Free Republic

There are many reasons to be excited about bitcoin: it could enable totally new business and technology models; it resembles the Internet in the early ‘90s in the sense that it is a network that no one owns and everyone can contribute to; it could revolutionise legal concepts of ownership; it could disrupt the payments industry; and it could even become a huge tax haven. It could also flop.

Sweden's newly appointed ambassador in Tehran has reportedly upset Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - by crossing his legs during a meeting. According to Iranian website Asriran.com the Swedish ambassador, Peter Tejler, committed the apparently offensive act after a ceremony in which he presented his credentials to the president. It is unclear, though, whether the president himself was offended by the ambassador's cross-legged pose or whether this was, in fact, the interpretation of events by Asriran.com. Photos from the meeting show Ahmadinejad himself sitting cross-legged, too. Armenian website Panorama translated the Iranian website's report, which explains that crossing one's legs "contradicts...

Leaking military intelligence for Campaign Propaganda. Appointing admitted Communists to high federal positions. Possible cover up of evidence after assassination of US Ambassador. Apologizing to terrorists while blaming Americans and our constitution Dubious communication to Russian President of cooperation and possible subordination of US interests. Selling arms to drug cartels and then blaming deaths on US Constitution Suing states for protecting borders Those are just a few of the recent issues that I believe suggest possible treason by this administration. Barack Obama has made it clear from the beginning that he plans to "reshape" America. His greatest influences in life...

There has been some debate -- and consternation among purists – over whether Wednesday’s White House dinner for British Prime Minister David Cameron is technically a “state dinner” because Cameron is not the British head of the state. True, the queen is the head of state. And Cameron’s visit therefore is not considered a “state visit” but rather an “official visit.” But the dinner is technically a state dinner because the president is hosting it, according to the office of protocol at the State Department. “When it comes to the dinner, as the chief of state, President Obama is hosting...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Folks, I'm telling you look how unsure Obama is. He doesn't even dare to speak to audiences in the United States now! He has to go to Europe to find an audience with grownups, and look! He loves hanging around with monarchs. He really envies the Queen. He hopes to be that someday. (He's gotta learn how to do a toast.) You see that? That's hilarious. Now, if that had been Bush? (snorts) Well, you know what they'd be doing. The media today for Obama says, "Couldn't the Queen have bailed him out? Couldn't the Queen have...

He placed a wreath at Ground Zero, met with 9/11 firefighters and vowed that, “when we say ‘we will never forgot,’ we mean what we say.” But it seems like the president did overlook one detail — putting names on the invitations to 9/11 families. The administration apparently sent out form-letter invites to 50 hand-picked relatives of 9/11 victims, which began “Dear 9/11 family member.” At least one family has turned down the request, saying that they felt the letter was impersonal. “If this form letter was the invitation, it was kinda lame,” said John Vigiano, who lost two heroic...

After a number of conservatives criticized the White House for sitting idly by while Chinese pianist Lang Lang tickled the ivories with an anti-American ballad at last week’s State Dinner for President Hu Jintao, the White House responded Monday condemning the criticism and insisting the song, “My Motherland,” was no insult to the United States. As we reported Sunday, the pianist claims to have chosen the song because “playing the tune at the White House banquet can help us, as Chinese people, feel extremely proud of ourselves and express our feelings through the song.” The song was written for the...

I notice the honor guard all turn at once except for 1. He seems to pause intentionally, then turn much slower than the others. Was this intentional or a mess up?

First, I would like to express my condolences to all of the victims' families from the January 8 shooting in Tucson. It is a tragedy and I am sorry for your loss.That being said, does anyone else see the presidential directive to fly the flag at half staff as inappropriate? I know that Title 4, Chapter 1 section 7m of the US Flag Code allows that it can be done at the direction of the president or state governor. But the criteria in the code says in part:"By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — A senior Chinese delegate on Friday urged his fellow international officials to extend the commitments of the environmental Kyoto Protocol, which is set expire in 2012 and has been a contentious issue at this week’s U.N. Climate Change Conference in Cancún, Mexico. “If any balanced outcome can be produced in international climate change, there must be a continuation of KP,” said China’s Huikang Huang at a press conference in Cancún, in reference to the Kyoto Protocol. “There must be a second period. Without this element there will be no balance.” Huang’s comments come as the nearly...

sns-ap-as-indonesia-michelles-handshake JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A conservative Muslim government minister admits he shook hands with first lady Michelle Obama in welcoming her to Indonesia but says it wasn't his choice. Footage on YouTube shows otherwise, sparking a debate that has lit up Facebook, Twitter and the rest of the blogosphere. "I tried to prevent (being touched) with my hands but Mrs. Michelle held her hands too far toward me (so) we touched," Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring told tens of thousands of followers on Twitter.

Mumbai: There's been a major protocol glitch on the eve of Barack Obama's visit to Mumbai that has top Maharashtra politicians, including the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister taking a stand against attending the functions arranged for the US President. The reason for the outrage, a questionnaire sent to the political and bureaucratic big wigs by the US Consulate demanding identity details including date of birth and even blood type.

Posted on October 14th, 2010 Kyoto Fraud Revealed Walter Russell Mead Posted In: General When the idiotic Kyoto Protocol was put before the US Senate, 95 senators voted against this confused and destructive initiative on the grounds that, as designed, the measure would simply ship American jobs to China and other countries without reducing greenhouse gasses. For years, green activists have mourned and bemoaned the shortsightedness of the US. How could we sit out from something so noble, so planet saving, so wise as the sacred Kyoto Protocol? We have been listening to the green moral scolds for twenty years:...

A great deal of the internet is populated by C2PO wanna bees. If you ever watched a Star Wars movie (and who hasn’t) you know the shiny gold robot named C3PO whose purpose is “etiquette and protocol.” The internet has developed its own system of etiquette and protocol. One of these is an abhorrence of what is referred to as “link whoring” which is defined as encouraging people to click on your website. According to this protocol the internet virgin is supposed to sit demurely on the sidelines, knees tightly together, until she is spotted by a search engine like...

President Barack Obama quietly breached years of protocol on Saturday morning by leaving the White House without the press with him. About two hours before reporters were supposed to be in position to leave with the president, Obama left the grounds of the White House. Members of the press were told he was attending one of his daughter's soccer games in northwest Washington, D.C. The White House press corps traditionally travels with the president anywhere he goes, inside and outside the country, to report on the president's activities for the benefit of informing the public and for historical record.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama quietly breached years of protocol on Saturday morning by leaving the White House without the press with him.

Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, has condemned the US and other industrial economies, holding them responsible for the phenomenon of climate change. In an audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera, bin Laden criticised George Bush, the former US president, for rejecting the Kyoto pact and condemned global corporations. "This is a message to the whole world about those responsible for climate change and its repercussions - whether intentionally or unintentionally - and about the action we must take," bin Laden said. "Speaking about climate change is not a matter of intellectual luxury - the phenomenon is an actual fact."...

You’ll be hearing a lot about USB 3.0 this year. And well you should, because its potential is vast. But will system vendors step up to the plate to deliver all of USB 3’s goodness?Speeds und feeds USB 2.0 has never delivered the advertised 480 mbits/sec because that number technically correct and operationally bogus. If you have data transferring in both directions at the same time it could happen - but for USB disks it never does. That drops the theoretical transfer rate to 240 mbits/sec, but because of protocol overhead - for example, some signal redundancy to increase data...

One might think he had learned his lesson back in April after his greeting to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia created such a brouhaha. But one would be wrong. President Obama is at it again, showing his subservient colors, as he bows to Japan’s Emperor Akihito. We’ve been told, ad nauseum, that President Obama is a brilliant man, equal to any situation, attentive to nuances so subtle only he could distinguish them (akin to the way a dog can hear things that we mere humans can’t.) And yet here he goes again, presenting himself (and by extension, his nation) as...

One of President Obama's major campaign promises was to improve the United States reputation abroad. I wonder if he meant that he was going to make America the butt of the World's Jokes. Yesterday the POTUS had another Protocol faux pas by bowing down to Japanese Emperor Akihito, the second time he bowed down to a world leader (King Fahd of Saudi Arabia was the first). By subordinating himself to other world leaders the President has damaged the prestige of the office he holds and of the country. The press in other countries are now running stories with headlines calling...