Free Republic

The remains of a burnt beetle found in a grain of wheat about 3,500 years old provided a group of researchers from Bar-Ilan University with a key to a question the Bible left without a definite answer: How did Joseph the Dreamer, who became the viceroy to the king of Egypt, succeed in preserving the grain during the seven lean years and prevent Egypt's population from starving? According to the description in the book of Genesis, during the seven years of plenty in Egypt, Joseph had all the wheat collected in silos. "And he gathered up all the food of...

In an interview with 1200 WOAI news during his swing through Texas, longshot Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee outlined a strategy which has him not winning the GOP nomination outright, but pushing the nomination to the September Republican National Convention, which he says will turn to him as the most ‘conservative alternative.’

Hmm, this is interesting. According to prominent former Microsoftie Robert Scoble, Microsoft's current plan is to make the Windows Vista startup sound a) unchangeable and b) unmutable. The reason for "a" is branding. Having a unified startup sound on all Vista PCs serves Microsoft well, and Microsoft's Steve Ball says users will benefit....

UPPER TOWNSHIP — The Township Committee is trying to determine whether mountain-lion sightings in the area are fact or phantom. Mayor Richard Palombo this week publicly urged residents who have seen a large cat — maybe a mountain lion or a big bobcat — to notify the township's animal-control officer. “At this point, we're making everyone alert about it. The animal-control officer is looking at it if anyone sees an animal,” the mayor said. Liam Hughes, who handles animal control in parts of Atlantic and Cape May counties, said there are no confirmed lion sightings. Nor could anyone find scat...

Anybody watching this love-fest?

Boy, I sure hope this ends up in General/Chat and not in Breaking News! We are new homeowners and need some advice on eliminating insect infestations on several (about a dozen) fruit trees, mostly apple and pie cherry. The insects in question are black, about the shape of ladybugs but smaller and with white markings. They are prolific - I killed two in the process of mating. Anyone have any experience in this area? Any advice would be very much appreciated!

A worker at a Downtown steam plant who brought a pellet rifle to work to shoot pigeons was mistaken for a sniper Wednesday afternoon, prompting police to shut down part of the city for about two hours. Richard Wills, of Dawson, Fayette County, a maintenance worker in the Pittsburgh Allegheny County Thermal building, brought the weapon to work to chase pigeons away from broken windows on the building's roof, said PACT President Robert Fazio. Someone apparently spotted him - and his rifle - when he stepped out onto the roof for a few seconds, Fazio said. At least three witnesses...

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Republican national chairman this week suggested Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is too "angry" to win the White House in 2008. And to hear Republicans tell it, Mrs. Clinton is just one of many Democrats with an anger-management problem. Former Vice President Al Gore is angry. So is Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. The party is held hostage by the "angry left." In recent months, Republican operatives and officeholders have cast the Democrats as the anger party, long on emotion and short on ideas. Analysts say the strategy has been effective, painting Democrats' differences with the...

A 41-year-old peace activist who says she wanted to inspect a United States warship for weapons of mass destruction has been charged with trespassing. Margaret Pestorius, from the activist group Peace by Peace, said she and four other people went at 8.30am (AEST) yesterday to a restricted area of Trinity Wharf at Cairns, in north Queensland, where the frigate the USS Ingraham was berthed. "We were hoping to inspect it," Ms Pestorius said today. "We wanted to know what weapons were on board the ship, where the ship has been and what operations the ship is involved in." Ms Pestorius...

Germany is stepping up its battle against 'Nazi' racoons after they ruined much of this year's wine harvest. The racoons were released into the German countryside in 1934 under the orders of Hermann Goering. Goering thought they would "enrich" the local wildlife - but they have spread throughout Central Europe, from the Low Countries to the Urals, according to conservationists. The nocturnal mammals have become a health hazard in many cities, where they rummage through garbage bins and invade homeowners' attics and cellars. Now, they are becoming a threat to agriculture as well, according to farmers. "Racoons wiped out almost...

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (AP) -- A suburban Detroit man described as one of the nation's leading senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail, or spam, says an FBI raid on his home-office has halted his operation. Warrants unsealed last week show that a September raid on Alan M. Ralsky's home in West Bloomfield included the seizure of financial records, computers and disks. Agents also raided the West Bloomfield home of his son-in-law, Scott Bradley. "We're out of business at this point in time," Ralsky told The Detroit News for a story Sunday. "They didn't shut us down. They took all our equipment,...

SKAGIT COUNTY - A rodent that can decimate crop land has just been discovered in Skagit County -- an area with an economy that depends on agriculture. It's called nutria and it is native to South America. They look like a beaver, but they are much more dangerous. The nutria is a rodent that lives in the water and feeds on the land. It stops nothing short of eating every kind of crop, plant, marsh or forest. Bottom line: they are an enemy to the environment and a nightmare to farmers. "They eat everything. They are hungry, they breed like...

America is suffering from a bunch of P.E.S.T.’s. Victims of Post Election Selection Trauma, or more commonly know as crazy liberals who have decided to hate democracy because George Bush beat them twice. Shortly after the November election, the American Health Association identified this affliction in Boca Raton, Florida, with some of its symptoms being: “feelings of withdrawal, feelings of isolation, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, nightmares, and pervasive moodiness, including endless sulking.” How Rob Gordon, Executive Director of the AHA, was able to differentiate these symptoms from the normal behavior of most liberals I have no clue, but none the...

When do we get to see Judge Roberts' forged "secret memos"? Justin Darr July 24, 2005 America is suffering from a bunch of P.E.S.T.'s. Victims of Post Election Selection Trauma, or more commonly know as crazy liberals who have decided to hate democracy because George Bush beat them twice. Shortly after the November election, the American Health Association identified this affliction in Boca Raton, Florida, with some of its symptoms being: "feelings of withdrawal, feelings of isolation, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, nightmares, and pervasive moodiness, including endless sulking." How Rob Gordon, Executive Director of the AHA, was able to differentiate...

Corwyn (Cory) William Zimbleman Tucson, AZ (formerly of Champaign, IL) Age 53. Born April 18, 1952 to the late Willard and Gilda (Ebert) Zimbleman, died June 10, 2005. Throughout his life Cory was an extraordinary artist. His artistic talent and imagination would bring awe to all who viewed his work. His works grace an LP cover and numerous books; using Computer Aided Design (CAD) he designed home and business exteriors, interiors, and furniture for several architectural firms. His talent went beyond the fine arts as he added sculpturing, woodworking, metals, and other mediums to his repertoire. Having never gained the...

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - A government lawmaker advised people in northern Australia to bludgeon to death a species of toxic toad imported from Central America more than seven decades ago. Cane toads, which release noxious secretions when threatened, were imported to the northeastern state of Queensland in 1935 to control beetles on sugar cane plantations. They have since hopped all the way to Australia's northeastern coast and south into parts of the state of New South Wales, killing much of the native wildlife that eat them - particularly the endangered marsupials called quolls. Liberal Party lawmaker David Tollner said Monday...

<p>A man apparently enraged by a Bush-Cheney sticker on a woman's sport utility vehicle chased her for miles and tried to run her off the road while holding up an anti-Bush sign, said police in Tampa, Fla.</p> <p>"He told our officers that he just got mad at her, so he went after her," said police spokesman Joe Durkin.</p>

A man apparently enraged by a Bush Cheney sticker on a womans sport utility vehicle chased her for miles and tried to run her off the road while holding up an anti Bush sign, police said.Nathan Alan Winkler, 31, was freed on $2,000 bail Wednesday on a charge of aggrevated stalking which carries up to five years in prison.Police said as Winkler chased the womans vehicle, he held up a sign that read, 'Never Forget Bush's Illegal War Murdered Thousands in Iraq.'Michelle Fernandez, 35, said she is a registered Democrat who voted for President Bush in 2004

South Tampa, Florida - On Tuesday evening, Michelle Fernandez was driving down Armenia in South Tampa with her two children in the car, when another driver tried to run her off the road. The man had a sign over his passenger window that said 'Never forget Bush's illegal oil war murdered thousands in Iraq.' Fernandez has a Bush/Cheney bumper sticker on her car. Fernandez called police from her cell phone when the driver began yelling, blowing his horn, and following her. 9-1-1 Dispatch Dispatch: Where are you on Kennedy? Caller: Right now I'm on Kennedy and Arrawana. Look, he just...

I think that Katherine Harris and Ken Blackwell deserve the death penalty for their actions as state election officials in the 2000 and 2004 elections. Current federal law does not permit the death penalty for their actions and Constitutional restrictions make it impossible to give them the electric chair by changing the law. However, I still believe that their actions in a morally sound legal system would see them on trial for their lives! Katherine Harris as the Republican Secretary of State in Florida during the 2000 elections seemed to be using her office to promote the election of George...

THE WASHINGTON TIMES Outlaw, druggie, Dunhill-smoking, Chivas Regal-drinking, anti-establishment literary icon Hunter S. Thompson committed suicide after becoming depressed about the United States' shift toward conservatism, said one longtime friend who spent the weekend at the Aspen, Colo., home of the late "gonzo" journalist. "He was depressed about the state of society," said Loren Jenkins, foreign editor for National Public Radio in Washington. A vehement opponent of President Bush, Mr. Thompson, 67, "was feeling maudlin about the current conservatism sweeping the country," Mr. Jenkins said. "He felt he'd had a long run, trying to create a freer society in the...

WASHINGTON — If they aren't leaving the capital, they might be going to the movies or spending a quiet afternoon at home. Some even boarded a cruise ship, hoping moonlight and mai tais will take the sting out of President Bush's second inauguration. These Democrats are in denial, not quite ready to hail the chief they fought so hard to unseat. "We all know the inauguration is taking place," said Debra DeShong, once a spokeswoman for Bush challenger Sen. John Kerry. "But watching it is like adding salt to a wound." Democrats in Washington have plenty of company, according to...

PEST infects die-hard political losers Posted on Tue, Jan. 11, 2005 If you happen to be compiling a list of all the things that were wrong with the recent election, jot this one down. George Bush may be the first president whose re-election produced a bona fide mental affliction among members of the disappointed party. So many New Yorkers sought therapy after the grim reality of Nov. 2 settled in on them, that their attending shrinks were able to identify a new neurosis: Post Election Selection Trauma or PEST. A definitive list of symptoms has yet to be worked out,...

Congressional Democrats may have raised a stir when the protested November's election results , but one group is still trying to overturn the 2000 election. A federal PAC calling itself "Patriots For Gore" released a statement this week calling Al Gore the "rightful president of 2000" and announcing that they're investigating "if there is a legal and constitutional way to restore that term to Vice President Gore." The group has started an online petition on their Web site, adding that it will remain online "as long as it takes to see justice."

The California lawyer who tried to have the phrase "under God" removed from the Pledge of Allegiance now wants to legally prevent President Bush from placing his hand on a Bible while being sworn in at his inauguration. Michael Newdow, an atheist doctor and lawyer from Sacramento, has filed a complaint and a motion for preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to remove prayer and all "Christian religious acts" from the Jan. 20 inauguration. Mr. Newdow, 50, asserts that the presence of Christian ministers who pray publicly at the inauguration, Christian songs and the...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - A local columnist and her businessman husband committed suicide on New Year's Day after sending out their obituary, letters to friends and a newspaper column supporting "death with dignity," authorities said. The obituary stated that Ethan and Helen Levine, both suffering from serious illness, died together "through united self-deliverance," according to the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle of Cheyenne and the Casper Star-Tribune, which received copies. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050105/D87E4IQO1.html Wyo. Couple Write Notes, Commit Suicide The bodies were found Tuesday by Laramie County sheriff's deputies, who went to check on the couple after the obituary and letters were delivered. Laramie County...

Meetings are being held to discuss politics in the classroom after a professor apologized for an e-mail in which he vented his frustrations over the result of the presidential election. The controversial e-mail was written by Paul Lauritzen, director of the Applied Ethics Program and professor of Religious Studies, to 32 faculty and administrators. The e-mail, which was sent on Thursday, Nov. 4 at 10:31 a.m., somehow made it into the hands of students. In it, Lauritzen wrote that he was “depressed beyond belief” at the result of the election. He added that he was angry, using an expletive. He...

The Canadian government has now approved the first visa applications from Americans looking to move to Canada after President Bush's re-election. Tresey Kilbourne and his family, from Seattle, applied more than a year ago for Canadian visas, planning to withdraw their applications if a Democrat won. They're now looking for a home in British Columbia. Mr. Kilbourne, quoted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, says, "With the Republicans in full control of everything, there hasn't been anything that has caused us to think that we weren't doing ... the smart thing."

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 - Democratic leaders say their party needs to de-emphasize the issue of abortion rights, concerned that Republicans have hurt the Democratic Party by portraying it as an uncompromising champion of abortion. In interviews and public appearances since Election Day, Democratic officials have said that the party should open its doors to abortion opponents and that candidates should make abortion a less central focus of future campaigns. Party leaders said they were not abandoning their fundamental support for abortion rights, but said Democrats should consider accepting some restrictions that enjoy popular support - like parental notification when teenagers...

NOR DICITY Al Pope, December 20, 2004 No, Virginia... “I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say that there is no Santa Claus … Please tell me the truth.” Virginia O’Hanlon, 1897, a letter to the New York Sun. Virginia, I only wish that I could tell you your little friends were wrong, that God is in his Heaven, Santa in his workshop, and all right with the world of good girls and boys. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Every day while you play, good girls and boys around the world suffer and die...

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS Have yourself a psychiatric session...for the holidaysPost Election Stress Trauma won't go away Have yourself a psychiatric session...let the screaming out That you are unhappy we have little doubt You tried hard but you lost again...you have lost again...oh my You poured your heart out...what awful cost again...what a cost again...you cry Have yourself a psychiatric session...and get over it How could you lose to a moron and half wit So have yourself a psychiatric session now Have yourself a psychiatric session...'cause you're feeling blue If you think he's stupid, what does that...

PEST: We'll Soon Feel Their Painby Chris Shugart, 10 Dec, 04I’ve been getting a kick out these reports I’ve been reading about Post Election Selection Trauma. Like many, I thought it was a joke at first. But psychologists across the nation are reporting that they’ve been providing counseling for despondent Kerry voters. I’ll admit I think the whole thing has been funny, but I’m predicting that somewhere not too far down the road, it’s not going to be funny anymore. I say this because I know where this sort of thing leads just about every time. I’m familiar with the...

Dozens more Kerry supporters flock to Florida therapists American Health Association reacts with free ‘post-election selection trauma’ counseling Published Wednesday, November 10, 2004 at 1:00 pm by Sean Salai More shocked John Kerry supporters on Wednesday sought psychological help with “post-election selection trauma” in South Florida, prompting the American Health Association to officially release symptoms of the disorder and open its doors for free counseling. “When someone commits suicide in New York and Kerry’s loss is even slightly connected, it’s serious,” Rob Gordon, executive director of the AHA, told the Boca Raton News. “There’s a lot of older Democrats here...

Fifteen John Kerry supporters met Thursday for a second group therapy session in South Florida, ranting at President Bush as they vented their self-described “emotional helplessness” to mental health counselors. Participants in the American Health Association-sponsored support session, designed to treat what psychotherapists call Post Election Selection Trauma (PEST), allowed the general press to cover them for the first time on condition of anonymity. “I haven’t been able to sleep since the election,” Sharon, a retiree from Delray Beach, told the group. “There is no sense of fairness. There is hypocrisy and a feeling of impotence. I feel hopeless, powerless.”...

Rush Limbaugh just read in the Chicago Sun-Times that a man named Herbert M. Hazelcorn died after he lost his wife, and the election. I looked on the Chicago Sun-Times website, but I could not find it. I'll know for sure when he posts it tonight on the website, but it sounds sort of fake to me. (Dying of heartbreak?) But I'm familiar with many of Rush's parodies, and am rarely fooled by them, and Rush was very serious about it, and insisted he wasn't laughing at it. Any subscribers to the Sun-Times who can see if this is real?

Seeing Red and Feeling BlueBetter Red than Dead By Ron Peacock (pavonews.com) In your recent travels, has anyone noticed a post-election despondency amongst a certain segment of our population? On November 2nd, President Bush won re-election and the Republican Party gained an unprecedented second term majority of congressional seats. In the month following the election, the realities of these events have been beyond comprehension to a certain demographic of our population. It seems some of our left leaning brothers and sisters are seeing red and feeling blue.It has come to this writer's attention that a number of John Kerry...

Want to travel abroad but don't want to be tagged as an American? A New Mexico T-shirt company suggests going Canadian. For 24-95, T-shirtKing-dot-com offers a "Go Canadian" package that includes a Canadian flag T-shirt, a Canadian flag lapel pin and a Canadian patch for luggage or a backpack. There's also a quick reference guide -- "How to Speak Canadian, Eh?" -- on answering questions about Canada. The "Go Canadian" idea emerged after a staffer had heard about someone being harassed about U-S politics during a recent overseas trip. T-shirt-King-dot-com President Bill Broadbent says it's not meant as a slight...

A group therapy session for those still having angst that the democratic process selected George Bush and not John Kerry this past Nov. 2, has turned into a hate-fest aimed at President Bush. According to the Boca Raton News, Bush's victory has triggered psychological disorders in this tony South Florida Democratic community. The paper reported last week that when some 20 Kerry voters met for their first therapy session Thursday at Boca's American Heath Association (AHA), the group's rage became uncontrollable. Members of the group opened their session by "screaming epithets" at President Bush for "breaking up marriages and dividing...

Yeah, we know, but we just can't resist: "Twenty John Kerry supporters met for their first group therapy session in South Florida Thursday, screaming epithets at President Bush as they shared their emotions with licensed mental health counselors," reports the Boca Raton (Fla.) News, which simply owns this story. "The first of several free noontime therapy sessions at the American Health Association in Boca Raton was designed to treat what mental health counselors have dubbed Post Election Selection Trauma (PEST)." The News's reporter wasn't allowed to attend the meeting but received an "anonymous transcript." Here are some choice quotes:

Just how hard are liberals taking the results of this year's election? Some are claiming to suffer from Post-Election Stress Disorder. It's amazing. Liberals are still having a hard time with the outcome of Election 2004. Some are still threatening to leave the country, while others say the election was a profound event that traumatized them. It didn't become clear to me just how deeply the left seems to have been affected by the results of Nov. 2 until I talked to the author of "The Bush Survival Bible," which is subtitled, "250 Ways to Make it Though the Next...

One might be forgiven for thinking that the first suit against the Republican Party for Post Election Selection Trauma (PEST) would have been filed in Palm Beach County, but a 38-year-old from Manhattan’s West Side has beaten her Floridian fellow victims to the punch. Barbi Weiner, a third grade teacher currently on disability, is suing the Republican party for having taken an active role in returning George Bush to the White House, a circumstance that resulted in Ms. Weiner suffering a nervous collapse last Nov.8th as she crossed West 72nd Street. "I looked up and saw the WestSideWaffle! sign with...

Barbi Weiner, a third grade teacher currently on disability, is suing the Republican party for having taken an active role in returning George Bush to the White House, a circumstance that resulted in Ms. Weiner suffering a nervous collapse last Nov.8th as she crossed West 72nd Street. "I looked up and saw the WestSideWaffle! sign with its big red 'W’s,'" she says. "And I realized it was true – he won. Then I started thinking about my life and I realized that I couldn’t go on living in a country where a war-mongering baby-killer holds the highest office in the...

A collection of drunken rats is helping University of North Carolina researchers understand how brains repair themselves after chronic drinking — and possibly find new ways to help alcoholics recover full mental capacity. Fulton T. Crews and Kimberly Nixon have discovered that heavy drinking slows the creation of new brain nerve cells, or neurons, in animals. Rats that have been intoxicated and then sobered up produce more than normal amounts of neurons. That might explain why the brains of rats with simulated alcoholism shrink during chronic drinking but grow after the abuse stops — just like the brains of alcoholic...

Coming up after break.

Who is scaring the "Lemmings for Kerry" crowd? Quite obviously, someone on the left is stirring up problems: rumors of Republican vote fraud, a divided nation, psychological problems among the Kerry followers, people wanting to move to Canada, etc., etc Qui bono? Who profits from the nation becoming divided? What uncaring group would cause harm among the less stable in society this way? When one stops to consider that whatever group starting these problems has both a grass roots and media following, it tends to narrow things down some. Nonetheless, I must admit that the Lemmings for Kerry are great...

Last week the blue-staters got a whole lot bluer. In Boca Raton Florida a psychiatrist said that he was treating a dozen people for what he termed “Post Election Selection Trauma”. Apparently there are liberals so dejected that they are turning to psychotherapy and prescription drugs to get through four more years. No one has yet confirmed if these prescription drugs were re-imported from Canada. There has been a real outpouring of compassion for these dejected Democrats including on air counseling by Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. I guess this is what President Bush meant by “compassionate conservatism”. While this...

Within a week of the U.S. presidential election, Dr. Douglas Schooler, a Palm Beach Florida trauma specialist began treating patients for what is now known as PEST--Post-election selection trauma. Schooler told the Boca Raton News that he was treating 15 patients who were traumatized by John Kerry's loss to George W. Bush. Schooler described his patients as being "emotionally paralyzed, shocked and devastated, depressed and angry" and "threatening to leave the country" because of the election results. The good doctor also told the newspaper that these Kerry supporters have feelings of "extreme anger, despair, hopelessness, powerlessness, a failure to function...

The extended post-election public despair of disappointed Democrats has been nearly as remarkable as the Republican victory, its supposed proximate cause. Therapists, anxious to keep their couches warm, have rushed in to make up a self-serving syndrome for their clients to overcome, “Post Election Selection Trauma.” A nice bit of marketing, that. Most important is the acronym PEST. Turn the electoral mandate of George W. Bush into a public affliction, with overtones of vermin as the root cause. Throw in a hot button word like “selection” to get to the right four letters, dredging up memories of the 2000 Florida...

We have a new disorder, Post-Election Selection Trauma, or PEST which apparently strikes only those so certain of the superiority of their candidates, that they are unable to cope with the reality that they constitute a minority.It seems most of the people being treated for PEST are themselves pests, people like Vincent D'Onofrio of CSI who has been yelling obscenities at Bush supports on the set for months and is now passing out with increasing regularity.We now have psychologists trying to treat this new disorder. What sort of treatment should a psychologist recommend to a pest suffering from PEST? How...

Why is it called "Poest Election SELECTION Trauma"? What is this "selection" business? Shouldn't it be "Post Election REJECTION Trauma"? Or is the APA now formally enshrining as fact the idea that Bush was "selected, not elected"? If so, aren't they about 4 years too late for that? Seriously -- does anyone know what the word "SELECTION" is supposed to mean in this context?