Free Republic

As the vice president knows, I have always advocated an all-of-the-above approach to American energy independence. Among other things, my alternative energy goal for Alaska sits at 50 percent because Alaska reached more than 20 percent during my term in office. The Obama-Biden administration, on the other hand, recently announced a renewable goal of only 25 percent. However, domestic drilling should remain a top priority in order to meet America’s consumption and security needs. The vice president’s extreme opposition to domestic energy development goes all the way back to 1973 when he opposed the Alaska pipeline bill. As Ann Coulter...

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) - A close aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton dismissed as "psychobabble" the fuss over the secretary of state's barbed response to a questioner asking for her famous husband's opinion instead of her own. Clinton ignored questions about the episode as she wound down a marathon African trip Thursday. Clinton had reacted strongly earlier this week when a Congolese student in Kinshasa asked her for the opinion of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, about an international economic issue.

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.—Dietrich Bonhoeffer Question. Silence in the face of murder in the streets of Tehran and a government killing our citizens and soldiers. Vocal support for democratic elections and unseen consequences.

Rochester, NY (OBBeC) - Researchers have reported new revelations on how the body responds to flu. According to the report, scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have for the first time -- with the use of a computer simulation -- successfully tested a major portion of the body's immune reaction to influenza type A, with implications for treatment design and preparation ahead of future pandemics. The work has been accepted for publication, and posted online, by the Journal of Virology. The new "global" flu model is built out of preexisting, smaller-scale models that capture in mathematical equations millions...

This document was developed by the CDC in February of 2007 to outline what non-pharmaceutical measures the government would take at the various levels of a pandemic outbreak. Non-pharmaceutical measures include things like quarantine and school and business closures. The term used for these measures is "Social Distancing". Here is how the purpose of this paper is defined.This document provides interim planning guidance for State, territorial, tribal, and local communities that focuses on several measures other than vaccination and drug treatment that might be useful during an influenza pandemic to reduce its harm. Communities, individuals and families, employers, schools, and...

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of U.S. voters nationwide favor a military response to eliminate North Korea’s missile launching capability. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 15% of voters oppose a military response while 28% are not sure. [...] The telephone survey was conducted Friday and Saturday, April 3-4, the two days immediately prior to North Korea’s launch. The question asked about a military response if North Korea actually did launch a long-range missile. Support for a military response comes from 66% of Republicans, 52% of Democrats and 54% of those not affiliated with either major political party....

Watching this video contrasting the reception given by Marines to George Bush with that given to Barack Obama is a gift that just keeps on giving: Watch the short Youtube video. Reading the comments on Atlas Shrugs was kind of fun, too. I got a tear in my eye seeing the jubilant, heartfelt outpouring of love and support the Marines had for the President who put them into harm's way. They believed in their President, and they believed in the mission he sent them to accomplish. And I got a pain in my side laughing at the contrast in response...

Few supporters are answering President Barack Obama's call for nationwide house-party gatherings this weekend to build grass-roots support for his economic stimulus plan. A McClatchy survey of sign-up rosters for a score of cities across the country revealed only 34 committed attendees in Tacoma, Wash. , as of midafternoon Friday; in Fort Worth, Texas , only 54, and in Sacramento, Calif. , just 78. "Before the election, we would have had 500 to 800," said Kim Mack , 46, a Sacramento city-facility manager who's hosted house parties for political figures and causes since the mid-'90s. Even in Washington , policy-wonk...

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA _____________________________________________________________ Karen L. Strauss, Ruth Borenstein, Brad Jacklin, Dustin Hergert, Eileen Ma, Suyapa Portillo, Gerardo Marin, Jay Thomas, Sierra North, Celia Carter, Desmund Wu, James Tolen and Equality California, Petitioners, v. Mark D. Horton, in his official capacity as State Registrar Of Vital StatisticsOf the State Of California and Director Of The California Department Of Public Health; Linette Scott, in her official capacity as Deputy Director Of Health Information & Strategic Planning for the California Department of Public Health; and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., in his official capacity as Attorney General...

By Rene Guerra The Democrat nomenklatura ---particularly through its loudmouth, the “mainstream� media, plus one or two idiotic “conservative� pundits--- are blanketing us now with the mantras that we all should show “unity around ‘our’ new president,� that we express “graciousness toward [Barack Hussein] Obama,� and other blather. Of course, RINOs and “moderate� Republicans will heed and march in lockstep, but conscious conservatives and true Republicans, for sure, consider those duplicitous calls as German Jews must have considered similar calls after Hitler grabbed the Chancellery. The German Jews had by then browsed through “Mein Kempf�; we, conservatives, have browsed...

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (AFP) – White House hopeful Barack Obama called for a global response to the deepening financial crisis Friday as ministers from the world's major wealthy democracies headed to Washington for emergency weekend talks. "We also have to recognize that this is not just an American problem. In this global economy, financial markets have no boundaries," the Democrat told a crowd of several thousand in working-class Chillicothe in the battleground state of Ohio. "So the current crisis demands a global response," Obama said on the final business day of a rollercoaster week which saw stocks dive worldwide, amid panic...

Will John McCain have the courage to state in straight- talk fasion, "Well meaning but naive and short-sighted Democratic party policies and legislation is at the heart of the meltdown of our financial markets" to try to turn the tide of lies we have all witnessed this past week? And that he challenged them multiple times. Average swing-state Joes and Janes are ready to accept this but noone is saying it. Noone. (except Bill C.)

McCain Responds to Obama's Reported Undermining of the Commander-In-Chief During Wartime [Andy McCarthy] The McCain Campaign has issued a statement responding to the report from Amer Taheri (see today's web briefing) that Sen. Obama secretly negotiated with the Iraqi government regarding U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. McCain spokesman Randy Scheunemann stated as follows: At this point, it is not yet clear what official American negotiations Senator Obama tried to undermine with Iraqi leaders, but the possibility of such actions is unprecedented. It should be concerning to all that he reportedly urged that the democratically-elected Iraqi government listen to him rather than...

Homeschool Wish List by: Malcolm A. Kline, February 05, 2008 They are about the one group that so-called elites have no problem piling negative stereotypes upon. Thus, it usually comes as a shock to the system of folks who think that having a BA and watching CNN makes them well-informed to learn that homeschoolers don’t fit the stereotypes that they have come to regard as fact..... Because misconceptions abound about home schooling and those who are, homeschoolers have circulated a “wish list” on the internet.... 1. Please stop asking us if it’s legal. If it is, and it is, it’s...

Striking Out by: Bethany Stotts, January 28, 2008 The popular online professor ratings site, ratemyprofessors.com, has been eliciting some fiery responses to what professors see as the accountability-undermining anonymity of online technology. The subsidiary mtvU of MTV Networks, owner of ratemyprofessors.com, hosts the “Professors Strike Back” series in which professors “rebut” the anonymous and often insulting comments left on the ratings website. A 24-hour channel, mtvU broadcasts to 750 campuses and over 7.5 million students. Throughout the series, many professors decried the ratings website as promoting non-constructive venting which often occurs in the heat of the moment and reflects the...

An Iraqi National Policeman reacts to a simulated IED attack on his convoy during a training exercise, Dec. 17. The training is part of a 10-day course developed by the INP and Coalition forces to train new INP to become familiar and comfortable with the duties required of a personal security detachment team. Photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Erica R. Gardner. BAGHDAD — Members of a newly formed Iraqi National Police (INP) Emergency Response Unit (ERU) Company received certificates of completion Dec 17 for training completed. The ERU Company, composed of 125 men, is currently training with...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26, 2007 – The best way to confront Iran’s nuclear weapons program is through international diplomatic pressure, and military force should remain a last resort, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today at Kansas State University. Gates told participants in the Landon Lecture series in Manhattan, Kan., he supports diplomatic pressure to get Iran to abandon its nuclear efforts. “We are engaged in diplomacy with Iran,” he said. “More importantly, we are engaged in diplomacy with a number of countries around the world and trying to secure their support for economic sanctions to bring pressure on the...

As I sit here looking out toward the Santa Monica Mountains, I can barely see the buildings 2 miles away which are now mostly obscured by smoke. My West Los Angeles area has been mostly clear of any smoke until the wind direction began to change. Until then, most all of the smoke from the Southern California wildfires was being blown out over the ocean by the offshore Santa Anna winds coming off the desert. Now the smoke seems to be backing up against the hills that surround Los Angeles. With the mountains between me and the San Fernando Valley...

Source: University of Chicago Date: September 30, 2007 Doctors Learn To Control Their Own Brains' Pain Responses To Better Treat Patients Science Daily — Physicians apparently learn to "shut off" the portion of their brain that helps them appreciate the pain their patients experience while treating them and instead activate a portion of the brain connected with controlling emotions, according to new research using brain scans at the University of Chicago. Because doctors sometimes have to inflict pain on their patients as part of the healing process, they also must develop the ability to not be distracted by the suffering,...

LONDON - Gordon Brown doesn't do charisma. In contrast to Tony Blair, the new British leader has offered no emotive sound bites, no promises of tough new laws and no talk of a "war on terror" since the failed attacks in London and Glasgow. The stern Scot's few public statements have been somber, measured and brief. Many Britons welcome the change, saying the lower-key approach may better reassure a rattled nation and prevent racial tensions from exploding. "We need to be calm about it," said Duncan Walls, 64, a retired lawyer walking through a London on "critical" terror alert after...

Democratic Response of Senator Jim Webb To the President’s State of the Union Address **Exclusive** Tue Jan 23 2007 19:10:01 ET [EMBARGOED UNTIL 8:45pm ET] Good evening. I’m Senator Jim Webb, from Virginia, where this year we will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown – an event that marked the first step in the long journey that has made us the greatest and most prosperous nation on earth. It would not be possible in this short amount of time to actually rebut the President’s message, nor would it be useful. Let me simply say that we...

An Israeli Journalist's response to Pope Benedict regarding recent talk about Muhammad's Sword Muhammad's Sword: The treatment of other religions by Islam must be judged by a simple test: How did the Muslim rulers behave for more than a thousand years, when they had the power to "spread the faith by the sword"? For many centuries, the Muslims ruled Greece . Did the Greeks become Muslims? Did anyone even try to Islamize them? On the contrary, Christian Greeks held the highest positions in the Ottoman administration. The Bulgarians, Serbs, Romanians, Hungarians and other European nations lived at one time or...

A West Point Cadet sends this along with the photo below: I'm a cadet at West Point, and tonight at our game against the Air Force Academy, a big sign emerged, and it was shown to the Corps of Cadets, who cheered wildly, and then shown to the Air Force cadets, who also cheered.

I was freeping here the other day and someone posted that ABC news was soliciting for more Foley emails. I went to the link and sure enough they where, so I sent them..... Hi, I was an intern and I had sex many times with a high ranking Government official, we used sex toys, we had phone sex many times, please contact me for details. This is the responce..... I'm the Senior Investigative Producer of the Brian Ross and your message was sent to me. I would be very interested in speaking with you. Please feel free to call me...

By now, nearly everybody who cares has probably seen former President Bill Clinton's -- let's say 'animated' -- response to 'Fox News Sunday' host Chris Wallace's questions about his administration's failed efforts to demolish al-Qaeda before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But Wallace himself hit on the key media bias question ... Trying to explain Clinton's hot reaction, Wallace said he read the transcripts of the ex-President's other media appearances in the last few days -- on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' CNN's 'Larry King Live,' FNC's 'On the Record with Greta van Susteren,' among other programs. Wallace said he was "astonished"...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy has released a plan to control greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding, reducing or capturing them. Government officials said The Climate Change Technology Program represents the technology component of a strategy introduced by U.S. President George Bush in 2002 to combat climate change that include measures to slow the growth of greenhouse gas emissions through voluntary, incentive-based and mandatory partnerships, advance climate change science, spur clean energy technology development and deployment and promote international collaboration. "The technologies outlined in the plan -- hydrogen, biorefining, clean coal, carbon sequestration, nuclear fission (!!)...

Unreasonable Response Benedict XVI hasn’t revived the Crusades. By Thomas F. Madden -------------------------------------------- In November 1095 Pope Urban II called the First Crusade. To judge from the comments issuing from some Muslim groups and politicians, Pope Benedict XVI has done the same thing. According to Salih Kapusuz, a deputy leader of the majority party in Turkey, Benedict, “has a dark mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages. He is a poor thing that has not benefited from the spirit of reform in the Christian world.” Kapusuz maintains that the pope is engaged in “an effort to revive...

Can we organize, mobilize, FReeperize.

‘Strong Angel III’ Tests Military-Civil Disaster Response By Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press Service SAN DIEGO, Aug. 25, 2006 – More than 600 military members, Defense Department employees and contractors, first responders, nongovernmental organization representatives and technologists are here this week exploring better ways to coordinate their disaster response. Members of the Disaster Relief and Strategic Telecommunications Infrastructure Co. demonstrate their satellite equipment during Strong Angel III in San Diego, Aug. 24. Strong Angel, hosted by San Diego State University, is a disaster response demonstration and exercise involving various nongovernmental and commercial organizations as well as the U.S. armed forces....

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2006 – American officials are on guard in light of arrests made in Great Britain overnight in connection with a terror plot targeting trans-Atlantic commercial flights, senior Defense Department officials said today. British authorities’ discovery of the terror plot has led to a ripple effect around the world. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his agency has raised the nation’s threat level to Severe, or Red, for commercial airline flights originating in the United Kingdom bound for the United States. This mirrors Great Britain’s precautions. “Consistent with these higher threat levels, the Transportation Security Administration is coordinating...

SACRAMENTO – For the first time, California has started to map an all-in-one strategy to safeguard an economically vital network of highways, railroads and energy supply lines crisscrossing the heart of the state. This post-Hurricane Katrina response broadens the state's initial list of priorities beyond levees and aqueducts to target overlooked lifelines centered in the Sacramento Delta that are just as vital to the state's fiscal well-being, from San Diego to Silicon Valley. A natural disaster in the delta could disrupt the delivery of goods and services along roads, rail lines and deep-water ports. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. facilities...

A speech, attributed to a Navy Captain from NAS Pensacola,details a number of warlike acts carried out against the US prior to 9/11.

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2006 – Coalition and Iraqi forces have killed or captured numerous terrorism suspects yesterday and today, and military officials praised the teamwork involved among responding forces after a coalition helicopter crashed yesterday. Coalition forces captured an al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist and two other suspects during a raid today near Baghdad, military officials reported. The targeted individual is reported to be an "Umar Brigade" member and recruiter with control of several terrorist fighting cells, officials said. The Umar Brigade is an al Qaeda-sponsored Iraqi insurgent group known to target Shiite Moslems and specifically intending to incite sectarian...

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2006 – Operation First Response, an organization dedicated to supporting the nation's wounded servicemembers and their families, got a little support of its own recently. The nonprofit group found itself on the receiving end of a $50,000 grant from the Military Order of the Purple Service Foundation in late May. Both organizations share a similar goal of helping veterans and wounded servicemembers, Dick Gallant, executive director of the foundation, said. "That's our only reason for being," he said. "If anybody doesn't have that reason, they shouldn't be in this field." The grant means a lot to...

6/6/2006 - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- Commanders at Wilford Hall Medical Center have approved a plan slated to improve medical responses to hurricane emergencies throughout the continental United States. The 59th Medical Wing’s Critical Care Air Transport Team Rapid Hurricane Response Plan was approved and adopted May 26. Hurricane season began June 1. “The newly designed program’s aim is to be forward-thinking and have people consider what could possibly happen in a hurricane prior to the event,” said Capt. Shaun Westphal, CCATT pilot unit nurse manager and creator of the response team program. “The program is slated...

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2006 – With hurricane season nearing, the Defense Department has tremendous assets to offer a civilian-led response to a major disaster, a top DoD official involved in the process told reporters here yesterday. "Those assets are ready for deployment, and ... we are better prepared than at any point in our nation's history to move that assistance as rapidly as is humanly possible," Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said. DoD defense coordinating officers will be assigned full-time to each of the 10 Federal Emergency Management Agency's regional offices to ensure coordinated planning and operational...

WASHINGTON, May 17, 2006 – A full-scale bio-exercise in the Pentagon parking lot today tested how the Pentagon police, in partnership with local emergency services, would respond to a biological attack at the military headquarters. Red Cross volunteers, acting as potentially anthrax-exposed Pentagon employees, remove their "contaminated" clothing before being "decontaminated" during Gallant Fox 06 May 17 in a Pentagon parking lot. The exercise tested the response of Pentagon police and local and federal agencies to a biological attack at the Pentagon. Photo by Sgt. Sara Wood, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The Pentagon Force Protection Agency,...

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2006 – More than 5,000 U.S. and Canadian servicemembers are working with authorities in five U.S. states and two Canadian provinces to test their response capabilities to crises ranging from a major hurricane to a terrorist attack to a pandemic flu outbreak. Ardent Sentry 2006, a two-week U.S. Northern Command exercise, kicked off May 8 to test military support to federal, provincial, state and local authorities while continuing to support the Defense Department's homeland defense mission, according to Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Butterbaugh, a NORTHCOM and North American Aerospace Defense Command spokesman. The Canadian part of...

Taking Responsibility for Addiction Pills, cocaine, heroine, pot, coffee, cigarettes, chewing gum, chocolate, plastic surgery — What do they all have in common? They are potential mine fields for addiction. To some, addiction looks like a personality flaw, but in reality it is a serious biological disorder. The question I get is, "Are we born with the potential for being addicted to drugs?" The short answer is yes and no. We all have the potential to become chemically dependent, but exposure and physiological predisposition play a significant role. Substance abuse creates biological changes in our brain that alter the mechanism...

Communications Center Aids Iraqi Police Response The Joint Communications Center and local initiatives to reduce the threat of vehicle-borne improvised explosvie devices have contributed to increased public safety for the citizens of Tal Afar. By U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class John J. Pistone Multinational Security Transition Command—Iraq TAL AFAR, Iraq, May 2, 2006 — Located high above the city, in what is known as “The Castle,� Iraqi police are receiving much needed assistance in their fight against terrorism. Nestled safely behind the wall of this castle is the Tal Afar Joint Communications Center, a joint environment where Iraqi...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sharply criticized the Bush administration Saturday for refusing his request to declare a pre-emptive federal disaster for California's fragile levees. President Bush offered California some aid Friday, issuing a rare directive letting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers help with badly needed levee repairs. "I think the response that the federal government has given us is unacceptable," the governor told reporters at an Earth Day event on a San Pedro beach. "We need the federal government to come in and help us so we can build the levees as quickly as possible." Schwarzenegger said the state would...

While the Department of Defense has ample manpower and equipment for both its overseas operational needs and any likely domestic response, its organizational structure and lack of integration with other domestic preparedness and response agencies may have the unintended consequence of an ineffective mass casualty reaction in the homeland. As the response to Hurricane Katrina demonstrated, there are problems in local, state, and Federal responses and in communicating needs and expectations between the levels of government. When Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, once a military response was appropriately requested and authorized, National Guard and Federal military forces were on the...

Recently I had e-mailed Harry Reid about his ugly partisan attacks against the president, particularly in his ungenerous characterizations of the president using the focus-grouped, Democratic boilerplate "Dangerously incompetent." Here is my original e-mail. Following that is Reid's reply and then my response to his e-mail (and yes I know it's just a boilerplate letter; I don't think he's actually replying himself): Senator Reid: I see you today again used the same ungenerous and mean-spirited description of the president describing him with the focus-grouped "dangerously incompetent" boilerplate label all Democrats are reading off the same script in using. If Bush...

NORFOLK, Va., March 23, 2006 – The concept of a standing joint force headquarters core element is proving its value in Iraq and elsewhere around the world, senior officers at U.S. Joint Forces Command said. The standing joint force headquarters seemed revolutionary to many when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved it five years ago. Since then, officials said, the concept has contributed to the military's speed in responding to disasters along the U.S. Gulf Coast and in Pakistan, and the nearly transparent transfer of authority from one Army corps to another in Multinational Force Iraq. The headquarters core elements...

by Fr. William Saunders Other Articles by Fr. William Saunders Answering "Amen" 02/17/06 I am an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion. In distributing Communion, I am surprised by the different answers to “The Body of Christ” I receive. Most people say, “Amen,” but some say, “I believe.” Does it matter? The simple answer is, “Yes, it does matter.” According to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (2000), the following rubric was again prescribed concerning the reception of holy Communion: “The priest raises the Eucharistic bread slightly and shows it to each one, saying, ‘The Body of Christ.’ The communicants reply,...

  Afghan National Police Open Family Response Unit The Afghan National Police took the lead on this project because they are typically some of the first people called when domestic violence occurs. By Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 9, 2006 — The Afghan National Police of the tenth district recently opened the first-ever Family Response Unit, a unit intended to provide a safe haven for victims of abuse. Women, children, the disabled and elderly are welcome. The Afghan National Police took the lead on this project because they are typically some of the first people called when...

Protecting People from a Terrifying Toxin: Vaccine stimulates immune response against ricin Ben Harder In its first test in people, a vaccine against the toxin ricin appears safe and generates antibodies that are expected to be protective against the potential bioterrorism agent. Ricin comes from castor seeds and can cause lethal damage to the gut if swallowed or to the lungs if inhaled. Murderers and assassins have used it for centuries. The vaccine might be used to protect soldiers and first responders in advance of possible ricin exposure, says immunologist and study leader Ellen S. Vitetta of the University of...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2006 – The U.S. military performed admirably as it responded to Hurricane Katrina during the largest, fastest civil support mission in U.S. history - but it needs to do better in the future, according to the Pentagon's chief of homeland security. Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland security, praised the military response to the catastrophic hurricane in an address to civilian leaders who recently visited the Pentagon. The civilians were past participants in the DoD Joint Civilian Orientation Conference that gives business, civic and academic leaders a weeklong immersion into military operations. Within 10 to...

Democrats on Bush: 'There Is a Better Way' Jan 31 10:27 PM US/Eastern By LIZ SIDOTI Associated Press Writer Democrats, who hope to regain control of the House and Senate this year, countered President Bush's take on the state of the nation, saying "there is a better way" to govern. "The federal government should serve the American people. But that mission is frustrated by this administration's poor choices and bad management," Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Tuesday. "Families in the Gulf Coast see that as they wait to rebuild their lives. Americans who lose their jobs see that...

ARLINGTON, Va. - Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, tapped to deliver the State of the Union response for Democrats, has sharp words for both parties in Washington: Stop being so partisan, negative and irrelevant. "There's a better way," he said Monday. Less than three weeks after taking office, Kaine is a rising star inside his party because he succeeded last November where many other Democrats have failed — in a Southern state and in the fast-growing exurbs. "I want to contrast what I consider to be an administration that is super partisan and not really able to deliver results with...