul Mudallad.", according to the AP in an article timestamped 7:04 p.m. EST.King was just on live with CNN talking about the failed terrorist attack, but the CNN anchor cut King off when he started to say the suspect's name and would not allow King to name him. The anchor said CNN was not able to confirm the name.King is the Ranking Member on the House Homeland Security Committee.Citing federal officials, MSNBC is also naming the suspect, but uses a...

KABUL -- The Taliban distributed a new video Friday of a U.S. soldier who was captured this summer in Afghanistan, with an offer to release him in a prisoner exchange.A spokesman for the international forces here denounced the video, but declined to comment on the possibility of an exchange or on efforts to rescue the captive.Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, an airborne infantryman from Ketchum, Idaho, was seized by Taliban-aligned militants on June 30. The military says he is the only American soldier who has been captured by insurgent forces during the war here.

Arkansas police are searching for two men who shot and killed a Salvation Army major Christmas Eve outside the organization’s community center in North Little Rock as his three young children looked on. Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper said two men accosted Philip Wise and his children — ages, 4, 6 and 8 — about 4 p.m. Thursday. He says one man pulled a gun, demanded money and then shot Wise. Wise's wife, Cindy, also a major in the Salvation Army, was inside the center and called 911.

Man on Flight to Detroit Claims Al Qaeda Ties; Obama Tightens Security DETROIT -- A passenger on a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight tried to detonate an explosive device that was strapped to his leg and later told investigators that he was trying to blow up the plane and had affiliations with al Qaeda, according to a senior U.S. official. The man, who has not been publicly identified by officials, told investigators that he was given the device by Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen, where he was also given instructions on how to detonate it, the official said. The Associated Press...

SARANGANI, PHILIPPINES(AP) —Manny Pacquiao says he is planning to file a defamation lawsuit against Floyd Mayweather Jr., the fighter’s father, and Golden Boy Promotions In a statement posted Friday on his Web site, Pacquiao claims that his character has been damaged and tarnished by accusations he says are untrue. “Enough is enough,” Pacquiao said in the statement. “These people, Mayweather Sr., Jr., and Golden Boy Promotions, think it is a joke and a right to accuse someone wrongly of using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs. I have tried to just brush it off as a mere pre-fight ploy but I...

Private Bergdahl - assuming he's still alive - is spending Christmas as a captive of the Taliban. His captors spent the last day or two uploading a video showing Private Bergdahl reading a statement. The video was divided into four segments and uploaded to YouTube on 25 December 2009. The YouTube account is:

It is crucial that scientists are factually accurate when they do speak out, that they ignore media hype and maintain a clinical detachment from social or other agendas. There are facts and data that are ignored in the maelstrom of social and economic agendas swirling about Copenhagen. Greenhouse gases and their effects are well-known. Here are some of things we know: • The most effective greenhouse gas is water vapor, comprising approximately 95 percent of the total greenhouse effect. • Carbon dioxide concentration has been continually rising for nearly 100 years. It continues to rise, but carbon dioxide concentrations at...

WASHINGTON — U.S. officials said a Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria said he was acting on behalf of al-Qaida when he tried to blow up a flight Friday as it landed in Detroit. And a White House official called the Christmas incident an attempted act of terrorism. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., identified the suspect as Abdul Mudallad. King said the flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit. One of the U.S. intelligence officials said the explosive device was a mix of powder and liquid. It failed when the passenger tried to detonate it. The passenger...

A man reportedly set off firecrackers on Delta Flight 253 that was carrying 278 passengers to Detroit from Amsterdam. "The president was notified of the incident this morning between 9:00 and 9:30 Hawaii time by the president's military aide," White House spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement.

It being Christmas and all, I want to sound off on Global Warming: Dallas experiences first White Christmas in more than 80 yearsNearly 2/3rds of Continental US has White ChristmasWinter storm spreads across MidwestNational Weather Service Enhanced Radar Image National MosaicRecord Setting Snowfall Across Oklahoma, Most Interstates ClosedChristmas Blizzard Spreads Across MidwestStorm Threatens Holiday TravelToday's proof of global warmingBlizzard warning for Christmas DayMidwest's winter storm packs a wallop, vexing holiday travelersHoliday plans hit as storm wrecks havoc in US Now that's what I call Climate Change!

Set in the 1940s, "A Christmas Story" depicts a series of family vignettes through the eyes of 9-year-old Ralphie Parker, who yearns for that gift of all gifts: the Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. This was boyhood before "bang-bang you're dead" was banned. Family life prior to "One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads," and Christmas without the ACLU. If children could choose their families, most would opt for the kind depicted in this film, where mother is a homemaker, father is a regular working stiff, and between them they have zero repertoire of psychobabble to rub together. Although...

A group of state and federal judges presiding over foreclosures are wiping away borrowers' mortgage debt, invalidating foreclosure sales and even barring some foreclosures outright. The decisions in recent months by a handful of judges in states including Massachusetts, New York and Texas mark a new phase in the judiciary's battle to stem the rising tide of foreclosures by punishing mortgage companies for paperwork mistakes and alleged mistreatment of borrowers. The number of judges taking such action remains small, and most foreclosures go through without a challenge. But the growing number of rulings against lenders' claims is raising questions among...

Romulus, Mich. - A senior U.S. counterterror official says a passenger aboard a Delta Air Lines flight in Detroit was planning to blow up the plane but the explosive device failed. The official said the passenger was being questioned Friday evening. It was not immediately clear why the passenger wanted to attack the flight that was arriving from Amsterdam

NewsArchive Widespread, heavy snow — a review | 23 Dec 2009 The Met Office reviews the recent snowy conditions. New evidence confirms warming record | 18 Dec 2009 New analysis shows global temperature rise calculated by the Met Office is at the lower end of likely warming. Your climate change questions answered | 16 Dec 2009 Prof. Julia Slingo answers our web visitors’ climate change questions, on YouTube.

Voter support for offshore oil drilling remains as strong as it was during last year’s presidential election, but many also continue to believe individual states should be able to stop it off their own coastlines. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 68% of U.S. voters believe offshore oil drilling should be allowed. Just 20% oppose drilling for oil off the coast of the United States, with another 12% undecided. These numbers are virtually unchanged from findings just after Election Day in November 2008. Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major party favor offshore drilling much more...

Senate Democrats are celebrating this morning for passing their version of health care reform, but voters still don’t like much of what they see. At the start of the week, 41% of voters nationwide were in favor of the health care bill, but 55% were opposed. This is the fifth straight week with support for the legislation between 38% and 41%. Rasmussen Report is continuing to track support for the plan on a weekly basis and will have new numbers on Monday morning. Part of the opposition comes from a general skepticism about Congress, rather than specific policy issues. But...

Just 29 percent of U.S. voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, the lowest level measured since early February, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. The percentage of voters who felt the country is heading in the right direction remained in the narrow range of 31 percent to 35 percent from July to early November. For the previous three weeks, however, confidence in the country’s current course has held steady at 30 percent. The majority of voters (65 percent) continue to believe the nation is heading down the wrong track. The latest finding...

A male passenger reportedly linked to terrorist organization al-Qaeda ignited a powdery substance prior to landing on a Delta Airlines flight to Detroit Friday. The suspect is believed to be Nigerian, Fox News reported. Several people were hurt and one person was admitted to the University of Michigan Medical Center at Ann Arbor, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said. An emergency was declared aboard the flight, operated as Northwest flight 253, according to a Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson. The suspect, who suffered second-degree burns, told federal investigators he was directed by al-Qaeda, though authorities are questioning the veracity of that statement,...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Treasury said it would provide capital as needed to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the next three years, effectively opening its checkbook to the government-controlled companies in a bid to reassure investors in their debt. Treasury also will end its purchases of the companies' mortgage-backed securities and terminate a never-used short-term liquidity facility set up for the firms and the Federal Home Loan Banks. And it moved to allow the companies to shrink their giant portfolios of mortgage securities more slowly, though it said it was still "committed to the principle" of reducing the portfolios....

THE navy's Armidale class patrol boats were put to sea with design defects, missing operating procedures and inadequate training that caused an accident in which four sailors were almost killed. A secret report into the gassing of the crew aboard HMAS Maitland has raised more questions about the 16-strong fleet of Armidale patrol boats, twice recalled to port for emergency repairs since they were commissioned in 2005. The $28 million boats, dubbed "Armifail" by frustrated sailors, have been dogged by problems including fuel contamination, engine trouble, blocked toilets, lack of personal storage, inadequate lighting and overcrowding. Unusually for military vessels,...

Thank God it was not a serious incident... had there been a weapon...one hates to think of such things...See the video here...

Suspect Was Already on the Government's No-Fly List Federal officials and police are interviewing a Nigerian man, who allegedly tried to "explode" a powdery substance aboard a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, injuring himself and two other passengers, law enforcement officials said. Unconfirmed reports say a firecracker was ignited on flight bound for Detroit. The man said he was directed by al Qaeda to explode a small device in flight, over U.S. soil, ABC News has learned. Authorities have no corroboration of that information, and the credibility of the suspect's statements are being questioned, officials said. The man was apparently...

LOS ANGELES—A couple who said they were assaulted by Gene Simmons sued the KISS bassist for unspecified damages Thursday, court records show. Nathan Marlowe and his wife Cynthia Manzo said Simmons attacked them, threatened them and took their video camera at the upscale The Grove mall on Saturday after they started filming the rocker.

Health insurers get some big presents in the Senate's health overhaul bill — about 20 million new customers and no competition from a new government plan. Taking advantage of those boons might take some time, though. The bill imposes hefty new taxes and coverage rules that will pinch insurers by forcing them to cover more sick people without gaining enough healthy, lower-cost customers, industry insiders say. The industry is also worried the bill doesn't do enough to control health care costs. ... Both bills call for the creation of insurance exchanges that help people buy coverage. Insurers likely will lose...