Free Republic

Barack Obama's foreign tour loses him ground back home Tim Reid in Washington Barack Obama denied yesterday that he was ignoring the concerns of ordinary Americans while he tours the world, amid signs that the adulation he is receiving abroad has alienated some US voters. After the Democratic presidential candidate holds meetings with Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron in London today, the last leg of his nine-day international tour, he returns home to a general election campaign with new polls showing him in a tightening race against John McCain, the Republican candidate. Mr McCain and his surrogates have...

The head of South Africa's governing African National Congress, Jacob Zuma, has said he is shocked and embarrassed about white poverty in the country. Mr Zuma was speaking after visiting the Bethlehem township near the capital, Pretoria, where white families live without running water or electricity. He said the high level of black poverty did not mean whites did not suffer too. South Africa's Helping Hand says the number of homeless white people has increased by 58% since 2002. A new report by the charity, which helps poor white communities, says more than 130,000 white people in South Africa are...

The success of the surge offensive resulted in an intelligence windfall. Documents and prisoner interrogations (as well as identifying the dead) provided a lot more information on hostile Sunni and Shia groups, as well as interesting observations about the factions currently controlling the government. All this clarified and confirmed the very factious nature of Iraqi society. Seems anybody with a quick mouth and a lot of guns can form their own little army. This factionalism is accompanied by a self-righteousness that seems to justify a wide range of bad behavior. This includes corruption, but also murder, torture, rape, theft and...

As the U.S. armed forces have done so many times before, they entered the uncertainty of a new war in 2001, and are now trying to figure out what they gained from it. Most of what went on during this war was unreported or misreported. This is nothing new. The important details, and lessons, of all past American wars were poorly reported, and what the military is trying to avoid is taking away the wrong lessons. Throughout the current conflict, the military made no secret of what they were doing, and just kept focused on winning. They knew they would...

The Times Of London Columnist Gerald Baker reads his July 25th, 2008 column about Barack Obama, with photo montage. He Ventured Forth to Bring Light to the World (YouTube)

Antiretroviral therapy has increased life expectancy by 13 years, researchers say THURSDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) -- Since 1996, the life expectancy of HIV patients in developed countries taking antiviral therapy has increased more than 13 years, and deaths have dropped by almost 40 percent, researchers report. Despite these gains, life expectancy still falls short by some 20 years, compared with people in the general population. Life expectancy among injection drug users and those who start their treatment late is even shorter. "People on [antiretroviral therapy] can live a fairly long life," said lead researcher Robert Hogg, from the British...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here is Brian in Battle Creek, Michigan. Brian, thank you for waiting and welcome to the EIB Network. CALLER: Yeah, thank you. RUSH: Go right ahead, sir. CALLER: Megadittos. RUSH: Thank you very much. CALLER: I've got two here. First, I had to go to your website to find a phone number and now I finally understand when you say the Messi-uh, what you actually are getting at with the uhs that he says. RUSH: Right. The Messi-uh. CALLER: Very clever. The other thing is I was wondering if you had a chance to see the new...

America's leading energy regulator has accused a Dutch oil trading firm and three of its employees - including British-born Christopher Dowson - of manipulating crude oil market for their own ends. In the first lawsuit of its kind since the agency began investigating alleged manipulation of the market in December 2007, the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed civil actions against Dutch-based Optiver Holdings and the three men, accusing them of making $1m in profit in just 11 days. The CFTC alleges that the defendants were involved in scheme known as "banging the close" where a sizeable position...

Old Right War Lessons by Donald Devine Issue 112 - July 23, 2008 “Every man holds his property subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it.”“America was created to break every kind of monopoly and to set men free upon a footing of equality.” Are these anti-property and pro-equality quotes from Marx or Lenin? In fact, they are from two U.S. presidents, the first from Theodore Roosevelt and the second by Woodrow Wilson, the fathers of American progressivism, the radical doctrine that explicitly broke with the philosophy...

From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski In his official capacity as a sitting US senator, Obama has every right to stay in touch with America's men and women in uniform. According to Pentagon officials, the problem was that Obama's request to visit Landstuhl included two members of his campaign staff -- retired Major General Jonathan S. Gration and Jeff Kiernan. US military officials in Germany informed the campaign the two political operatives would not be permitted on base. Pentagon officials say Gration was the campaign's point of contact at Landstuhl in arranging Obama's visit and "got torqued" when he was told he...

Nasa scientists have discovered what they think causes the Northern Lights, the dramatic, colourful displays seen in the sky seen near the Earth's poles. After a year of studying the mysterious phenomenon, researchers say explosions of magnetic energy occurring about one-third of the way to the moon are responsible for the lights, known as auroras. Nasa say explosions of magnetic energy occurring about one-third of the way to the moon are responsible for the lights, known as auroras Researchers used a network of five Nasa satellites on a mission dubbed Themis to observe a geomagnetic storm in February. They correlated...

Drill ANWR by Paul Driessen Issue 112 - July 23, 2008 “We can’t drill our way out of our energy problem.” This daily mantra underscores an abysmal grasp of economics by the politicians, activists, bureaucrats and judges who are dictating US policies. If only their hot air could be converted into usable energy. Drilling is no silver bullet. But it is vital. It won’t generate overnight production. But just announcing that America is finally hunting oil again would send a powerful signal to energy markets … and to speculators – many of whom are betting that continued US drilling restrictions...

Obama Makeover by David Keene Issue 112 - July 23, 2008 The makeover has begun, and by the time it’s complete, Barack Obama will be barely recognizable to many of those who signed on with him a year ago. The man who began his campaign as a quasi-spokesman for the folks at MoveOn.Org now claims he gets his foreign policy advice from a consortium of Democratic insiders that includes former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher. Obama may not think much of Bill and Hillary, but he wants general-election voters to know that he’s really not as different...

Woodrow Wilson's Constitution by Robert Curry Issue 112 - July 23, 2008 Justly revered as our great Constitution is, it could be stripped off and thrown aside like a garment, and the nation would still stand forth in the living vestment of flesh and sinew, warm with the heart-blood of one people, ready to recreate constitutions and laws. ... Woodrow Wilson Justly revered, but not by Wilson. He really did want to cast it aside, writing “no doubt a great deal of nonsense has been talked about the inalienable rights of the individual, and a great deal that was mere...

After being caught twice with a "baggie" of marijuana, 23-year old Rachel Hoffman was reportedly told by police in Tallahassee, Florida that she would go to prison for four years unless she became an undercover informant. The young woman, a recent graduate of Florida State University, was murdered during a botched sting operation two months ago. "The idea of waging a war on drugs is to protect people and here it seems like we're putting people in harm's way," said Lance Block, a lawyer hired by Rachel's parents. The Florida Attorney General's office says it is reviewing the procedures and...

Your daily routine -- switching on a light, cooking a meal, driving down the street -- would generate less greenhouse gases under a first-of-its-kind regional strategy to curb global warming unveiled Wednesday at the state Capitol in Salem. The strategy emerged from the Western Climate Initiative, an alliance of Western states -- including Oregon and Washington -- and Canadian provinces trying to jump ahead of any federal move to regulate greenhouse gases. Large utility companies and factory owners would feel the effects first, followed by fuel distributors, as they face limits on their greenhouse gas emissions. Individual Oregonians would not...

If you read, watch and hear the media describe the campaign of 2008, it appears to be the most one-sided contest since Reagan trounced Mondale in 1984. McCain always comes across as borderline senile, lethargic, and pitiful while Obama is awash in media heroics and theatrical flourishes. But the race is still basically tied according to the polls. While Obama has gotten a four point bounce, according to the latest Rasmussen poll, from his European trip and the adulatory response of the left-leaning German crowds, the two candidates have been within one or two points of each other for the...

Parody of "One Night in Bangkok" by Murray Head. See Rush Limbaugh home page.

Gordon Brown is being openly undermined by Cabinet ministers who are now publicly questioning his future as Prime Minister. The Labour Party has no option but to replace him as leader or face certain defeat at the next general election, said one. Should he be forced to step down, Mr Brown would be the first Prime Minister since Neville Chamberlain not to fight a general election "We cannot go any lower," the minister said, following Labour's disastrous defeat in the Glasgow East by-election, one of the biggest upsets in political history. "We are at rock bottom. The evidence is there...

Supreme Court allows construction to proceedThe U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a case that challenged the Homeland Security Department's right to waive environmental laws and litigation to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The decision, made without comment, seemingly removes a potential hurdle to construction of a $48.6 million fencing project across a canyon known as Smuggler's Gulch, west of the San Ysidro port of entry. “It's over. They're going to build a wall,” said attorney Cory Briggs, who in 2004 filed suit to stop the project on behalf of the Sierra Club, San Diego Audubon Society,...

I'm not crazy, doctor. There really is a cat in my wall. A Brooklyn man found himself locked up in a loony bin for four days after he smashed down walls in three apartments trying to rescue a fugitive feline. The bizarre tale began when a mischievous kitty named Rumi decided to explore a hole in the wall of a condo undergoing renovation in Carroll Gardens. Unfortunately for Rumi, the hole opened on a 30-foot shaft and he fell to the bottom.

(07-25) 17:42 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit by conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage against a Muslim-rights group that reprinted his attacks against Islam and called for an advertising boycott. Savage, who has about 8 million listeners a week on 400 stations for his syndicated "Savage Nation" program, sued the Council on American-Islamic Relations in December for copyright infringement. The organization had posted four minutes of excerpts from an Oct. 29 broadcast in which he called the Quran a "hateful little book" and a "document of slavery." He said Muslims were "screaming for...

By John Poirier WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators took over two banks on Friday and sold them to Mutual of Omaha Bank, the sixth and seventh bank failures this year as financial institutions struggle with a housing bust and credit crunch. ADVERTISEMENT Two weeks after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp seized IndyMac Bancorp Inc (Other OTC:IDMC.PK - News), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said it closed First National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank NA of California. First National had total assets of $3.4 billion and $3 billion in deposits while First Heritage had assets of...

Would it be a great disaster if Iran had nuclear weapons? As a habitual contrarian, I pose the question because almost everyone seems to believe that it would, and that it must be prevented at all costs. But is that true? John Bolton, the former United States ambassador to the United Nations, said in April that "if the choice is [Iran] continuing [toward a nuclear bomb] or the use of force, I think you're at a Hitler marching into the Rhineland point." Bush, too, has compared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler. But these so-called statesmen never consider what might...

Video at link

WASHINGTON - The total cost of the Iraq war is approaching the Vietnam War's expense, a congressional report estimates, while spending for military operations after 9/11 has exceeded it. The new report by the Congressional Research Service estimates the U.S. has spent $648 billion on Iraq war operations, putting it in range with the $686 billion, in 2008 dollars, spent on the Vietnam War, the second most expensive war behind World War II. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. has doled out almost $860 billion for military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere around the world. <snip>...

WASHINGTON - Federal regulators have formally approved the merger of the nation's only two satellite radio operators, ending a 16-month-long drama closely watched by Washington and Wall Street. Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s $3.6 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. will mean 18 million-plus subscribers will be able to receive programming from both services. Executives say it will mean huge cost savings that will lead to a first-ever profit for the relatively nascent industry.

The city of Kannapolis is taking its "Dale Trail" banners down at the request of Castle & Cooke, the developers of the N.C. Research Center — and they won't be going back up. According to e-mails, California billionaire David Murdock, owner of Castle & Cook, is coming to town Saturday with a very important guest and wants to put the "best face on the city." The banners along with a statue in Cannon Village honor the town's most famous native, Dale Earnhardt, who died in a last lap wreck in the Daytona 500 in 2001. And according to the e-mails,...

FLOWER MOUND -- Oh, Subway Jared wouldn't be smiling about this.A 14-year-old was assaulted and robbed of his Subway mascot costume Friday afternoon as he stood outside the sandwich shop. Three teens are suspected of taking the outfit after jumping out of their car.The victim suffered a slight arm injury when the teens tackled him and removed the sandwich costume. He also reported that the car ran over his foot as the teens fled; the victim was treated at the scene.Hours later police arrested the teenaged boys after witnesses and other employees took down a description of a car used...

The parents of a teenager girl who became a homicide victim when Andrea Curry-Demus, 38, allegedly sliced open her stomach and stole her unborn child say they forgive her. The parents of 18-year-old Kia Johnson spoke at her funeral on Friday after her body was found in Curry-Demus' apartment. "I forgive her for the simple fact that if she wouldn't have took the baby to the hospital, we would not have been able to find our daughter," Johnson's mother Darlene said. "She's going to be missed by everyone," her mother said. "Kia was a special child. An AP report indicated...

We are a little late to the party, but it is worth adding a few words now that our favourite amateur contrarian is at it again. As many already know, the Forum on Physics and Society (an un-peer-reviewed newsletter published by the otherwise quite sensible American Physical Society), rather surprisingly published a new paper by Monckton that tries again to show using rigorous arithmetic that IPCC is all wrong and that climate sensitivity is negligible. His latest sally, like his previous attempt, is full of the usual obfuscating sleight of hand, but to save people the time in working it...

America is at the Mall by Bridget Geegan Blanton Several months ago I came across a photo while online that appeared to have been taken inside a military installation quite possibly in a theater of war. The photo was simple yet poignant. In the background was the indistinct image of a Marine dressed in camouflage entering the room from the outside and in the foreground the photographer zeroed in on the side of a refrigerator. Three sentences written on the side of the refrigerator constituted the single most riveting feature of the photo. The statement was brief, to the point...

Obama veep team floats Republican name By AMIE PARNES & BEN SMITH | 7/25/08 6:41 PM EST Ann Veneman Obama's vice presidential search team has floated the name of a former member of President Bush's first-term cabinet, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, as Obama's running mate. Photo: AP Barack Obama's vice presidential search team has floated the name of a member of President Bush's first-term Cabinet, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, as Obama's running mate. The search committee, now led by Caroline Kennedy and Eric Holder, raised Veneman's name — among others — in discussions with members of Congress, two Democrats familiar...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Poor women and children need food, health care and education, but the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program is coming under fire for giving them abortions instead. The program's web site features a link to Planned Parenthood, the business that does about 25 percent of U.S. abortions. Pro-life blogger Dawn Eden, author of The Thrill of the Chaste, found the link at the USDA's WIC Learning Center, the official web site for the federal government's program."That's because a hefty chunk of the $5 billion in taxpayer funds for the program designed to help feed and...

Sen. Obama's delivered a crucial speech in Berlin on July 24. Find the missing words. This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it. If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we...

Scientists Debate Moving Polar Bears to Antarctica as Arctic MeltsJuly 24, 2008 Scientists are obviously reaching a point of true desperation. While the world still debates whether climate change is even real (eye roll), the scientific community is coming back to an idea that was once considered wrongheaded and dangerous: moving species to new areas of the world as their natural habitats become inhabitable. First up: moving the polar bears to the other side of the globe. From Wired: Caught between climate change and human pressure, species are going extinct 100 times faster than at any point in human history....

First the Iraqi government gave Senator Barack Obama a boost by seeming to embrace his proposal for a 16-month timetable for withdrawing American troops from Iraq. But could Senator John McCain, who built his candidacy in large part on his opposition to a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, possibly be following suit? “I think it’s a pretty good timetable,” Mr. McCain said Friday in an interview on CNN’s “The Situation Room,’’ before adding that it should be based “on the conditions on the ground.’’ For months Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, has railed against setting timetables for withdrawing from...

Democratic Party Chairman Gov. Howard Dean toured Invesco Field at Mile High Thursday morning to view the site where Barack Obama will deliver his acceptance speech during the Democratic National Convention late next month. Dean said he's reviewed drawings for the staging of the event and was "stunned" by them, The Rocky Mountain News reported. However, he also said the Obama campaign has not signed off on them yet. Dean noted this new convention format will make the political event one for outsiders, not insiders. Democratic National Committee Chief Executive Officer Leah Daughtry and Federico Peña accompanied Dean Thursday. "This...

HE may be living in a Bracknell council house, but soon he could be dining with his brother at the White House. The Sun was the first newspaper to track down and speak to Bernard Obama, 37. And he said of Democrat candidate Barack: “I’m very proud of my big brother. “It’s quite a funny feeling that he might be the next President of the USA.”

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Russian shares fell nearly 6% on Friday, as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's call for an investigation of mining company Mechel escalated worries about political risk in the resource-rich emerging market and encouraged investors to sell local equities across sectors. In Moscow, the benchmark RTS stock index fell 5.6% to end at 1,951 points. It is down 14.8% year-to-date. Putin said Thursday that Mechel (MTL: Mechel should be investigated for selling raw materials abroad at half the price it charges domestically. His comments triggered a nearly 40% sell-off in Mechel's New York-listed shares. See Emerging Markets Report.

Don't Be Afraid of the Drive-BysJuly 25, 2008 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: We'll start in Ava Maria, Florida. This is Andy. Thank you, sir, for waiting. I appreciate your patience. You're up first. CALLER: Mega Ava Maria and Army veteran dittos, Rush. RUSH: Thank you, sir. CALLER: I'm a bit nervous. I can't believe I actually got through. I've been trying to for 13 years. RUSH: Well, congratulations, sir. CALLER: I just went over to grab lunch earlier and unfortunately I caught a CNN broadcast. They were reporting that 85% of the French polled would vote Obama over McCain if they...

Aviation expert accuses Iran of military deception Video at link

Fast food restaurants have employee dress codes not only for appearances, but for hygiene and safety. With that in mind, this case is sounding a lot like the case of the women wanting to wear Islamic attire in a Midwestern tortilla factory. The local health inspector isn't going to take kindly to long sleeves potentially brushing perishable food, and/or the grill and fryer oil, to say nothing of guidelines for hand-washing (see also: the debate over short sleeves in British hospitals). Then there is the matter of long attire and the potential need to make a quick exit in the...

There was a spring in Barack Obama's step and a sense of heady excitement in the air as he took to the stage beside Berlin's Victory column for his latest Big Speech. Members of his expansive entourage could have been forgiven for dreaming about the West Wing offices they will occupy in January. By any yardstick, the first half of the Illinois senator's foreign tour was everything his campaign staff had wished for and a little bit more. Wherever he went, world leaders wanted to bask in his reflected glory as the presumed next president. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made public on Thursday a report according to which 1,013 Americans died after overdosing on an illegal version of the powerful prescription painkiller fentanyl. The report published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report focused on fatal overdoses from April 2005 to March 2007. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opiate analgesic similar but more powerful than morhine. It is typically used to treat patients with severe pain, or to manage pain after surgery. It is also sometimes used to treat people with chronic pain who are physically tolerant to opiates. In its...

THE RIGHT TAKES AIM AT MEDIA'S TREATMENT OF OBAMAPOST STAFF REPORT Last updated: 4:19 pm July 25, 2008 Fully expecting Sen. Clinton to be the Democratic presidential nominee, the conservative advocacy group Citizens United spent 18 months and millions of dollars making "Hillary: The Movie." But as the saying goes, God gave them lemons and they made "Hype: The Obama Effect." "Hype" is a full-length feature documentary that will be released on DVD Sept. 1 and will be playing in select theaters across the country. The trailer has been released online and advertising on FOX began this week. Citizens United...

John McCain and Country Music Star John Rich (from the Big & Rich Country music band and Nashville Star TV show) are coming to Panama City next Friday, August 1st. John Rich will perform live at the event, hosted by the Republican Party of Florida. Doors open at 3 PM CDT. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for kids 12 and younger. They can be purchased from the Republican Party of Florida online at: http://www.rpof.org/john-rich-concert. Don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to see John Rich perform in this small venue on the water. Bring your family and...

"So if you want my take on this, if you want to remember one thing about this trip, is that Barack Obama chose to work out rather than see the wounded troops because he couldn't bring Katie Couric, Charlie Gibson, and Brian Williams with him." -- Sean Hannity "The Sean Hannity Show" Sean Hannity: "You know I've found one article -- I hadn't known this -- I was telling you earlier the Obama campaign tried to blame the Pentagon. Here he was scheduled. He wanted to go visit this military hospital. It was on the campaign sheet to go visit...

GOVERNMENT'S unceasing recourse to one economic destruction measure after another belatedly forces an inevitable conclusion that, albeit for some inexplicable motive, it is resolutely determined to destroy the Zimbabwean economy in its entirety. No one can be that stupid as to resort to one catastrophic economic policy after another to the extent that the Zimbabwean Government has done over the last 11 years, unless it is with the deliberate intent to achieve a total implosion of the entirety of the economy. With actions ranging from extreme profligacy, governmental spending being continuously at astronomic levels beyond the nation's means, to the...

Fresno, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Disability rights advocates and pro-life groups are speaking up in the case of Janet Rivera, an incapacitated California woman who had her food and water restored yesterday. They say Rivera's guardian was wrong to override her family and deny her the right to sustenance.Rivera, 46, had a heart attack on February 2006 and she never regained consciousness. She has been on life support for two years.As LifeNews.com has reported, on July 14 a court-appointed guardian removed her feeding tube despite her family's wishes.After obtaining help from pro-life attorneys, the Rivera family won a court order to...