Free Republic

It looks like North Korea is using its troops as political pawns again. Ahead of an Obama visit to South Korea, a North Korean vessel intruded into South Korean waters for the 22nd time this year. Stories from both sides seem to differ, but it seems the North Korean vessel ignored warning shots. Then someone fired directly first. It's the Koreas' first naval clash in seven years. Bloomberg: The North Korean vessel ventured 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) into waters claimed by South Korea at about 10:33 a.m. local time today, triggering a two-minute exchange of fire that left 15 holes...

Thousands of people filling the sidewalks and spilling onto Tully Road had arrived early Saturday morning to receive one of 5,500 doses of coveted swine flu vaccine. "There's no way there's enough," said George Reis, who was helping with crowd control. "They keep coming."

With flu vaccination season in full swing, research from the University of Rochester Medical Center cautions that use of many common pain killers – Advil, Tylenol, aspirin – at the time of injection may blunt the effect of the shot and have a negative effect on the immune system. Richard P. Phipps, Ph.D., professor of Environmental Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and of Pediatrics, has been studying this issue for years and recently presented his latest findings to an international conference on inflammatory diseases. (http://bioactivelipidsconf.wayne.edu/) “What we’ve been saying all along, and continue to stress, is that it’s probably not a...

Well, well, even the government workers are now starting to wake up to the REALITY of the threat of BIG GOVERNMENT. Well now … if these workers won’t get a government mandated flu shot … imagine how they will react when the government mandates insurance. Not exactly a Tea Party protest … but the message is clear. Even government workers don’t like government intrusion.

U.S. military troops will begin getting required swine flu shots in the next week to 10 days, with active duty forces deploying to war zones and other critical areas going to the front of the vaccine line, a top military commander said Tuesday. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart also told The Associated Press that as many as 400 troops are ready to go to five regional headquarters around the country to assist federal health and emergency management officials if needed as the flu season heats up. The Pentagon has bought 2.7 million vaccines, and 1.4 million of those will go...

The swine flu vaccine is expected to be available in a few days. The number of people seeking treatment for the flu is already at unprecedented levels for this time of year. But you may find flu prevention where you least expect it. Half of all Americans. Health officials are aiming to vaccinate 50 percent of us in order to reduce the chances of a pandemic from the H1N1 flu virus. So where can you get your flu vaccine? "Large employers tend to provide, small companies do not. Doctors have, and pharmacies have it this year," said Greg David, editorial...

July 15th, 2009 - a day that shall live in comedic infamy. The Obama administration’s first direct hit from reliably friendly allies. Former Saturday Night Live star, now stand up comic Dana Carvey was the guest on the new Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. When O’Brien asked Carvey his opinion of Obama, Carvey trotted out some fresh material. “I’m worried. The economy just had a heart attack, but Barack just wants to work on the knee,” Carvey riffed. ”Should we do CPR? No, we’re gonna fix this knee. We can do CPR when it’s efficient and cost effective, but right...

(breakingviews.com) -- A battle is brewing over U.S. state sales taxes on online purchases. Internet retailers Amazon.com and Overstock.com are scaling back their operations in states that demand they collect these taxes. While this won't dent their revenues much, it foreshadows a larger clash over the taxation of internet commerce. Cash-strapped states are firing the first shots.

Drug smugglers opened fire on federal agents late Monday night near Douglas during a drug bust. Agents from the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement spotted two large trucks, a Chevrolet Avalanche and a Ford F-150, using ramps to drive over an approximately 8-foot border fence about 10:30 p.m. some five miles west of Douglas on James Ranch Road, said Mike Scioli, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. As agents approached the trucks, the drug smugglers turned around and tried to flee back into Mexico. But, agents threw down tire spikes, stopping both trucks north of the international line....

LONGWOOD, Fla. -- The home of a Central Florida Republican headquarters manager was shot up and damaged over his support of Sen. John McCain, the man told police. Rog Coverely said several pellets pierced his Longwood home. Coverely showed several spiderwebbed-holes in the front windows of his home. The Republican manager said he is convinced he was targeted because of new McCain signs he added around his home. "All I can tell you is this, I have a very good relationship with my neighbors," Coverely said. "I mow my lawn. The only thing that has changed is I have two...

WASHINGTON, March 25, 2008 – A ship on short-term charter to the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command fired warning shots at a small boat approaching the ship as it was preparing to transit the Suez Canal last night, military officials reported. There were no reports of casualties from the ship, the Global Patriot. Officials said several boats approached the Global Patriot while it was preparing to transit the Suez Canal. The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker on the Global Patriot to advise them to turn away. Other warning steps, including a signal flare, were used...

More high school girls are playing competitive sports than ever before. But for some devoutly religious girls, balancing faith and athletics can be a challenge. This week in Washington, DC, a Muslim high school track star was kicked out of a meet because her special uniform violated competition rules. Last month in Canada, the issue made national headlines when a 14-year old soccer player was ejected from a game for wearing her hijaab head scarf. Here in Connecticut, a unique girls basketball team has so far managed to skirt the controversy. The girls can remain true to traditional Judaic principles...

NJ requires flu shots for preschoolersBy LINDA A. JOHNSON Associated Press Writer TRENTON, N.J. --New Jersey on Friday became the first state to require flu shots for preschoolers, saying their developing immune systems and likelihood of spreading germs make them as vulnerable to complications as the elderly. State Health Commissioner Dr. Fred M. Jacobs approved the requirement and three other vaccines for school children starting Sept. 1, 2008, over the objections of some parent groups. The new requirements "will have a direct impact on reducing illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths in one of New Jersey's most vulnerable populations - our children,"...

A Fairbanks man faces several charges after police say he held a cab driver at gunpoint and fired two shots at an apartment complex...

SYDNEY, Australia - Vice President Dick Cheney, in a series of blunt and sometimes biting statements during a visit to Asia, defended the Iraq war, attacked administration critics at home and warned that the U.S. would confront potential adversaries abroad. His visit was meant to thank Australia and Japan for their support in Iraq. But in a series of public appearances and media interviews, Cheney's tone was typically feisty. Answering growing criticism in the U.S. and Australia, he defended the Iraq war as a "remarkable achievement" in one speech, and dismissed suggestions his influence in Washington is waning. At a...

February 20, 2007 VeinViewer is a vein-contrast enhancement device that uses an infra-red camera to highlight blood (the underlying vasculature) and projects the image in real time onto the skin. With this device, physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals can find veins easily and avoid multiple needle sticks to patients. Venipuncture, the collection of blood specimen from a vein, is commonly seen by nurses as one of the most painful and frequently performed invasive procedures. According to an article in the Journal of Phlebotomy, an estimated one billion venipunctures are performed annually. In one study in the Journal of Nursing,...

MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) - A mosque was hit by gunfire as members inside celebrated the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, authorities said Saturday. No injuries were reported and there were no arrests. A member of the Islamic Society of Brevard County stepped outside the mosque Friday night to use his cell phone when he heard several gun shots, police said. The man, who was not immediately identified, took cover behind a wall as several rounds struck the building, police said. He then ran inside and told mosque members, who called police. Authorities searched the surrounding area for...

Norway's justice minister was contacting key members of the Jewish community in Oslo on Monday, after a round of shots was fired at the capital's synagogue over the weekend. Higher security around the synagogue may involve closing off the street where it's located. No one was injured in the shooting, which damaged the front of the synagogue in Oslo's St Hanshaugen district. Police said more than 10 shots were fired, probably from an automatic weapon, at the synagogue's façade early Sunday morning. "We are taking this type of violence very seriously," Justice Minister Knut Storberget told newspaper Vårt Land on...

WASHINGTON - A microchip company with powerful political connections is lobbying the Pentagon for the right to implant chips under the skins of the nearly 1.4 million U.S. military personnel... the company is “in discussions” with the Pentagon, spokeswoman Nicole Philbin said. She added that VeriChip wants to insert the chips under the skin of the right arms of U.S. servicemen and servicewomen. The idea is to be able to scan an arm and obtain that person’s identity and medical history. VeriChip hopes that the chips will replace the metal dog tags that have been worn by U.S. military personnel...

SEOUL, South Korea - Soldiers from North and South Korea exchanged fire along their border late Monday but no one is hurt, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The clash happened just before sunset when North Korean soldiers fired two bullets toward South Korean guard post in the eastern part of the Demilitarized Zone and South Korean soldiers immediately fired back six rounds, the top commanders said.

Capitol Police are reporting....

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) crashed his car near the Capitol early Thursday, and a police official said he appeared intoxicated. Kennedy said he had taken sleep medication and a prescription anti-nausea drug that can cause drowsiness. Kennedy, D-R.I., addressed the issue after a spate of news reports. His initial statement said: "I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident."'Later, however, he issued a longer statement saying the attending physician for Congress had prescribed Phenergan on Tuesday to treat Kennedy's gastroenteritis.Kennedy said he returned to his Capitol Hill home on Wednesday evening after a final series of votes...

Sometimes we forget that Hawaii's Kilauea is in constant eruption. And the Web site may go for weeks without a new picture. But there have been some recent events, including a large bench collapse. Below are three recent picture highlights; go to the linked source for explanations. 18-20 November 2005 -- lava stream after tube breakout 30 November 2005 -- lava falls after bench collapse 2 December 2005 -- sea cliff lava vent

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- A 32-year-old Norwegian bartender was sentenced to six months in prison Wednesday for serving a customer so much tequila that he fell into a coma and died. According to a district court in the southwestern city of Hokksund the bartender, whose name was withheld, pleaded guilty to serving 34-year-old Leif Henning Nilsen 19 shots of the strong Mexican liquor in 90 minutes at the Spiseriet restaurant in May 2004. Nilsen lost consciousness and died three days later. The court said it could not hold the bartender accountable for the death itself, but sentenced him to prison...

NEW YORK - The government can decide what artwork is worthwhile without being accused of censorship as long as it is funding that art, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told an audience Thursday at the Juilliard School. "The First Amendment has not repealed the ancient rule of life, that he who pays the piper calls the tune," Scalia said. The justice, who limited his discussion to art issues, said he wasn't suggesting that government stop funding the arts, but that if it does fund artwork, it is entitled to have a say in the content, just like when it runs...

Video: Shots Fired Near Cindy Sheehan's ProtestBareknucklepolitics.com

TRENTON, N.J. -- Authorities were investigating reports of a shooting incident Wednesday evening involving a car and a tractor-trailer on the George Washington Bridge, police and turnpike spokesmen said. A witness reported that shots were fired at the truck at about 6 p.m. as the vehicles traveled westbound on the upper span of the bridge, according to Pasquale DiFulco, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge. No one was injured, authorities said. (snip) According to turnpike spokesman Joseph Orlando, authorities held up traffic on the southbound inner roadway near Interchange 12 in...

Thimerosol, a preservative developed by Eli Lily, was once widely used in vaccines. That was until it was identified as the source of the largest exposure to mercury in the United States in children under 18 months of age and mandated to be removed from vaccines. However, amazingly, despite its well-documented potential toxic effects, this harmful preservative remains present in the flu vaccine, which is given to pregnant women, the elderly and children. A team of researchers examined the toxicity of thimerosal within the body including neurons. They explored: Neurotoxic mechanisms How the body detoxifies mercury The use of...

NEW ORLEANS A fourth-grade girl will be able to return to her suburban New Orleans school tomorrow after serving a nine-day suspension for bringing in what appeared to be Jell-O shots. Neither police nor school officials will say whether the gelatin cups actually contained alcohol. The appearance they contained alcohol was enough to discipline her under school rules. The girl's mother works at a French Quarter bar. She has insisted the Jell-O cups were non-alcoholic. A school system spokesman says the girl told her principal that her mom told her to take the shots to school and sell them "to...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1049673Vote_Clark_In_WI (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-13-04 10:35 AM Original message BAD news from one of the local Sinclair advertisers I got this response this morning... Dear ****, Would like to know who directed you to send e-mail to this address. Our buildings have been shot at the last two nights and police are investgating. I am forwarding this to them so you can expect a follow up from them. This was my letter, by the way, Good Afternoon, As a life-long Madison resident, I am very concerned to find that your business advertises on Fox47, which is a Sinclair Company. As...

Knoxville made the national conservative airwaves today after news spread that someone had shot out the door windows at the Republican campaign office.

An unknown suspect fired several shots into the Bearden office of the Bush/Cheney re-election campaign Tuesday morning. The headquarters are located at 4618 Kingston Pike, next to Noveau Classics and in the same shopping plaza as Long's Drugstore. According to Knoxville Police Department (KPD) officers on the scene Tuesday, it is believed that the two separate shots were fired from a car sometime between 6:30 am and 7:15 am. One shot shattered the glass in the front door and the other cracked the glass in another of the front doors. There were no witnesses to the shooting. A customer at...

<p>An unknown suspect fired several shots into the Bearden office of the Bush/Cheney re-election campaign Tuesday morning.</p> <p>The headquarters are located at 4618 Kingston Pike, next to Noveau Classics and in the same shopping plaza as Long's Drugstore.</p> <p>According to Knoxville Police Department officers on the scene Tuesday, it is believed that the two separate shots were fired from a car sometime between 6:30 am and 7:15 am. One shot shattered the glass in the front door and the other cracked the glass in another of the front doors.</p>

<p>LOS ANGELES, April 2 (UPI) -- Federal health officials say they plan no warning about a mercury-laced preservative in some flu vaccines that go to thousands of infants this fall.</p> <p>Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say there is no proof of harm from exposure to the preservative thimerosal, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. They confirm they won't advise parents and doctors to choose a mercury-free version of the flu vaccine.</p>

He's given hundreds of flu shots over the past few months, but health officials say he isn't a doctor and they still don't know exactly what he's been injecting. It's a story you saw First on News 3. Shahid Shiekh is under police investigation after shutting down one of his clinics in Washington State. News 3 has learned that Shiekh has also operated an office in Henderson. News 3's Kori Chambers is digging deeper. It's still unclear whether this phony doctor fooled any Las Vegans. We spoke with Shiekh's attorney and asked him point blank whether the man was giving...

<p>The Defense Department’s mandatory anthrax vaccination program has been snakebit from its inception. Now, in the face of a U.S. District judge in Washington who ordered the Pentagon to stop forcing service members to take the anthrax shots, the Pentagon has backed down. For now.</p>

By Sandra Jontz, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Wednesday, December 24, 2003 ARLINGTON, Va. — The Pentagon isn’t sure how it will deal with troops who refuse to get the anthrax vaccine now that a federal judge has temporarily banned the Defense Department’s policy that it be mandatory.“We are considering all options,” said William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, adding he did not know if troops would continue to face punishment if they refuse the vaccine.While officials work it out, the Pentagon still is administering anthrax vaccines to troops deploying to high-risk areas, but on a voluntary...

An NYPD chief tried to show Bruce Springsteen who's the Boss - yanking the singer's police escort from Shea Stadium after he performed a song about cop-shooting victim Amadou Diallo. Chief of Department Joseph Esposito got angry when he heard Springsteen sing "American Skin (41 Shots)" at last Wednesday night's opening show at Shea, a police source told the Daily News. Esposito, the highest-ranking uniformed cop in the department, ordered the escort cut for Springsteen's next show, on Friday night, the source said. The Boss did not play the song that night or the next - and the security detail...

Most people vaccinated against smallpox decades ago still have some protection against the disease, according to a new study that supports the growing belief that the U.S. may be less vulnerable to a terrorist attack with the deadly virus than experts once feared. Some researchers doubt that vaccines given before 1972, when the U.S. stopped routine smallpox vaccination, still impart immunity, but even those who question the long-term effectiveness of the vaccine now say a return of smallpox would be unlikely to spark an epidemic. They cite the millions of vaccine doses the U.S. has stockpiled since 2001, intense efforts...

Shots fired at Snoop Dogg, bodyguards Friday, April 11, 2003 Posted: 9:13 AM EDT (1313 GMT) One of Snoop Dogg's bodyguards was injured after shots were fired at the rap star, above, and his entourage, according to police. LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A shooting in Los Angeles Thursday night struck a convoy of cars, one of which was carrying rapper Snoop Dogg. Authorities said one of the musician's bodyguards was injured. Snoop Dogg was not hurt. Police said up to five cars were traveling through the Mid-City area when the shooting happened at about 9 p.m. (PST). The rap...

Saddam's troops fire the first shots of the conflict By Patrick Cockburn in northern Iraq 19 March 2003 Two Iraqi helicopters fired machine guns and rockets into three Kurdish villages on the front line north of Kirkuk yesterday, in the first shots intended to kill in the coming war. ''There were two of them, one an attack helicopter and the other normally used for transport, attacking the villages where people herding cattle live," Mohammed Fateh, a local Kurdish military commander, said. Kurdish officers believe that the Iraqi helicopter attack on the three impoverished and half-ruined villages of Bashtapa, Girdalanka and...

Broader flu shots for kids ordered By M.A.J. McKenna / Cox News Service 06-21-02 ATLANTA -- Federal health authorities moved one step closer Thursday to requiring flu shots for all children older than 6 months, to protect them and the adults who live with them. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which sets vaccination policy for the government, voted to include young children's flu shots in the public programs that provide vaccinations for low-income and underinsured children. The decision is not binding on private doctors or health care plans, but it is meant to serve as strong encouragement. "It is...