http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/unclassified-news/ en-us Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:57:57 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414770/posts Stefan KanferAll That Jazz Terry Teachout’s luminous biography captures the “sunlit, hopeful art” of Louis Armstrong. 22 December 2009 Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong, by Terry Teachout (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 474 pages, $30) In the spring of 1998, Time commissioned Al Hirschfeld, the doyen of American caricaturists, to draw an unusual cover. It would celebrate five outstanding “Artists and Entertainers of the Century”—Pablo Picasso, Lucille Ball, Charlie Chaplin, Steven Spielberg, and Louis Armstrong. Much fanfare accompanied the announcement. That illustration was never published. A handful of staffers condemned the portrait of Armstrong as racist and made their feelings... City Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414770/posts#comment Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:57:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414352/posts We're following up on a story tonight that shows one good turn deserves another. Sunday night, we told you about a missing backpack in Kalispell. It contained a laptop and $6,000 that belonged to the former president of Burger King. Russ Klein thought he put it in his rental car. As it turns out, the vehicle was someone else's. We ran the story Sunday night. The next morning, the car's owner took the bag, the laptop and the cash to Kalispell Police. Klein offered a reward, but the good samaritan turned it down. So, Klein and his wife gave the... KECI Missoula http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414352/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:18:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414127/posts Yesterday, Dec. 22nd at approximately 0455 UT, magnetic fields around sunspot 1036 erupted, producing a C7-class solar flare. NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft was almost directly above the sunspot at the time of the blast and recorded this extreme ultraviolet movie: The shadowy wave racing away from the blast site is a "solar tsunami"--a swell of hot, magnetized plasma about 100,000 km high packing as much energy as a million megatons of TNT. The tsunami petered out before it went more than halfway around the sun, but another manifestation of the blast is still going. The eruption hurled a faint coronal mass... Spaceweather.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414127/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:05:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412865/posts One would think an entire think-tank university staff is behind Snopes. Not so. It's a couple — husband and wife. Their opinions are considered bible by countless who check out "the facts" by going to Snopes.com. These countless include college profs, Congresspersons, the National Review writers, and masses climbing all over the grassroots. RenewAmerica http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412865/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:33:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411364/posts Send cards to the troops! Pick the art and the message. e-mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411364/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:48:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410687/posts Youtube http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410687/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:24:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410686/posts What the rings would look like from different cities and latitudes across the world. It's interesting to imagine how it would effect culture throughout time. It would have influenced religion, mythology, navigation, etc.. Creator - Roy Prol SONG- Schubert's Ave Maria Sung by Barbara Bonney YouTube http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410686/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:24:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409687/posts WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Wednesday narrowly voted to raise the nation's debt limit by $290 billion, enough to cover the government's financing needs for another two months. The House voted 218 to 214 to raise the debt limit to $12.394 trillion. The Senate is expected to vote on the measure before the Treasury Department reaches its current debt limit of $12.1 trillion as forecast by the end of the month. KFI640.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409687/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:17:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406623/posts WHEELING - Ohio County Board of Education members will decide Monday whether to join 49 of West Virginia's 55 school districts in a lawsuit over health care benefits for retirees. Since 2006, school boards have had to record in their accounting books the amount of "other post-employment benefits" (OPEB) owed to their retirees. The figure primarily pertains to retirement health care and life insurance benefits. The Intelligencer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406623/posts#comment Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:53:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406526/posts "The New World Order came into being at 4:25 Tuesday afternoon (NB: November 10, 2009). It arrived at the Capitol, until that moment the seat of American government, in the form of the stooped and bespectacled figure of Ban Ki-moon, who as U.N. secretary general is the de facto leader of what conspiracy theorists call the One World Government. One floor beneath the Senate chamber, Ban, a South Korean national, took his place behind a lectern bearing the Senate seal and spelled out his demands. "I would certainly expect the Senate to take the necessary action; that's what I have... WaPo's Washington Sketch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406526/posts#comment Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:56:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405954/posts Saraa Barhoum (laughing): “Well, everybody… Obviously, your father wanted to teach you something.” faithfreedom.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405954/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:53:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404368/posts "...But this, which Tavernier fully describes, was by far the most sumptuous, and was specially distinguised by a peacock, whose outspread tail was made of blue sapphires and other coloured gems, and whose body was of enamelled gold studded with stones, and with a large ruby in front, whence hung a pear-shaped pearl, about 50 carats in weight, or 200 grains..." JJKent webpage http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404368/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:47:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2403181/posts Original video sequence and theme song from the Littlest Hobo 1981 TV series. Music, guitar, and vocals by Terry Bush. Lyrics by John Crossen Youtube http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2403181/posts#comment Tue, 8 Dec 2009 21:56:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402424/posts I post this thread to start an FR 'snow fort' against the next TWAP speech that pre-empts Charlie, Linus & Snoopy. Original thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2398030/posts Various http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402424/posts#comment Mon, 7 Dec 2009 23:52:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402040/posts Participants at the Copenhagen global climate summit opened talks Monday at the start of the holiday season, but they won't be surrounded by festive Christmas decor, according to Denmark's Foreign Ministry. Since Christmas is a religious holiday, it has no place at a United Nations event, said officials planning the event. A sponsor providing fir trees for the conference's Christmas trees learned this the hard way when it was turned away by planners of the international event, the Copenhagen Post reported. FoxNews http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402040/posts#comment Mon, 7 Dec 2009 15:51:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400423/posts Where is Fox News now on BLINKOTV? They had it streamed live in HD and now it's GONE again!! Does anyone know a place to watch it for free online? I work all day and want to watch Beck. Myself http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400423/posts#comment Fri, 4 Dec 2009 19:47:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400002/posts Members of the Southampton Railroad Station Society plan to mark the 1921 crash of two trains near Bryn Athyn, which killed 27. For many area residents the train track on Creek Road in Upper Moreland is just that - a train track. But to some railroad historians like Charles Liberto, Frank Baldwin and Richard Mansley and a few area families, the single lane track means history. A painful history. Saturday will mark the 88th anniversary of a deadly Upper Moreland train wreck that claimed 27 lives and injured 70 people. The crash and the high number of casualties, many of... Daily Intelligencer (Doylestown, PA) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400002/posts#comment Fri, 4 Dec 2009 08:17:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397075/posts "Machismo!" shouted a young college student in the third row. "Tough!" "Violent!" "Homophobic!" shouted three other young men, sprinkled throughout the packed lecture hall. Ethan Wong, a student at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., who was dressed in a slim business suit, nodded as he wrote each word on the chalk board. The roomful of young men was brainstorming all the qualities associated with masculinity. Mr. Wong was one of the organizers of the National Conference for Campus-Based Men's Gender Equality and Anti-Violence Groups, a long and clunky name for an unprecedented event that recently took place at his... Pittsburgh Post-Gazette http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397075/posts#comment Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:06:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396418/posts Sixty years following its first publication and twenty-five since the fateful year, George Orwell’s 1984 remains a mystery to the experts. They convene often in exotic places to agree that Orwell wrote a dystopia on the communist take-over of Britain and America. They concur how he reversed the final two digits of the year he wrote the book — 1948 — to arrive at the title 1984. They write that Orwell was not a prophet and few predictions fill his volume. These consensus beliefs on 1984 by the experts still shape the views of tens of millions of citizens who... The New American http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396418/posts#comment Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:38:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395046/posts ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP)—Charles Woodson(notes) wants to be known as more than a football player. Donating $2 million to the new University of Michigan Mott Children’s Hospital and Women’s Hospital gives him a chance to do that. The school announced Woodson’s gift on Thanksgiving before he played for the Green Bay Packers against the Detroit Lions. Woodson’s money will support pediatric research by The Charles Woodson Clinical Research Fund in the $754-million, 1.1-million square foot hospital slated to open in 2012. He hopes to attract the world’s best researchers who want to help children with cancer, heart disease, kidney disorders... Yahoo Sports http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395046/posts#comment Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:53:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394063/posts Only a year after he had helped Barack Obama get elected by eviscerating his close friend, Clinton White House colleague and Yale Law School classmate, Hillary Clinton, Craig was himself eviscerated by the Obama inner circle. Writing in Politico, Elizabeth Drew called it “the shabbiest episode of his presidency,” saying that it had caused people who had helped Obama rise to question whether he would behave in as classy and non-Clintonian a fashion as they had hoped. It is especially puzzling given that Obama faces tough midterms and a less-than-certain re-election — and given that we all now know someone... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394063/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:33:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394014/posts These images may look like just pretty patterns, but they are visual representations of songs sung by whales and dolphins. Daily Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394014/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:42:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393531/posts BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Area residents steamed about a new bikini espresso stand packed a Bellevue City Council meeting on Monday night. They put the heat on council members to do something, and quickly. "Bellevue has set the bar so high for being a great community for families. That's why we moved here. And it's plummeting with this," said resident Susie Goett. The complaints poured in after Knotty Bodies Espresso opened up right beside the popular Crossroads Park over the weekend. The company received similar complaints when it opened up a stand right next to a school and a church in... KOMONews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393531/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:47:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393160/posts A special council created by the governor of Massachusetts to help illegal immigrants integrate into society has come up with more than 100 recommendations, including a costly idea that was solidly rejected by the legislature a few years ago. Among the suggestions offered by Governor Deval Patrick’s advisory council are granting illegal immigrants driver’s licenses and discounted, in-state tuition at public colleges. In 2006 the Massachusetts legislature rejected a measure that would have given the heavily reduced tuition perk to illegal aliens who had graduated from a state high school. In all, the governor’s council offered 131 policy recommendations—labeled New... judicial watch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393160/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:47:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392490/posts Barack Obama didn't have a lot of bread-and-butter accomplishments to point to, either. He had, in fact, less governing experience than Palin already has. So experience can be gotten around. Slate.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392490/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:03:52 GMT