Free Republic

BAGHDAD, Jan. 28, 2010 – U.S. soldiers joined U.S. Agriculture Department representatives to witness the reopening of a poultry processing plant southwest of here Jan. 10. Juan Alsace, team leader of the U.S. Agriculture Department’s embedded provincial reconstruction team, attaches the first chicken to go through the newly reopened Al Kanz poultry processing plant, southwest of Baghdad, Jan. 10, 2010. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Daniel Schneider  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The Al Kanz poultry processing plant in Yusifiyah, near Contingency Operating Station Falcon, closed in 2004 due to the poor condition of its facilities and the lack...

Irish authorities say a Slovak man unwittingly carried hidden explosives on board a weekend flight to Dublin after a Slovakian airport-security test went awry. The 49-year-old electrician was arrested Tuesday, but released without charge after Slovak security officials alerted their Dublin counterparts to the screw-up.

A plant that started life during the last Ice Age is still going strong in the arid scrublands of California, scientists revealed today. Researchers believe the Jurupa Oak has been around for 13,000 years, making it the oldest living plant in the world. The oak is made up of a community of cloned bushes and scientists believe it has managed to survive the extreme effects of climate change by regenerating.

Volkswagen has received more than 65,000 applications in total as the company closed its application line for production team member positions on Sunday. During the three-week period since Oct. 26, more than 35,000 people applied for production team member positions at Volkswagen’s new production plant which will go into operation in 2011. In addition, the company has received approximately 30,000 applications for skilled maintenance and professional positions to date. “We are overwhelmed by the response and we are very satisfied with the result. It gives us the confidence that we will be able to hire all the capable and flexible...

Although plants have the ability to sense and respond to other plants, their ability to recognize kin and act altruistically has been the subject of few studies. The authors explored kin recognition in Impatiens pallida (yellow jewelweed). By moving their resources into leaves, these plants not only positively affected their own growth, but also negatively affected their competitors' growth. This is the first instance where researchers demonstrated that a plant's response to an aboveground cue is dependent upon the presence of a belowground cue. The concept of altruism has long been debated in philosophical circles, and more recently, evolutionary biologists...

NASIRIYAH — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is improving quality of life and the environment here through the renovation of the Nasiriyah Meat Processing Plant. According to USACE Project Engineer Greg Croon, prior to rehabbing, the butchers could only process a few animals each day due to the poor conditions of the plant. “Most processing is taking place at various sites inside the township which is outside of any controlled health and environmental framework,” Croon said. “Local legislation requires animal butchering only inside the facility. However, as the old facility was so neglected and rundown, there was no...

BAGHDAD — A chicken processing plant here recently received aid from U.S. Soldiers who lent their agriculture and engineering expertise to help open the doors. North Carolina Guardsmen with 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, who have agribusiness and engineering backgrounds, visited the al-Kien plant near Mahmudiyah to offer advice and seek ways to help the plant begin operations. Capt. Bobby Lumsden, the battalion's operations officer, walked through the plant with owner Rafea Abass Ali to inspect the plant's machinery and the massive coolers that will help keep poultry fresh. Getting the plant up and running...

The longer he is in office, the more it appears that Barack H. Obama doesn't really want to be president but only to play at being president. He doesn't seem interested in dealing with the messy, day-to-day responsibilities of the president's job. He doesn't want to be the Chief Executive and propose legislation that will move the country forward to new heights. He doesn't want to be Commander-In-Chief of the military and execute a necessary war. He doesn't take on the fiscal responsibilities required of the executive to deal with our economic issues. He doesn't want to be leader of...

Tehran - Iran's nuclear chief said on Tuesday his country built its newly revealed uranium enrichment facility inside a mountain and next to a military site to ensure continuity of its nuclear activities in case of an attack. Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who also heads the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, said the site near the holy city of Qom is next to an ammunition depot controlled by the elite Revolutionary Guard, Iran's most powerful military force. He said the only connection between the Qom nuclear facility and the Guard is the Guard would protect it against possible attacks.

Title only.

U.S. Soldiers with the 606th Forward Support Company, 1-377th Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Fires Brigade, conduct civil reconnaissance of the Hartha Water Treatment Plant in Basrah, Aug. 19. Photo courtesy of 17th Fires Brigade. BASRAH — Some citizens of Basrah lived without clean, running water for cooking and hygiene. Following a recent inspection of the Hartha Water Treatment Plant here, the 17th Fires Brigade aimed to change that. The plant, located 12 miles north of Basrah, was working at 30 percent capacity and considered almost non-operational by the time the U.S. contracted the Farden Group to renovate the plant for...

Thursday, August 27, 2009 Hypocrisy Alert: Dem Moran Calls Town Hall Attendee a "Plant" Demands To See License Before Question (Video) Unreal! Democrat Jim Moran called a town hall attendee "a plant" and demanded to see his license before he could ask his question: Via Breitbart The Corner has more on Moran's hypocrisy: Earlier this week, Rep. Jim Moran (D., Va.) berated attendees at his town-hall meeting for not being residents of his district, going so far as to demand a driver’s license from one of his questioners to prove his residence. Too bad Moran isn’t equally committed to verifying...

Below is two youtube links to towhall meetings, the first in Montana, and the second, yesterday. I remembered seeing the redhead in the Montana meeting, and again (I believe) yesterday. Although, her hair was different, and she wore glasses yesterday, but otherwise the same person. No conspiracy theories, rather an observation... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GlJjj7Wf7Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL-4MgivW64

This is the meeting was held last night. It was not a town hall even though it was passed off as one. She stated when she came in that she didn't know we would all be there, (get a clue Shelley), but, she had printed pieces of paper to give us for a telephone town hall. What a crock. The room held 79 people and only 3 or 4 people who were opposed to Health Care got in. In the meeting, as reported to us, she stated she is voting for the Health Care Bill. Probably 60 or 75 people...

Eleven year-old Julia Hall asked Barack Obama how children like her could tell the truth about what’s being said about Health Care Reform. After repeatedly listening to Obama’s answer I certainly couldn’t tell nor do I think anyone, child or adult, would be able to tell the truth about Health Care Reform as presented by Obama or Democrats. Obama’s answer was so partisan, so convoluted that he failed to answer little Julia’s question in any understandable way. There is no way in the world that a child or anyone else, for that matter, could come to an understanding that Democrats...

A carnivorous pitcher plant that eats rats and insects has been discovered in the Philippines and named after Sir David Attenborough. The plant is among the largest of all pitchers and is believed to be the largest meat-eating shrub, dissolving rats with acid-like enzymes. The team of botanists, led by British experts Stewart McPherson and Alastair Robinson, found the plant on Mount Victoria in the Philippines. They were inspired to search for the plant after word that it is existed came from two Christian missionaries who described seeing a large carnivorous pitcher in 2000 after they climbed the mountain. Mr...

Funny how the Dems accuse opponents of Obama's Hell Care of being set up or paid when that is exactly what THEY are doing!Remember the Town Hall meeting on health care held by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (DEMOCRAT-TX) where she rudely talked on her cell phone instead of listening to the question of a real constituent? (video here)Well, maybe Ms. Jackson Lee was on her phone asking her staff "where's that fake doctor you planted in here for me to call on." Eventually, she found her. Right there in the front row center: [VIDEO AT SITE] Ms. Jackson Lee embraces...

I’m not sure what the connection’s supposed to prove — was Che into using people with fake credentials at rallies? — but no righty blogger can resist a recipe with ingredients like this. It’s the political equivalent of a “This Is Why You’re Fat” concoction. Che + Obama + health-care sockpuppet = crazy delicious! Actually, what the connection proves (maybe) is that they’re connected at all: Mayer yesterday told me that she was invited to the town hall meeting by a listserv message sent by Maria Isabel, who ran an Obama campaign office sporting a Che Guevara flag: “Look, Maria...

NEW ORLEANS — An African-American man from Mississippi admits posing as a white supremacist to send a death threat across state lines by Facebook.

Will media that savaged Joe the plumber now go after the fake doctor? When regular citizen "Joe the Plumber" asked an innocent, heartfelt, but challenging question of presidential candidate Barack Obama last year, he ended up getting skewered by the "mainstream" media. Every detail of his past was looked at for possible motives and nefarious associations. Democratic state officials in Ohio even thumbed through his records illegally to find dirt on him. That somehow doesn't happen with liberals. A woman at Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee's town hall meeting in Texas recently claimed to be a pediatrician and stood up to...