Free Republic

The insanity crept up on us slowly; we just wanted what was best for our kids. We bought macrobiotic cupcakes and hypoallergenic socks, hired tutors to correct a 5-year-old's "pencil-holding deficiency," hooked up broadband connections in the treehouse but took down the swing set after the second skinned knee. We hovered over every school, playground and practice field — "helicopter parents," teachers christened us, a phenomenon that spread to parents of all ages, races and regions. Stores began marketing stove-knob covers and "Kinderkords" (also known as leashes; they allow "three full feet of freedom for both you and your child")...

I am so tired of hearing that question and I’m sick of people giving long pause and then answering Yes. The Palin interview with O’Reilly is the latest example. The sole reason people are giving a yes answer is purely a political fear they will be labeled racist if they give a no answer. The next time O’Reilly talks about Obama listen closely. O’Reilly always starts out with “Obama is a smart guy”. Then O’Reilly will talk about all the utterly stupid things Obama has done and is currently doing. I’m beginning to think the word yes is code for...

Curvy Women May Be A Clever Bet. Nigella Lawson: Curvy figure and an Oxford degree [Pic in URL]. Women with curvy figures are likely to be brighter than waif-like counterparts and may well produce more intelligent offspring, a US study suggests. Researchers studied 16,000 women and girls and found the more voluptuous performed better on cognitive tests - as did their children. The bigger the difference between a woman's waist and hips the better. Researchers writing in Evolution and Human Behaviour speculated this was to do with fatty acids found on the hips. In this area, the fat is likely...

Police Hunt Mugger Who Punched Two-Year-Old Girl In The Face And Injured Her Twin Brother GRAHAM SMITH 20th November 2009. A cowardly mugger who punched a two-year-old girl in the face when her mother refused to give up her handbag was being hunted by police today. Maria Sharma, 28, was pushing her twins Paris and Sunny along a busy road in Slough, Berkshire, when the vile attack took place in broad daylight. A man, who Mrs Sharma described as 'looking possessed', tried to snatch her handbag, which was hanging from the toddlers' pushchair. When the single mother-of-four fought back, he...

Round-up of stories concerning Sarah Palin, November 20, 2009!

It's always an interesting experience as a Christian critic to attend a film preview in Los Angeles, especially when the film is as enriching and pro-Christian as The Blind Side, which relates the true story of Baltimore Ravens rookie Michael Oher. As a poor teenager living in one of the most dangerous projects of Memphis, Oher's life changes the day Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) sees him walking on the side of the road at night in the dead of winter in nothing but shorts and a T-shirt. Taking the Good Samaritan example to heart, Bible-believing Leigh Anne brings Michael...

Barack Obama, oh yeah, say it again He's solid as a rock, Barack Obama If you believe like I believe that children are our future You're ready to move forward Instead of things being like they use to be . . .

Here is video of a Portland, Oregon father being separated from his 3 year-old son when the door of the subway train they were exiting suddenly closed after the boy pushed a button. The video shows the boy exiting first holding his Dad's hand. Then suddenly, the door closes and the boy is left alone outside the train with the father inside the train. A Good Samaritan woman standing close by saw it all and came to the boy's assistance, taking him by the hand and waiting with him for seven minutes until the father was able to return. The...

Any idea when the annual war on Christmas will start hitting the media? Genereal consensus where I work, is next friday.

The appointment of Herman Van Rompuy as “President of Europe” is a gift to conspiracy theorists who fear the re-emergence of a Europe dominated by Rome. The wellspring of the Belgian’s Eurofederalism, like that of the EU’s founders, is his Catholic faith. He makes monthly retreats to a Benedictine monastery; even his wife is overawed by “the force he can find in his faith”. I can already see the words “Holy Roman Empire” forming on the lips of Eurosceptics whose mistrust of the EU draws on a dislike of Catholicism. And perhaps there is just a grain of truth in...

(Reuters) - Here are some facts about Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, who on Thursday became the European Union's president. Van Rompuy, 62, emerged as the strongest centre-right candidate. Although he has been prime minister for less than a year, after coming to power following a banking crisis, he has proved a steady hand running a difficult coalition. * RISE TO POWER: -- Van Rompuy helped calm the linguistically divided country after taking charge in December 2008 after 18 months of turmoil under predecessor and fellow Christian Democrat Yves Leterme. -- He had been president of the lower house...

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My wife and I were in Israel in 1966, passing from Jordan into Israel. We went through the Mandelbaum Gate, prayed at the Wailing Wall, visited holy sites, including Gordon’s Calvary where we observed the communion sacrament with friends. Since then it has pained me to think Israel would lose any of that land fought for. I believe it was a miracle that they won that war in six days.

This will show how weak our president is ..COMPARE THE QUOTES

Here is audio of an interview Gov. Sarah Palin did yesterday with Laura Ingraham on radio. At the 3:28 mark of Part 2, Ingraham asks Palin what she thinks about the new mammogram guidelines that have come out. Palin said: "The mammogram recommendations - this whole issue is demonstrating precisely what you pointed out, the problem about the panels - the death panels - of government bureaucrats - I think you called it the 'hospice shooting' - the, um, panels of bureaucrats having more and more input into Americans' personal decisions - decisions really that belong between them and their...

It’s just unbelievable! How foolishly stuck on stupid mankind can be when it comes down to maintaining law and order. But I shouldn’t be so amazed, after all, we are just a whisker away from full scale anarchy in America. It’s amazing how the damn fools in our society are debating whether or not to arm ships as a defense against these pirates. How anybody could be so stupid as to oppose the idea is baffling. No doubt the opposition is coming from the same damn fools who oppose wiretapping suspected terrorists, the same damn fools who demand Miranda warnings...

Tiburon, Calif., is a twee little place. If you aren't familiar with the old-country colloquialism "twee," it means, well, something like "precious." Like one of those dogs Paris Hilton used to carry in her purse. When one wanders through its little streets, just north of San Francisco, one gets the sense that a few of the residents, on seeing someone who appears not to be from around those parts, reach for their handkerchief and hand sanitizer. How can one, therefore, be surprised that a meeting of the Tiburon Town Council voted on Wednesday by 4 to 0 to install cameras...

Life decisions are often made when we feel that we are at a crossroads where the decision to turn to the left or to the right seems as clear for us to make as it is to breathe. Yet what about those times when the decision is not quite as clear where the variables that we are weighing are as cloudy and murky as a morning fog? Usually that is the time where the weight is heavy on our soul that we have truly to come to a decision that shoves us out of our comfort zone and that demands...

At a time of high unemployment, many people are looking for jobs online. Unfortunately, there are a lot of online scammers out there who advertise on the popular job boards like Monster, Careerbuilder or Hotjobs for positions that look legitimate and easy to do. I am posting this as a public service from an e-mail sent to me by the job board -- MONSTER.COM. Protect yourself from Online job scammers. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is." Whether you are searching for a new job through Monster or other websites, keep in mind that the...

FORT HUACHUCA — With the handout of turkeys and food vouchers Wednesday, a major holiday problem for some military families has been answered. But with Thanksgiving needs met, still ahead for the fort’s outreach ministries program is Christmas. Before noon, employees of Sundt Construction purchased and delivered 300 turkeys to the main post chapel administrative offices. The turkeys — with a total weight of more than 2 tons — will be handed out with $50 in food coupons for the post commissary. Josephine Moore, who heads the outreach ministries, said the needs of 300 military families, ranging in size from...

SIERRA VISTA — On May 30 next year, the sound of patriotic music will be the norm on grounds of the Southern Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery. It will be on Memorial Day 2010 when a 40-foot-tall carillon — a bell tower — will be dedicated. On Wednesday, a short groundbreaking ceremony took place to start the construction phase for the carillon. Every year, the national headquarters of AMVETS helps fund two carillons to be placed in cemeteries that are dedicated as final resting places for veterans. Members of the local AMVETS post are sponsors of the project and have been...

Press Release: Office of Inspector General at DHS to Audit NSEERS at the Request of ADC and Other Major Organizations Washington, DC | November 19, 2009 | www.adc.org | The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is pleased to announce that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be conducting an audit reviewing the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) in early January 2010. Implemented in the wake of September 11, 2001, NSEERS required non-immigrants from predominantly Arab and Muslim Countries to register at ports of entry and local immigration offices and complete fingerprints, photographs...

Lloyd Marcus Video - Start Spreading The News - 2010...click link to watch video.

I am looking for links to comparisons of articles voicing outrage from the Muslim community vs articles warning against backlash, or news reports on tv, etc., with numbers: 879 articles warning against a backlash vs 31 from Muslim leaders decrying the actions of Major Hasan, for example. I looked on MRC and all they had were a few quotes from tv talking heads. Thanks for any help.

Barack Obama promised to halve poverty within ten years. His Republican opponent, John McCain, vowed to “make the eradication of poverty a top priority of the McCain Administration.” Even in the current economic situation, in developed countries, this kind of rhetoric about cutting “poverty” is misleadingly outmoded—because it implicitly suggests that government income transfers can be the vehicle for achieving substantial reductions in poverty. > What is now called poverty is really “income inequality.” Many families earning too much to be considered victims of poverty but who lack the “human capital”, education, training, and family support systems to provide a...

A retired nurse has been forced to take care of his sick partner in one of the county's hospitals because he claims staff are too busy to treat her condition adequately. Hospital bosses admitted they were "very busy" at the moment and for the past nine out of 14 days the hospital had been on its highest alert status of black which means it is under incredible pressure. Mr Herbert said: "The staff are so busy at that hospital it is unbelievable. I am not knocking them because most of them do a great job but I am concerned patients'...

Sting Claims He Once Confronted A Ghost Sting has claimed he once confronted a ghost which wandered into his room at the dead of night. 19 Nov 2009 Sting said he also experienced flying objects and mysterious voices Photo: JANE MINGAY The singer, who famously sang Spirits In The Material World in the 1980s, said wife Trudie Styler also witnessed the figure, standing with a child in the corner of their bedroom. Sting said he also experienced flying objects and mysterious voices in one of his homes in an interview to be played on Radio 2. He said: ''I would...

Life decisions are often made when we feel that we are at a crossroads where the decision to turn to the left or to the right seems as clear for us to make as it is to breathe. Yet what about those times when the decision is not quite as clear where the variables that we are weighing are as cloudy and murky as a morning fog? Usually that is the time where the weight is heavy on our soul that we have truly to come to a decision that shoves us out of our comfort zone and that demands...

Here is audio of Gov. Sarah Palin in an interview yesterday with Mark Levin saying that her Leftist critics, who as Levin described it - "hang on her every word" - should go "get a life." Levin was making the point that as much as the Left tries to dismiss Palin as inconsequential, they turn around and "stalk her Facebook" and are ready to attack her every word. . . . (VIDEO)

PERKASIE, Pennsylvania — Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop. Froehlich is among the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal. Although there are no formal laws in this southeast Pennsylvania town against drying laundry outside, a town official called Froehlich to ask her to stop drying clothes in the sun. And she received two...

A man described as mentally ill and accused of lying to the police in an emergency call this summer, which sent a bomb squad to the McDonald's on Loudon Road, was arraigned on felony-level charges yesterday. William Fenick, 53, cried and held his head in his hands when a judge said he was being charged with creating a false public alarm, a felony, during a video arraignment at Concord District Court. The Center Barnstead resident called 911 just before 7 a.m. Aug. 7 to report two black men in the Concord McDonald's parking lot throwing gasoline on a U-Haul truck,...

According to the website, SafeLink Wireless is a government supported program that provides a free cell phone and airtime each month for income-eligible customers." How to Qualify "The process to qualify for Lifeline Service depends on the State you live in. In general, you may qualify if... You already participate in other State or Federal assistance program such as Federal Public Housing Assistance, Food Stamps and Medicaid. OR Your total household income is at or below 135% of the poverty guidelines set by your State and/or the Federal Government. AND No one in your household currently receives Lifeline Service through...

Starry eyed children around the world are writing letters to the jolly man at the North Pole, but this holiday season they'll not likely to get a response from Santa or his helpers. The U.S. Postal Service is dropping a popular effort begun in 1954 in the small town of North Pole, in Alaska's interior, where volunteers tackle up to 150,000 letters addressed to Santa. Postal Service officials cite privacy concerns loomed last winter when a postal worker in Maryland recognized a volunteer in the agency's Operation Santa program as a registered sex offender. The postal worker interceded before the...

In case you missed it, here is complete video of Gov. Sarah Palin's interview tonight with Sean Hannity. She was on for the full hour. . . . (VIDEO)

November 18, 2009 Obama Calls Stimulus Data Errors 'Side Issue,' Says Focus Is on Job Growth President Obama downplays criticism over inaccurate reporting on the impact of the economic stimulus package, telling Fox News his focus is trained on job growth. President Obama is interviewed by Fox News' Major Garrett in China. President Obama brushed off criticism over his administration's inaccurate reporting on job creation Wednesday, telling Fox News the accounting is an "inexact science" and that any errors are a "side issue" when compared with the goal of turning the economy around. He said job growth is his No.1...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Villagers in the highlands of Papua New Guinea who ritualistically ate human brains but did not die of a brain disease called kuru have a genetic mutation that protects them, researchers said Wednesday. Their study of the unusual cannibalistic practice shows evolution in real time in the human population, and might lead to a treatment for similar brain-wasting conditions, the researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. Kuru once wiped out entire generations of women in remote Papuan villages. It was traced to a now-defunct mortuary ceremony in which women and children ate the brains...

Women have a lower carbon footprint than men but are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of global warming, according to the United Nations’ State of World Population report. Women drive and fly much less than men and purchase fewer carbonintensive goods. The research found that women in industrialised countries were more likely to buy ecologically friendly and organic foods, were more likely to recycle rubbish and more interested in efficient energy use. The report quoted a US research finding that women responded more positively than men to advertising for products that companies claimed were less detrimental to the environment....

Hollywood superstar and debt-ridden actor Nicolas Cage visited a Kenyan prison to talk to the Somali pirates to hear their stories and understand their motivation for their crimes. United Nations Goodwill Ambassador and Hollywood actor, Nicolas Cage, visited a Kenyan prison that is holding Somali pirates who are awaiting their trial of piracy in the Indian Ocean, according to the Associated Press. As Cage entered the jail, inmates danced for the star of “National Treasure” and “The Rock” as they shook the star’s hand in the Shimo La Tewa prison in Mombasa. Shimo La Tewa has been described as the...

Over the past two decades, Ricardo Dominguez has been utilizing electronics and the internet to piss off just about every high-level administrative authority in the US. In the late 90s, his performance-art-cum-activist organization the Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT) set up a participatory website-jamming network called the FloodNet system, which allowed anyone with an internet connection to gum up the official sites of the US Border Patrol, White House, G8, Mexican embassy, and others, rendering them inaccessible. The Department of Justice retaliated with an electronic attack on the EDT that aimed to destabilize the group and interrupt their online meddling. As...

This Man Married His OWN Daughter So She Would Be Allowed To Stay In Britain - And The Home Office Knows About It Sam Greenhill and Dennis Rice 18th November 2009 This man married his OWN daughter so she would be allowed to stay in Britain - and the Home Office knows about it By Sam Greenhill and Dennis Rice 18th November 2009 A Nigerian Home Office worker 'married' his own daughter to get her a British visa, the Daily Mail can reveal. [Pic in URL] The extraordinary scam was apparently executed by Jelili Adesanya while ministers turned a blind...

A backlash against anonymous commenters and trolls seems to be underway. Only last month, a court case was settled where anonymous commenters ended up having to pay big fines to the women who they defiled using vulgar, derogatory remarks on an internet forum. And previously, an anonymous blogger in the modeling industry was forced to reveal her identity after numerous malicious posts about a colleague showed up on her blog. Now the latest scandal in this new trend of "giving the trolls what they deserve" is causing a controversy all of its own. And this time, the nasty comment didn't...

Pennsylvania SPCA workers had the unwelcome task yesterday of sifting through the remains of five animals that apparently had been sacrificed, officials said. A passer-by found the beheaded animals - a dog, a cat and three chickens - near a bike path on Bingham Street near Roosevelt Boulevard in Olney about 1 p.m., said George Bengal, the PSPCA's director of investigations. "It looks like the act was done somewhere else, and the remains were left here in the park," Bengal said. PSPCA officials often see a rise in animal sacrifices at this time of the year, Bengal noted, because it...

Note: The following text is a quote: Home • Briefing Room • Presidential Actions • Executive Orders The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release November 17, 2009 Executive Order - Establishment of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to strengthen the efforts of the Department of Justice, in conjunction with Federal, State, tribal, territorial, and local agencies, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes and other violations relating to the current financial crisis...

Police Say Alcohol Likely Played Role SEATTLE -- Seattle police say a man who thought he was ninja was impaled on a metal fence when he tried to leap over it. An officer who was looking for an assault victim nearby Monday night heard the man screaming for help. Police supported him to prevent further injuries until medics arrived and took him to a hospital, where he was in serious condition in intensive care on Tuesday. Police spokeswoman Renee Witt wrote in a department Web site posting that officers thought the man might have been involved in the reported assault,...

It's no secret to students that coed dorms are more fun than same-sex dorms. But they can also fuel very unhealthy behavior that might otherwise be moderated. A new study finds university students in coed housing are 2.5 times more likely to binge drink every week. And no surprise, they're also likely to have more sexual partners, the study found. Also, pornography use was higher among students in coed dorms. Some 90 percent of U.S. college dorms are now coed.

'Passionate response' at meeting leads to closure of park site Planned deer hunts in two Fairfax County public parks are riling animal-rights advocates and residents who say the county's new bow-and-arrow deer-culling program is inhumane and dangerous. Starting before dawn Monday, a handful of archers from Suburban Whitetail Deer Management of Northern Virginia, a nonprofit volunteer deer hunting group, went to the Colvin Run Stream Valley and Colvin Run Mill parks and hunted deer from 20- to 30-foot-high deer stands. It was unclear how many were killed, said Eric Huppert, a founder and president of the deer hunting group, but...

In the string of amazing decisions made during the first year of the Obama administration, nothing seems more like sheer insanity than the decision to try foreign terrorists who have committed acts of war against the United States in federal court, as if they were American citizens accused of crimes. Terrorists are not even entitled to the protection of the Geneva Conventions, much less the Constitution of the United States. Terrorists have never observed, nor even claimed to have observed, the Geneva Conventions, nor are they among those covered by them. But over and above the utter inconsistency of what...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-nine percent (39%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -12

Paul Schupska knows his history. Over the years, his vast collections of baseball, World War I and II and antique toys have been displayed at community public libraries throughout the area. Whether it is a vintage GI Joe or an authentic World War II map used by Allied forces in a European bunker, Schupska prides himself on the completeness of his displays, on telling as much of a complete history as possible. When he recently showcased his World War II collection at the Pasadena Public Library on Fairmont, the Nazi insignias were part of that story. He has shown several...

Top Ten Reasons Black America Fears Rush LimbaughLloyd Marcus  I am a black man who, since 1993, has been a regular listener of the Rush Limbaugh radio program. I must caution black America. Be afraid, be very afraid of this powerful white man. Regular listening to him could be devastating to the psyche of the 96% of black Americans who voted for Obama. I have compiled the following Top Ten list of reasons why.   10. If you want to believe blacks are eternal victims in America, do not listen to Rush Limbaugh. 9. If you do not want...