Free Republic

Pensacola pro-lifers celebrate their victory. Credit: 40 Days for Life Pensacola, Fla., Nov 8, 2009 / 04:12 am (CNA).- An abortion facility in Pensacola, Florida has announced that it will close, bringing joy to participants in the three 40 Days for Life prayer vigils at the site. One pro-life organizer said the closing was “an answer to prayer.”The Community Healthcare Center, which was dually licensed as an abortion clinic and as a clinical laboratory, faced a $413,000 fine after the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) found its lab license had been expired for 413 days. The clinic...

This has been coming for some time, and after recent shakeups at Disney, is really no great surprise. Now Daniel Battsek, the current president of Miramax, has announced that he’ll step down at the end of January 2010. At the same time, Disney will relocate the label from New York City to Disney’s headquarters in Burbank, CA, where they’ll reduce Miramax’s output to just three films a year. The label that launched Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith and was the biggest face of the ’90s indie explosion is basically dead. OK, the real end of the era hit...

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Thousands of Icelanders lined up at McDonald's restaurants to order their last Big Macs before the U.S. fast-food chain abandons the crisis-hit island at midnight Saturday due to soaring costs. The world's largest fast-food company said earlier this week that all three of its restaurants in Iceland, operated by franchisee Jon Ogmundsson, would shut down October 31. The outlets have been packed since the announcement, with lines at one restaurant on the east side of the city backing up out the door and onto the street. At lunchtime Friday the outlet's parking lot was full and staff...

To: Charlize Theron, Hugh Jackman, Seth Rogen, Tina Fey, Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, every actor, actress, screenwriter, costumer, best boy, cameraman, set designer, makeup artist, and agent--plus anyone else who makes their living in the film industry. From: Greg Sandoval, CNET media reporter and film fan. Re: Your livelihood Cut your spending. Save your money. Many of the revenue streams that have gushed into your industry for decades, some for nearly a century, are about to dry up. This will likely mean a period of belt tightening like you've never seen before. The end is coming for DVDs, traditional movie...

THE DAY after the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced plans to close two of the city's storied Catholic high schools - Northeast Catholic and Cardinal Dougherty - livid parents and crestfallen students protested the decision. Hundreds of students from Northeast Catholic, commonly called North Catholic, blew air horns and yelled outside the school last night in exuberant defiance of the archdiocesan decree to close the schools at the end of the school year.

Here is video of Glenn Beck today talking about the "end of the U.S. Dollar" as we know it. Beck said that quietly, under the radar, this huge story is unfolding, and it will impact the lives of all Americans. He lays out how the value of the dollar is being destroyed, and what that is going to mean for our future. . . (VIDEO)

Siblings Georgia, Jimmy and John Roussos have spent most of their lives working in the kitchen of the restaurant their father opened in 1954. The eatery managed to survive a hurricane and other setbacks, but it wasn't until this August that the recession took its toll, forcing Roussos Restaurant in Daphne, Ala., to permanently shut its doors. After months of slow sales, family businesses are being forced to close, ending legacies and leaving behind a wake of sad customers and loyal employees. "Some family businesses that were just hanging on have said it's time to get out," says Dann Van...

The organization that brought you all those banners, ads and fund-raising pitches for the 2016 Olympics in Chicago soon will pay the price for the city's failure to get the games. Chicago 2016, the high-powered civic committee that has worked on the city's bid for three years, is expected to lay off most of its 57 paid staffers by the end of October. A small group is expected to remain through year-end as it winds down operations. In a "stewardship report" issued in late August, the committee disclosed that it has raised $76.9 million from July 2006 through last June...

Penske Automotive Group (PAG.N) said on Wednesday it has terminated discussions with General Motors Co GM.UL to acquire the automaker's Saturn brand. GM said in a separate statement it would wind down the Saturn brand and its dealership network.

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) - The Penske Automotive Group has announced that it has terminated talks with GM on acquiring the Saturn brand. Penske says negotiations with GM regarding the future supply of vehicles caused the breakdown in talks. G In a statement issued by General Motors, the company is very disappointed about Penske's decision. This will ultimately be the end for the Saturn brand as GM prepares to wind down production and dealership network. STATEMENT FROM GENERAL MOTORS: Today we learned that Penske Automotive Group (PAG) has decided to terminate discussions with General Motors to acquire Saturn. This is...

GM To Shut Down Saturn After Penske Ends Talks Production agreement with another manufacturer falls through, killing deal GM to drop Saturn after Penske ends talks Sept. 30: General Motors Co. says it plans to shut down its Saturn brand and dealer network after talks with Penake Automotive Group fell apart. DETROIT - General Motors Co. said Wednesday it would shut down its Saturn division after an agreement to sell it to Penske Automotive Group Inc. fell apart. The Bloomfield, Michigan dealership headed by auto racing magnate Roger Penske walked away after it was unable to find a manufacturer to...

<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Peterbilt Corp. permanently closed its truck plant in Nashville.</p>

America is no longer a superpower. Led by President Obama, its retreat on the world stage has been sudden, swift and stunning. His administration is actively pursuing a foreign policy of detente and self-abnegation. Washington no longer wants - or believes it is possible - to remain the last, sole hyperpower.

San Francisco dance station goes off the airEventually everyone's energy wanes and the aptly named dance radio station has officially run out of steam. San Francisco-based Energy 92.7 confirmed rumors that the station is going off the air on its Facebook page Thursday. No reason was given for the closure but a farewell party (with possible answers) will take place at The Lookout in San Francisco's Castro district Friday night at 5 p.m. "Dear fans, we just got the word. 7pm is the end of Energy 92.7," the station told its fans on Facebook. "Thank you all for your support....

Here is video of Ann Coulter on with Sean Hannity tonight, where she sounded off on the United Nations speeches today, and the Democrats' determination to pass some kind of a Health Care Bill that will be the "camel nose under the tent," which she said twice, will "be the end of the Republican Party." Coulter believes any kind of Government Health Care will be "such a game-changer" that it will obligate people to the government to the extent that the long-term impact will be people voting for Democrats. She believes Democrats will be willing to use the Nuclear Option...

Guiding Light, television’s longest running soap opera, ended a 72-year run on Friday, closing a chapter of American media history long after its mainstay audience of housewives had moved on. The show began as a 15-minute radio programme on NBC Radio in 1937 and was one of the few programmes that thrived in its transition to television on the CBS network by 1952. The show was considered ahead of its time by confronting heady social issues: alcoholism, rape, disease. By the 1980s, the template of the soaps – the intermingling of the public and private lives of its characters, big...

ACORN, a social justice organization with roots in [New Orleans], battles a string of scandals. The announcement stuck to a wall outside the entrance to ACORN's local office in the 2600 block of Canal Street quietly signals the trouble afoot. In English and Spanish, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now tells walk-up clients that ACORN's housing office has shut itself down for two weeks to immerse itself "in an intensive training program." The sign is a symptom of a tumultuous week in the history of a controversial poor people's social justice movement -- one founded by a New...

Tonight Fox will run the series finale of King of the Hill, the saga of Hank Hill and his gang of associates living in their exurb paradise of Arlen, Texas.... The beauty of King is that while it pokes fun at Hank’s myriad foibles, it understands the creepy nature of those who dedicate their lives to interfering in the lives of others, always claiming the moral high ground yet inevitably maximizing their own personal power and advantage. From snooty school guidance counselors to pompous college professors to lazy municipal clerks, Hank is constantly beset by nimrods trying to force him...

Edward Kennedy was buried Saturday, the last son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, the longest-serving member of the only royal political family our democratic republic has ever produced. Those who remember the 1960s understand viscerally, even if they do not share themselves, the almost mystical devotion the Kennedys inspired. Those who do not find it harder to understand, and those who come after us may find it utterly mystifying. But it was real. Other political families -- the Adamses, the Harrisons, the Tafts -- produced multiple generations of national politicians but generated nothing like mass enthusiasm. The sons of...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration plans to end the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program on Monday, giving car shoppers a few more days to take advantage of big government incentives. The Transportation Department said Thursday the government will wind down the program on Monday at 8 p.m. EDT. Car buyers can receive rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models. "It's been a thrill to be part of the best economic news story in America," Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "Now we are working toward an orderly wind...

CNN's James Carville: "Looks Like The Health Care Public Option Is Out" - 08/10/09

Arena Football League will not resume play & will likely file Chapter 7 liquidation. Orlando Predators have played last game.#fox35

We are six months into the Obama reign, and he surely did have a good thing going until very recently. He pushed through what voters thought was a stimulus bill. He held numerous press conferences at which an adoring media allowed him to display his rhetorical skills. No mumbling George W. Bush, he. He toured the world, to the applause of adoring masses from London to Paris to Cairo. He fulfilled a campaign promise to tackle perceived global warming and lead the world to a cooler, greener future by urging Congress to pass a cap-and-trade bill aimed at cutting CO2...

Something strange is happening in America. For the first time, a white man is standing up to a black man’s charge of racism. And he is being supported by his employer. In another first, the media coverage of this event is not employing the time worn premise that only whites can be racist. This incident may have gone the way of millions of others but for the fact that this professor was a friend of President Obama. Luckily for Henry Gates, the most powerful man in the world took time out [...]. The President then announced publicly that the Cambridge...

GeoCities web hosting has been around since the very early days of the internet and while it’s not widely used anymore, it’s name still arouses a fond memory in the minds of early adopters. Every once in awhile, a long-dead GeoCities site will even crop up in search results. Yahoo, the current owner of GeoCities, has decided to finally put the sites and the entire service to rest, announcing that GeoCities will cease to function on October 26, 2009.

Forty years ago this week, science fiction writers were media celebrities—at least for a few hours. When Neil Armstrong stepped on to the surface of the moon on July 21, 1969, his “giant leap for mankind” was not just a fulfillment of President Kennedy’s promise of a lunar expedition before decade’s end. It also validated the starry-eyed dreams of a legion of pulp fiction writers. Long before NASA was founded, the ABCs of sci-fi (Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke) and others of their profession had been chronicling the exploration of the universe in works of imaginative fiction. The moon landing was their...

North Dakota’s only American Civil Liberties Union office in Fargo closed in February, a closure blamed generally on the poor national economy, but also to losses major contributors suffered in the Bernard Madoff scandal.... “The ACLU got hit pretty hard in this economic downturn as far as fewer donors,” Ring said. “There were a couple of really big donors that were really affected by the Madoff scandal.”

Sarah is now unelectable on a national stage. The “quitter” specter will hang around her neck like “swimmer” does to Ted Kennedy. You’ll be able to spot the realistic, clear thinking conservatives because they see and admit this early so we can put it behind us get on with identifying the candidates who can win in ‘12. BTW - This doesn’t rule out a tangential private career ala Newt or a run for a House or Senate seat (although I don’t know where at this point) but as a national candidate she is toast. That so many conservatives can’t see...

I was on vacation with my family in Iceland when my office called and shared the terrible news of Michael Jackson's passing. My wife and children were with me in the van. We could scarcely believe what we had heard. The children all remembered Michael fondly. He had given them their dog Marshmallow who is a member of our family until today. My daughter teared up. And while I was heartsick at the news, especially for his three young children, I was not shocked. I dreaded this day and knew it had to come sooner rather than later. In the...

The GOP — and conservatives in general — have taken the infidelity scandal involving South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford particularly hard. The reasons are threefold: 1) News of Senator John Ensign’s affair broke less than two weeks earlier. Having another extramarital affair hit the news so soon afterwards is frustrating and disturbing to the party faithful. 2) Unlike Ensign, Mark Sanford was a legitimate 2012 presidential contender and was viewed as one of the biggest rising stars in the party. Seeing his potential thrown away like this is nothing short of tragic for those who had hopes for him. 3)...

Mr. Unbelievable, the neighbor, went with his father when his father ordered a 1978 Cadillac Eldorado. In the late 1970s, Cadillac was experiencing sales records across the model line. The word had gotten out that in 1979 the Eldorado would be significantly downsized, so it can be stated with certainty that Mr. Unbelievable persuaded his father that he should get the last of the big ones. By the last of the big ones, I mean comically big, riotously big, stupendously big. And on the day that General Motors declared bankruptcy last week, effectively ending its long reign as one of...

Putting it in the vernacular of little people everywhere: “The worst has happened”. The 4th Annual New Hampshire Live Free or Die Rally is quickly sinking into a quagmire of bureaucratic red tape, and with no 11th hour reprieve on the horizon, chief organizer Jean Coutu may have to cancel. Billed as the All Free, Only TRUE First Amendment Rally in the U.S., this years Live Free or Die Rally is scheduled for August 21, 22 and 23. “It looks like it’s finally over. Not just for us, but for the right to assemble, Coutu wrote Canada Free Press (CFP)...

Jay Leno Bids Farewell to "Tonight Show" By REUTERS May 29, 2009 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Jay Leno bid farewell to "The Tonight Show" on Friday, ending his 17-year run as host with a finale that stayed true to the style that made him the top-rated performer on U.S. late-night television. The main difference was a long ovation that Leno struggled to quiet as he took the stage for an opening monologue that poked fun, as usual, at politicians, celebrities and current events. He thanked the likes of pop star Michael Jackson and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, whose...

Can you hear that? It's the sound of the final nail being hammered down onto the coffin lid of the U.S. car industry. President Obama wields the hammer -- in the form of a massive uptick in federally required fuel economy standards that will require each automaker's lineup of new vehicles to achieve an average of 35.5 MPG by 2016. But what could be so bad about forcing the automakers to make cars more fuel efficient? Dig deeper and you'll see. Even the Obama people concede the new mileage standards will cost American consumers about $1,600 per vehicle by 2016...

Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI - News) today said it will cease print publication of the Tucson Citizen. The Citizen will continue operating its web site, www.tucsoncitizen.com. The last print edition of the Citizen will be published on Saturday, May 16. “Dramatic changes in our industry combined with the difficult economy – particularly in this region – mean it is no longer viable to produce two daily printed newspapers in Tucson,” said Bob Dickey, president of the U.S. Community Publishing division of Gannett. “We are pleased that the Citizen’s web site will continue its role as a place for a...

Jay Leno Says Goodbye to Pontiac: A Tribute to GM’s Performance Brand If you haven't heard, Pontiac is no more. In an exclusive story for PM, Jay Leno looks back at the 83-year-old brand, focusing on Pontiac’s historic muscle cars and surprisingly innovative technology. By Jay Leno Published on: April 28, 2009 I was always a fan of those "Wide Track" Pontiacs of the '60s. When I was a little kid there was no sexier wheel—either in the aftermarket or in regular production—than the 8-lug Pontiac wheel. I remember first seeing them around 1962 on some of the big Bonnevilles....

THE plasma TV isn't dead yet -- but it looks like it's not long for this world. Like the Betamax videotape format and laser disc DVD before it, the plasma TV set -- the favorite of techies -- is losing out to the more popularly priced LCD TV. Pioneer and VIZIO -- the nation's No. 2 set maker -- say they're abandoning the plasma business. With a 22 percent sales drop in the first quarter of 2009 compared to last year -- when the sale of flat-screen TVs overall is sky rocketing -- "the writing is kind of on the...

Since the economy began sliding downhill in late 2007, mainstream economic and market experts have consistently erred on the sunny side. As late as June 2008, mainstream consensus held that the U.S. was heading for a “soft landing” and would avoid recession. Several months later, the slump was acknowledged to have started in January 2008, but we were supposed to see renewed growth by mid-2009, with unemployment peaking in the eight-to-nine percent range. A quick “shovel-ready” stimulus bag was supposed to set us back on the road to prosperity. In January, recovery projections were pushed forward to late 2009. Today,...

Since the economy began sliding downhill in late 2007, mainstream economic and market experts have consistently erred on the sunny side. As late as June 2008, mainstream consensus held that the U.S. was heading for a “soft landing” and would avoid recession. Several months later, the slump was acknowledged to have started in January 2008, but we were supposed to see renewed growth by mid-2009, with unemployment peaking in the eight-to-nine percent range. A quick “shovel-ready” stimulus bag was supposed to set us back on the road to prosperity. In January, recovery projections were pushed forward to late 2009. Today,...

It's the end of the road for The Beltway Boys, Fox News Channel's Saturday evening political chat with newsmen Fred Barnes and Mort Kondracke. Whispers hears that the show has run its course. A Fox spokesman confirmed this when contacted for comment. No replacement has been named. Theirs was a fun mix of the week's politics, a peppy version of some of the other Saturday media political reviews. They talked about "hot stories," the week's big events, and sized up personalities in the "Ups and Downs" segment. While it's now off the air, those in the know say that Barnes...

The nation's largest left-wing newspaper and the bible for network news producers and bookers may be going under. This week, The New York Times announced more staggering losses: nearly $75 million dollars in the first quarter alone. The New York Post is reporting that the Times Company owes more than $1 billion and has just $34 million in the bank. A few months ago, the company borrowed $250 million from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim at a reported 14 percent interest rate. With things going south fast, pardon the pun, Slim might want to put in a call to Times publisher...

General Motors is expected to announce Monday that it plans to kill its Pontiac brand, rather than maintain it as a niche brand with one or two models into the future as had been previously announced by company officials.

Click To See and Hear Song Anti-Christ Alive In America? On Youtube or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s75nRAWFNMsTo The Tune Of Zager and Evans' In The Year 2525Original At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQB2-Kmiic *Lyrics Writer Disavows Any Connection Between The Anti-Christ And The Current President Of The United States

Newsweek greeted the coming of Easter with a black cover, and the headline "The Decline and Fall of Christian America," spelled out in red in the shape of a cross. Inside, it was more declarative: "The End of Christian America." Why? Because they found that the percentage of self-identified Christians had fallen 10 points since 1990. OK, then let's compare. How much has Newsweek's circulation fallen since 1990? Just since 2007, their announced circulation has dropped by 52 percent. It would be more plausible to state "The End of Newsweek." At the end of 2007, Newsweek reduced its "base rate"...

During the G-20 summit in London, Barack Obama took time out for a brief meeting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia caught on video by two cameras, and by a still photographer, where the U.S. president bowed deeply in greeting the Saudi monarch. No major American media paid any attention to the startling, unreciprocated bow, gesture of subservience. In tandem, there was scant paid attention to a disquieting comment by Obama when he spoke effusively about a 2002 Saudi peace initiative for normalization of relations between the Arab world and Israel. The Saudi initiative, which would end Israel as a...

From the day the founding Fathers risked their liberty and life by signing the Declaration of Independence, there has been those who have wanted to sink this great ship called the United States of America. Well 143 years later the good ship America took a torpedo hit that at the time seemed like just another glancing blow. What many still consider the greatest step forward in equality for the sexes, was more then just a glancing blow however. It was in fact a deadly strike that entered the very heart of the ship and has been smoldering since. The damage...

Hearst's Seattle Post-Intelligencer Announces End to Print Edition By SHIRA OVIDE The Seattle Post-Intelligencer announced it will stop publishing its print edition on Tuesday and convert to an online-only news operation. The move had been anticipated since early January, when Hearst Corp., owner of the Seattle P-I and 15 other newspapers, announced it would shift the Seattle paper to a Web-news outlet or shutter the operation entirely, if a buyer wasn't found in 60 days. Hearst said it couldn't continue to absorb the P-I's losses, which the company says reached $14 million last year.

ANALYSIS Obama's budget is the end of an era The president's ambitious proposal breaks with the conservative principles that have ruled national politics since Reagan. By Janet Hook February 27, 2009 Reporting from Washington -- Not since Lyndon B. Johnson and Franklin D. Roosevelt has a president moved to expand the role of government so much on so many fronts -- and with such a demanding sense of urgency. The scope of President Obama's ambition was laid bare in the budget blueprint issued Thursday. The budget would account for 24.1% of next year's estimated gross domestic product, one of the...

DENVER – Questions about the future of the Rocky Mountain News had become so common, the newspaper's staff put up a handwritten paper sign on the news desk that said, "We don't know." On Thursday, someone wrote over it in heavy black marker: "Now we know." Colorado's oldest newspaper, which launched in Denver in 1859, printed its last edition Friday, leaving The Denver Post as the only daily newspaper in town. Since 2001, the News has shared business operations with The Denver Post in a joint operating agreement between Scripps and The Post's owner, MediaNews Group Inc.

READING, Pa.A flag is flying at half-staff outside The Hershey Co. plant in Reading where production of York Peppermint Patties is ending. After 23 years in Reading, the chocolate maker is closing the plant Friday and moving production to a new factory it has built in Monterey, Mexico. It will mean the loss of 300 jobs in the southeastern Pennsylvania city. The plant also makes 5th Avenue and Zagnut candy bars and Jolly Rancher hard candies. The nation's largest candy manufacturer said two years ago the plant would close as part of a wider move by Hershey to eliminate 1,500...