Free Republic

“Grizzly Guns” by H. V. Stent If you are planning a grizzly hunt or only dreaming of one, a big question is which rifle to use. On that fascinating subject, I’ve been amassing information for some 40 years of living as a teacher, fruit grower and hunter in that bear paradise, British Columbia, where stories of encounters with grizzlies and brown bears are enjoyed where ever sportsmen gather and are often headlined in newspapers and television newscasts. Such meetings sometimes result in a mauled man or shot bear, or both. A recent one ended with both man and bear dead....

An international team of scientists has demonstrated a revolutionary new way of magnetic recording which will allow information to be processed hundreds of times faster than by current hard drive technology. The researchers found they could record information using only heat - a previously unimaginable scenario. They believe this discovery will not only make future magnetic recording devices faster, but more energy-efficient too. The results of the research, which was led by the University of York's Department of Physics, are reported in the February edition of Nature Communications. York physicist Thomas Ostler said: "Instead of using a magnetic field to...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell this week to a record low, the ninth time that has happened in the last year. Even with the cheapest rates in history, the housing market remains depressed. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan dropped to 3.87 percent this week. That below the previous record of 3.88 hit two weeks ago. The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.14 percent, also a record low. Records for mortgage rates date back to the 1950s. Mortgage rates tend to track the...

A comparison of President Obama's State of the Union speeches.

America, Conservatives and Republicans. We must support Newt Gingrich. He is a man of many accomplishments who gave us Welfare Reform, A Balanced Budget, and Reduced Taxes. Further, he brought us a Republican Majority when we were lost in the desert and the GOP establishment said it couldn't be done. Newt is the only candidate who thinks of big ideas, studies the challenges in achieving very difficult goals and then through, his leadership, explains how we are going to do it and then marshals them into eventuality. Newt helped us achieve the above through his plan known as the Contract...

January 20, 2012 Gingrich's record on the hot seat in SC debate Republican rivals target House ethics violations

"As former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney runs for President of the United States, his powerful (and well-funded) campaign machine uses revised history and misleading statements to portray him as a solid social and fiscal conservative with a track record of successes as governor. Much of this is exacerbated by fawning (and lazy) conservative media. However, the truth is different. We present the following documentation of Romney's actual record in Massachusetts. We think that the facts will speak for themselves"

After rumbling 99 yards for a touchdown on a fumble recovery in the second quarter, West Virginia safety Darwin Cook banged into Obie, the Orange Bowl mascot, sending them both tumbling to the ground. That was more resistance than any Clemson tacklers offered Wednesday night. In a scintillating display of offense while at the same time humiliating showing on defense, the No. 23 Mountaineers crushed the No. 15 Tigers 70-33 in the Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium. There's not enough room here to list all the records West Virginia set. The most amazing was breaking the mark for most...

This was a banner year for guns -- 2011 is set to smash the record for gun sales. The record for a single year was set just last year, when the FBI reported that 14,409,616 background checks were requested. In 2011 that figure will top 16 million. FBI spokesman Steve Fischer said just 1.3% of background checks result in denial of a weapon. With a week left in December, the FBI said the monthly record has already been broken, and that was only set last month when 1,534,414 background checks were requested from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System...

In his “60 Minutes” interview, President Obama offered a keen insight into his 2012 reelection strategy. It takes some decoding, but his underlying strategic goals emerge. He said: “The question next year is going to be — and then this is how a democracy is supposed to work — do they see a more compelling vision coming out from the other side? Do they think that cutting taxes further, including on the wealthy, cutting taxes on corporations, of gutting regulations — do we think that that is going to be somehow more successful? And if the American people think that...

Planned Parenthood Attacks Newt Gingrich's Pro-Life Record Washington, DC -- Newt Gingrich is the latest whipping boy for the Planned Parenthood abortion business as it has taken on Republican candidate Mitt Romney in recent weeks and now trains its sights on Gingrich as he has climbed in the polls. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/12/07/planned-parenthood-attacks-newt-gingrichs-pro-life-record/

Submitted by National Shooting Sports Foundation on Dec 1, 2011 Data derived from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) shows that November 25, 2011, Black Friday, Data derived from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) shows that November 25, 2011, Black Friday, had the most background checks for firearm purchases in a single day (129,166) with a 32 percent increase over the previous NICS high (November 28, 2008). Federal law requires FBI background checks on all individuals purchasing firearms from federally licensed retailers. These statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through...

Story of the Week WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG, BAD WOLF? MamamaMEEE!! This wolf was shot recently in Drayton Valley , Alberta.which is near Edmonton about 3 hours North of Calgary. The wolf weighed over 230 lbs smashing the previous record of 175 lbs. Wouldn't want to run into this puppy in the woods. Apparently a bear hunter witnessed this wolf chase off a big black bear at his baiting station..

In record numbers, they're struggling to find work, shunning long-distance moves to live with mom and dad, delaying marriage and raising kids out of wedlock - if they're becoming parents at all. Young adults are the recession's lost generation in the U.S. The unemployment rate for them is the highest since World War Two, and they risk living in poverty more than others - nearly one in five. There are missed opportunities and dim prospects for a generation of mostly 20-somethings and 30-somethings coming of age in a prolonged period of joblessness.

When it comes to the economy, presidents, like quarterbacks, often get more credit or blame than they deserve. They inherit problems and policies that affect the economy well into their presidencies and beyond. Reagan inherited Carter's stagflation, George H.W. Bush twin financial crises (savings & loan and Third World debt), and their fixes certainly benefited the Clinton economy..... Mr. Obama has enacted myriad policies at great expense to American taxpayers and amid political rancor. An interim evaluation is in order. And there's plenty to evaluate: an $825 billion stimulus package; the Public-Private Investment Partnership to buy toxic assets from the...

A Boston lawyer suing the city and police officers who arrested him for using his cell phone to record a drug arrest on the Common won a victory today when a federal appeals court said the officers could not claim "qualified immunity" because they were performing their job when they arrested him under a state law that bars audio recordings without the consent of both parties. In its ruling, which lets Simon Glik continue his lawsuit, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston said the way Glik was arrested and his phone seized under a state...

Group tries to break bow-tying record August 28, 2011 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- A crowd of people gathered in Millennium Park Sunday afternoon to break a world record. TheTieBar.com invited people of all ages to rock a bow tie. Organizers were trying to break the Guinness World Record for the most bow ties tied at the same time by a group. They chose Sunday because it's National Bow Tie Day.

Updated August 28, 2011 Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The following is a compilation of bill signings, speeches, appointments and other actions that President Barack Obama has engaged in that have promoted abortion before and during his presidency. While Obama has promised to reduce abortions and some of his supporters believe that will happen, this long list proves his only agenda is promoting more abortions. During the presidential election, Obama selected pro-abortion Sen. Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate. Post-Election / Pre-Inauguration November 5, 2008 – Obama selects pro-abortion Rep. Rahm Emanuel as his White House Chief of Staff. Emanuel...

The editor of the New York Times just got religion: He thinks it’s time to ask GOP presidential candidates “tougher questions about faith.” Oh, brother, where wast thou in 2008? The Fishwrap of Record led the whitewashing of Barack Obama’s wacky black liberation theology pals and freaky-deaky Chicago pastors. Now, the skews-paper is ready to start asking “tougher questions about faith?” Snortalicious, dear readers. Snortalicious. Just a reminder before I get to his latest doozy: NYT editor Bill Keller is the same one who claimed “we are agnostic as to where a story may lead; we do not go into...

Notice how Perry pokes the student in the chest with his index finger and then gives him the complete brush-off telling him … “You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about, brother.”

Yesterday, the Washington Post asked me to comment on conservative concerns about Texas GOP Gov. Rick Perry’s records. Here is what I told them in full: “The Gardasil debacle is just one of many concerns a wide range of grass-roots conservative activists have about Perry’s record as governor. He’s soft on illegal immigration despite a few recent nods to border enforcement. He’s prone to crony capitalism. And as the vaccine mandate scandal shows, he demonstrated Nanny State tendencies that are anathema to Tea Party core principles. A clearer, more forthright apology about the Gardasil executive order would have helped. But...

Reflecting the close ties of his state to Mexico, Perry is to the left of the center of gravity of the rest of the party on the issue. Most significantly, he signed a Texas version of the DREAM Act back in 2001, allowing foreign-born children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition for college if they have lived in the state for three years prior to graduating high school.

Rush Limbaugh plays a clip from CNN's American Morning about Obama's new record low approval rating from today. He then plays one from the archive from CNN's Wolf Blitzer when George W. Bush hit a record low approval rating. This is astounding.

Nearly three out of five Americans have an unfavorable view of Republicans, an all-time high, and two in five do not want their own member of Congress reelected, according to a poll out Tuesday. Overall, 70 percent of respondents to a CNN/ORC International survey said most US lawmakers should not get a new term, while just 41 percent said their own representative deserved to go back to Washington. President Barack Obama's Republican foes won unfavorable reviews from 59 percent, an all-time high since CNN first asked the question in 1992, making the aftermath of the debt-limit battle worse for the...

Moorhead has set a new Minnesota record for mugginess. The State Climatology Office said the 88-degree dew-point temperature at Moorhead on July 19 is a state record. Minnesota's previous dew-point record was 86 degrees, set at Pipestone and St. James on July 23, 2005. Moorhead's 88-degree dew point was recorded from 7 to 9 p.m. The climatology office said that at the time, wind speeds were decreasing and air temperature rising, which suggests there were local influences helping to drive the dew point to "this extreme level."

The office of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has released a record of a dinner attended by the governor and Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, just hours after Gawker filed a lawsuit aimed at getting the governor to release records of communication between Christie and Ailes. The record is simply a datebook entry that indicates a private dinner attended by Christie and his wife, with a pair of details redacted and no mention of Ailes. But the governor’s office told Gawker writer John Cook the record indicates “a schedule entry for a private dinner attended by the Governor and Mr....

Speaking to hundreds of conservative activists at the Faith and Freedom conference in Washington on Friday morning, Michele Bachmann positioned herself as the 2012 Republican field’s most effective social conservative — the one with the best record of tangible steps to oppose gay marriage, abortion and the federal health care law. The firebrand congresswoman said she was “at the tip of the spear” in efforts to block gay marriage in her home state of Minnesota, where the Republican-controlled state legislature voted last month to put a gay marriage Constitutional amendment on the November 2012 ballot — seven years after she...

Security researchers have discovered that Apple's iPhone keeps track of where you go – and saves every detail of it to a secret file on the device which is then copied to the owner's computer when the two are synchronised. The file contains the latitude and longitude of the phone's recorded coordinates along with a timestamp, meaning that anyone who stole the phone or the computer could discover details about the owner's movements using a simple program. For some phones, there could be almost a year's worth of data stored, as the recording of data seems to have started with...

Updated: 04/06/11 2012 Presidential Hopefuls' Immigration Stances Chart at link.

(Reuters) - Gold rose to a record high for a fourth straight day and silver surged on Friday, as a weaker dollar, the prospect of a U.S. government shutdown and inflation worries lifted precious metals in a broad commodities rally. Gold was set for its biggest weekly gain in four months, drawing support from renewed euro zone sovereign debt fears amid Portugal's financial crisis and inflation jitters as crude oil and corn hit new highs this week. Bullion broke above key resistance on technical charts and could target above $1,500 an ounce. The metal has risen more than 10 percent...

Federal Reserve reports record profitBy Peter Schroeder - 03/22/11 12:12 PM ET The Federal Reserve turned a record $81.7 billion profit in 2010, up 53 percent from 2009, the central bank reported Tuesday. The vast majority of the Fed's profit — $79.3 billion — will be turned over to the Treasury Department, with the rest being paid out to member banks in dividends. A substantial chunk of that profit came from increased interest income from the $1 trillion in mortgage-backed securities the Fed purchased during the financial crisis to help stabilize the housing market. The Fed made $24.4 billion more...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The government posted a record monthly budget deficit of $222.5 billion in February as spending growth outstripped revenue gains that were crimped by tax cuts enacted late last year, the Treasury Department reported on Thursday. The budget gap for February -- typically a large deficit month -- beat the previous record of $220.91 billion set in February 2010. But it came in under the consensus forecast of a $227.5 billion gap from analysts polled by Reuters.

A new record was set on 29 January 2011 when the science team operating a new prototype telescope discovered not one Near-Earth Asteroid, not two, but nineteen in a single night! “This record number of discoveries shows that PS1 is the world’s most powerful telescope for this kind of study,” said Nick Kaiser, head of the Pan-STARRS project. One of the most difficult jobs astronomers have in outreach is encouraging spending in asteroid discovery programs, to give us sufficient warning of any potential asteroids that will collide with Earth, while avoiding the temptation to whip up false panic. The risk...

EL PASO, Texas (AFP) – The United States deported more illegal immigrants than ever before during the first two years of President Barack Obama's administration, his government said Monday. "In both fiscal years 2009 and 2010, Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed more illegal immigrants from our country than ever before, with more than 779,000 removals nationwide in the last two years," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said. The Obama administration must prove it is tough on illegal immigrants and can secure the country's porous borders if it is to stand a chance of passing a comprehensive overhaul of America's tattered...

State lawmakers want Obama’s birth recordsBy Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services Sat, 01/29/2011 - 00:34 PHOENIX — More than three dozen Republican legislators want a plan to require Barack Obama to produce an original birth certificate for Arizona officials if he intends to seek re-election. HB 2544 would forbid the secretary of state from putting a presidential candidate’s name on the ballot unless certain documents are first provided. These include a sworn statements outlining where the candidate has lived for the last 14 years, that the candidate does not hold dual citizenship and that the person’s allegiance “is solely to...

The latest posting today of the National Debt shows it has topped $14 trillion for the first time. The U.S. Treasury website today reported that as of last Friday, the last day of 2010, the National Debt stood at $14,025,215,218,708.52. It took just 7 months for the National Debt to increase from $13 trillion on June 1, 2010 to $14 trillion on Dec. 31. It also means the debt is fast approaching the statutory ceiling $14.294 trillion set by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last February. The federal government would have to stop borrowing and might even...

Unemployment sets record in WashingtonBy SCOTT SUNDE SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF Wednesday, December 22, 2010 / Last updated 9:55 p.m. PT So much for holiday cheer. By next week, more than a half-million residents in the state will have collected almost $4.7 billion in unemployment benefits. Both numbers are records. "This has been another demanding year for Employment Security, but even more challenging for those who still can't find a job after months and months of looking," said Joel Sacks, deputy commissioner of the Employment Security Department, in a news release. There is little good news in the year-end statistics. In February,...

N THE age-old war between cats and dogs, canines might just have struck the killer blow. A border collie called Chaser has been taught the names of 1022 items - more than any other animal. She can also categorise them according to function and shape, something children learn to do around the age of 3. Chaser follows in the footsteps of Rico, who trained at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. Rico had a "vocabulary" of 200 words and could identify new objects in a group of familiar objects by a process of elimination, according to...

(CNN) -- Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, made its own history Tuesday as its homicide rate reached 3,000 deaths for the year -- 10 times the number of killings annually that the border city counted just a few years ago. With two weeks left in the year, 2010 is now the deadliest year Juarez has ever seen, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state attorney general's office told CNN. "At 12:15 p.m. we hit 3,000 murders for the year. The state attorney general's office had the number at 2,998 as of Monday and with the two murders today that brings us to 3,000,"...

Sarah Palin's documentary / travelogue / reality-tainment / promotional-biopic shattered TLC ratings records Sunday night. The debut of Sarah Palin's Alaska delivered a whopping 5 million viewers. The first episode of the eight-part series was the most-watched program launch in TLC's history.

The ratings are in, and it looks like “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is a hit. TLC says nearly 5 million total viewers tuned in to the premiere of the series. In case you haven’t seen our previous coverage, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is a documentary series from producer Mark Burnett and starring former Alaska governor and Fox News Channel contributor Sarah Palin. TLC says 4.96 million total viewers tuned in, including 1.8 million adults 25-54, and 1.6 million adults 18-49, two of the network’s key demos. That is the best premiere in network history with regards to total viewers, beating the 2003...

Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak defends signing letter pushed by J Street calling for easing Gaza blockade. LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP – One day, months before the race to represent Pennsylvania in the US Senate entered the homestretch, Democratic candidate Joe Sestak arrived at his campaign office to find it practically empty. “Where is everybody?” Sestak told The Jerusalem Post he had asked at the time, only to be told it was Pessah. That’s how he found out that nearly half his staff was Jewish. But on Monday, the day before Americans finally head to the polls, Sestak’s headquarters in...

The Minnesota State Climatology Office reported that “it appears that the minimum pressure … measured at Bigfork is the new record low pressure for a non-tropical storm in the Continental U.S. (excluding tornadoes).” For comparison, they also noted that the lowest pressure recorded in the “Edmund Fitzgerald storm” was 28.95 inches, and the lowest pressure record in the Armistice Day Storm was 28.55 inches. This storm also set local records for low pressure at Duluth and International Falls, and a new Wisconsin state record set at Superior, which recorded a reading of 961.3 millibars, or 28.39 inches of mercury, at...

Chris and Amy Stevens drove to New York City this week with the world's largest pumpkin in the back of their truck. The couple from New Richmond, Wis., was scheduled to appear on "Live with Regis and Kelly" this morning and receive their Guinness Book of World Records award on the show. "Oh, my God! Driving a three-quarter-ton pickup truck with an 1,800-pound pumpkin in the back through downtown Manhattan was insane," Chris Stevens said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. "I have never been in New York in my life, and I have never seen traffic like this. Rush...

Gold on Monday rose above $1,350 an ounce, overcoming a wobbly start to post its 15th record in a little over a month. Gold for December delivery advanced $9.10, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,354.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver soared to a fresh 30-year high and copper posted its best settlement since July 2008.

Chris Stevens, 32, of New Richmond, Wis., perfected the formula this summer and grew an orange gourd that weighed 1,810 and a half pounds and today shattered the previous world record of 1,725 pounds. "There's really no secret. It's a lot of luck and a lot of time," said Stevens, who started growing mega pumpkins 5 years ago. Stevens, a general contractor for Derrick Construction, lives with his wife Amy and their two daughters on 4.5 acres, south of New Richmond and has a 10,000-square foot pumpkin patch. As soon as Stevens set the world record at 2:05 p.m. at...

Congressional Democrats on Thursday declared they would run on their legislative record this fall, rejecting former President Clinton’s advice to counter a new Republican policy agenda with one of their own. The Democrats’ decision to run on what they have accomplished over the last two years is politically tricky. Polls show that many Americans are skeptical of the two signature items of the 111th Congress: the new healthcare law and President Obama’s stimulus package. House and Senate Democratic leaders on Thursday ridiculed the Republicans’ “Pledge to America,” a manifesto designed as a sequel to the “Contract With America” that helped...

I don't think anyone in sports history ever got more of his talent than Pete Rose, he played 24 seasons, won 4 batting titles, led NL in hits 7 times in an average man's body without great speed or power.

Reds set to celebrate Rose's record knock Club will recognize 25th anniversary of hit No. 4,192 on Saturday By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com | 09/10/10 10:00 AM ET CINCINNATI -- Much of the Reds' plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pete Rose becoming baseball's hit king remain under wraps, but fans should arrive at Great American Ball Park early on Saturday. Pregame ceremonies to commemorate Rose's 4,192nd career hit, which surpassed Ty Cobb on the all-time list on Sept. 11, 1985, begin at 6:30 p.m. ET -- 40 minutes before the scheduled first pitch. Gates open at 5:20 p.m....