Free Republic

The more important issue than Senator Obama’s choice of words, is the world view underneath them. By using voter’s adverse economic circumstances to rationalize his cultural beliefs, Barack Obama has reintroduced what has been a defining question in American politics for more than generation: Why do so many working-class voters cast their ballots on social and values-based issues like gun ownership, abortion and same-sex marriage rather than on economic policy prescriptions?These voters — known as “the silent majority” in the 1970s, “Reagan Democrats” in the ’80s, and as “values voters” during the last two election cycles — have long been...

Sweet Potato Promises Hunger Relief In Developing Countries ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2007) — Sweetpotatoes, often misunderstood and underrated, are receiving new attention as a life-saving food crop in developing countries. According to the International Potato Center, more than 95 percent of the global sweetpotato crop is grown in developing countries, where it is the fifth most important food crop. Despite its name, the sweetpotato is not related to the potato. Potatoes are tubers (referring to their thickened stems) and members of the Solanaceae family, which also includes tomatoes, red peppers, and eggplant. Sweetpotatoes are classified as "storage roots" and belong...

More than 140 years after the Civil War ended, a Mason-Dixon line of sorts still persists when it comes to iced tea. Order an iced tea at a restaurant in the Deep South or Texas, and the frosty beverage set before you likely will be a world away from what you’d be served in New York or Chicago. Sweet tea, as Southerners call their iced tea, is named for its two key ingredients – tea and lots of sugar. There’s no such thing as an unsweetened sweet tea. And unlike its summer-loving Northern counterpart, sweet tea is consumed year-round. “About...

Today Bill OReilly blamed "Sugar" for our obseity. HE, like most Americans, has confused High Fruitose Corn Syrup with Sugar. In the Days when Soft Drinks and Fast Food actually used Sugar, 12 ounces was a BIG Pepsi. When Donut Batter included real Sugar, a box of a Dozen was expected to sevre 6 or more. We got Full, not FAT. Then Cuba fell to Castro. Industry discovered "Corn sweeteners". Today, Government and the Media call "High Fruitose Corn Syrup" SUGAR. Then they blame "SUGAR" for our Obeisity.

FORT HUACHUCA — On Sept. 11, 2003, Ronald Fruchey was beginning Army basic training. In March of that year, the United States and its coalition partners attacked Iraq. On Monday, Fruchey, now a specialist with Company C, 40th Signal Battalion, held his 6-month-old daughter Eliana. Monday was 9/11, five years after the U.S. was attacked by terrorists and three years after he started basic training to become a soldier, and it was the day he came home from Iraq. While Sept. 11, 2001 and 2003, both have special meanings, for Fruchey it is this year’s Sept. 11 that has the...

Okay, I've procrastinated too long on this project so now I am presenting the FIRST DUmmie FUnnies AUDIO PODCAST. Yes, the DUmmie FUnnies will continue as before with the TEXT DUFU editions but we now take it to the next level with AUDIO DUFU editions. The fact is that the Web is full of not only lunatic liberal rantings in print but also in AUDIO. Therefore, I plan to add audio DUFU podcasts as well. For this inaugural DUFU audio podcast, I am DUFUing THE RUDE GUY. I know your initial reaction to the Rude Guy will be, "Is...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider appeals from abortion rights groups wanting to block states from issuing car license plates bearing the message "Choose Life." About a dozen states allow drivers to pay extra for the specialty car tags to show the car owners opposition to abortion. Justices said they would not look at tag laws in Louisiana and Tennessee. Abortion opponents contend they have a free-speech right to broadcast their own views on their car tags. Proposals to offer car owners an alternative "Choose Choice" plate failed in both state Legislatures. A federal judge ruled that...

February 22, 2006 - Take a look at these adorable little British girls. They were Good Morning America's picture of the week. As you can see, one looks white and one looks black. But they are biological twins! Their names are Kayeen and Roomay. Mom and dad are of mixed race. We're told, the odds of having twins this diverse in color is one in one million!

Boy charged with felony for carrying sugar BY JUSTINA WANG A 12-year-old Aurora boy who said he brought powdered sugar to school for a science project this week has been charged with a felony for possessing a look-alike drug, Aurora police have confirmed. The sixth-grade student at Waldo Middle School was also suspended for two weeks from school after showing the bag of powdered sugar to his friends. The boy, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, said he brought the bag to school to ask his science teacher if he could run an experiment using sugar....

From: Korean Friendship Association/Corey Kobernik Sent: Sunday, February 5, 2006 1:54 PM Subject: Birth Anniversary of Leader KIM JONG IL Dear Friends, The 64th anniversary of the birth of Leader Kim Jong Il takes place on the 16th of February. This is a very joyous holiday in which the Korean people celebrate in a myriad of ways. People all around the world will be involved in marking the occasion as well through various activities including sending their own personal congratulatory greetings. We highly encourage you to avail yourself of this opportunity to honor Leader Kim Jong Il on his birth...

Stephen B. Johnson stepped down as chairman of the Richmond School Board tonight. He will remain on the board as the 5th District representative. In an article reported in The Times-Dispatch last week, Johnson admitted to posting his profile on a pornographic (male-dating) Internet dating site available to the public. The profile, which included explicit text, has been removed from the site. At tonight's School Board meeting, Johnson drew praise for his service as chairman, a post he has held this year. He also received expressions of support from fellow board members, Richmond Schools Superintendent Deborah Jewell-Sherman and others who...

<p>Wow! What a great president!</p> <p>What is wrong with you guys? How can you support Bush? Is it just because he is against gay marriage? How does gay marriage effect you? Is it really wrong for to men who love each other to get married? Maybe you should worry about your own marriage instead.</p>

Fox News is reporting that the latest album by the Rolling Stones, "A Bigger Bang," is "less than a month old, [and] already out of the Top 50.""A Bigger Bang" is the album that features "Sweet Neo-Con," a rare poltical song from the band, and one that attacks President Bush and Condoleezza Rice as "full of sh-t."Fox also reports that the latest album by frequent Bush critic Barbra Streisand, "Guilty Pleasures," "has caused little excitement even among her rabid fans."Both the Stones and Streisand are acts that appeal to the adult segment of the music buying public. Approximately half that...

Commission makes San Antonio's sweet deal even sweeter By T.A. BADGER Associated Press Writer SAN ANTONIO — Things looked sweet for San Antonio under the Pentagon's proposed base-closure plan. This week's voting made it even sweeter. While the nine-member Base Closure and Realignment Commission voted Thursday to end the military's presence at Brooks City-Base, it overrode the Defense Department's recommendations by keeping one of Brooks' key medical research missions and some 300 jobs in San Antonio. That vote came a day after the commission opted to keep the 800-job Cryptologic Systems Group, which services communications equipment for federal intelligence agencies,...

(Branford-WTNH, July 21, 2005 6:55 PM) _ Oysters may give you pearls, but some clams in Branford deliver diamonds. A man who lost his wedding ring two years ago while digging for clams got a gift from the sea this week. Nearly forty years of marriage and Stewart and Mary Petri still hold hands. "When we go for a walk sometimes sure we do." For two years he's been without the wedding band she gave to him in 1967. He lost it digging for clams. "I was very depressed when I came back and ever more depressed to tell my...

MOSCOW — Wal-Mart, the world’s largest company, wants to expand into Russia, but the retail behemoth is being coy about revealing the timeframe for its arrival. The retailer is looking at Russia, Poland and Hungary as it continues its expansion in Europe, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott told The Financial Times in an interview published Saturday. “It doesn’t matter to us which of these will be first, we want all of them at some point,” Scott said. “Something could happen next month [or] in six months.” Wal-Mart’s spokeswoman Amy Wyatt, however, downplayed Scott’s comments. Neither the site of the first Wal-Mart...

This was an email forward. I took the names out for privacy. I had to post, too sweet! Copy and edited: A lady found the fawn under her step (they think the doe might have been hit by a car)... her Ridge Back dog is helping look after it. The family named the fawn Bella. Once she has regained her strength (she was not in good shape when the family found her) they are going to send her to some friends who (in the past) raised two orphan deer and released them to the wild. Right now she is being...

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NEW YORK (AP) A federal judge ruled Thursday that The New York Times has a First Amendment privilege to protect the confidentiality of its sources by denying the government phone records in certain instances. Noting that secrecy in government appears to be on the increase, Judge Robert W. Sweet refused in a 120-page ruling to toss out a lawsuit the newspaper filed last year to stop the Department of Justice from getting records of phone calls between two veteran journalists and sources. The judge noted that the government can obtain telephone records during a grand jury investigation when the information...

NEW YORK -- The New York Times has a First Amendment right to protect the confidentiality of its sources by denying the government phone records in certain instances, a judge ruled Thursday. Saying that secrecy in government appears to be on the rise, Judge Robert W. Sweet refused to toss out a First Amendment lawsuit the newspaper filed last year to stop the Department of Justice from getting records of phone calls between two veteran journalists and sources.

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. LAS VEGAS Count on rush-hour to be a bit sticky tonight in Las Vegas. The busy Spaghetti Bowl interchange is shut down after a truck lost a load of honey and a swarm of bees on the freeway. The N-H-P says traffic on southbound Interstate 15 could be stuck for hours while authorities summon a beekeeper from Needles, California -- about 120 miles away. Even troopers aren't getting close to the scene yet. No one was hurt -- but the truck dumped gallons of honey from about D Street on southbound...

The municipal drama that plays out each day in City Hall has a reliable cast of characters, their daily arrival as inevitable as budget deficits and comptroller reports. There are the lawmakers on the east side of the building, the mayor on the west, and the lobbyists, advocates and reporters sprinkled throughout. They join with the rest of the powerful and the seeking and the perpetually aggrieved who descend on city government each day. And then there is the challah lady. Soft spoken and unassuming, she strides up the steps of City Hall each week with a few toasty loaves...

ONTARIO NY-Wayne County investigators will consider an Ontario man's sex change as they search for a motive in the strangulation death of the man's wife. The Wayne County District Attorney's office confirmed Craig Musso, charged with the murder of his newlwed wife, Linda White, was born Wendy Musso. District Attorney Rick Healy said Musso underwent surgical procedures and hormone therapy over a number of years to become a man. The 44 year-old is accused of strangling his wife at their Ontario home November 12th, a month after the two were married. The couple had an eight-month online courtship. They met...

Washington - Dirty Harry had it right. Brain scans show revenge really might make your day. Planning revenge sparks enough satisfaction to motivate getting even ---and the amount of satisfaction actually predicts who will go to greater lengths to do so, report Swiss researchers who monitored people's brain activity during an elaborate game of double-cross. This may not sound too surprising. Just consider the old saying, "Revenge is sweet." (snip) The new study chips "yet another sliver from the national model of economic man," said Stanford University psychologist Brian Knutson, who reviewed the Swiss research. "Instead of cold, calculated reason,...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Since new CIA Director Porter Goss blocked the October Surprise agency left-wingers had prepared against Bush (discussed in “Porter At The Pass” last week), they desperately rigged another one, working with Mohammad ElBaradei at the UN. What nobody is focusing on in Al Qaqaagate is that the CIA is behind it. The anti-Bush lefties are now known as the “Rogue Weasels” at Langley, and they are frantic to do whatever they can to elect Kerry. They cooked up this entire phony “tons of missing explosives” scandal, sweet-talked the head of the UN’s nuclear inspection agency, ElBaradei, to carry their water...

<p>ITHACA -- The Tompkins County Legislature passed a revised anti-discrimination law Tuesday, adding new language that will protect the rights of the local transgendered community.</p> <p>The 11 Democrats on the Legislature supported the law, while the four Republicans voted against it.</p>

After Representatives from the anti-smoking campaign do their song and dance for the children of South Park Elementary, the boys take up the nasty habit.

Picture a typical Republican. Perhaps you see images of George Bush, John Ashcroft, Ronald Reagan, or maybe even Alex P. Keaton. Basically, many people think Republicans are a bunch of stodgy white guys with money. Times are changing. The Republican A-list now includes Colin Powell, Christie Whitman, J.C. Watts, and Condoleeza Rice. Women and minorities have been making great strides in the party, but they generally dress, talk, and act like their predecessors. You are more likely to find them at a formal reception than a rock concert. If Republicans are so different from mainstream America, then who voted for...

<p>"I have to die a man or live a coward." With these words, a mild-mannered black Detroit physician set in motion forces that would result in a dramatic milestone in America's civil rights movement, extending the notion that a man's home is his castle to blacks.</p>