Free Republic

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The finance minister for Canada's top oil producing province of Alberta said he expects the Canada-to-U.S. Keystone XL pipeline project to be "revived" following presidential elections this year. In an interview on Monday, Ron Liepert said he thinks government approval for the $7 billion pipeline to ship around 830,000 barrels per day of oil sands crude from Alberta to South Texas could come following elections on November 6.

This is big," wrote White House director of new media Macon Phillips in a February 23, 2009 blog post , "the President today promised that by the end of his first term, he will cut in half the massive federal deficit we've inherited. And we'll do it in a new way: honestly and candidly." Indeed, President Obama did make that promise that day, saying , "today I'm pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face...

Received this from a friend and wanted to share it--a look at the man Rick Santorum in a short interview before the congregation of Grace Community Church, Springfield, MO this past Sunday... http://www.atgrace.com/video-player?v=36246859&s=22c174c7667ad8d985dccc5e1afcc862

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's first new nuclear power plant in a generation won approval Thursday as federal regulators voted to grant a license for two new reactors in Georgia. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-1 to approve Atlanta-based Southern Co.'s request to build two nuclear reactors at its Vogtle site south of Augusta. The vote clears the way for officials to issue an operating license for the reactors, which could begin operating as soon as 2016 and 2017. The NRC last approved construction of a nuclear plant in 1978, a year before a partial meltdown of the Three Mile...

Political commentator Roland Martin has been suspended indefinitely by CNN over a series of tweets he published during the Super Bowl. "Roland Martin's tweets were regrettable and offensive," CNN said in a statement. "Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated. We have been giving careful consideration to this matter, and Roland will not be appearing on our air for the time being." Those comments, published on his personal Twitter feed, concerned a two Super Bowl ads, including an H&M spot showcasing a new David Beckham underwear line.

It starts with the Superiority Syndrome: People acting as if they’re more important than a U.S. president—when they clearly are not—to fingers in the face, to people questioning his already established and proven citizenship. The incidents of disrespect towards President Obama continue. When people criticize administration policy, that’s just politics. But, several incidents directed at this president appear to find new lows. Of course, people can disagree with the president. But, why can’t people respect the office of the presidency? The very public nature of disrespect towards President Obama is noteworthy. Did Gov. Jan Brewer (R-Ariz.) have to conduct business...

If you walk up to a barn, you might say, “Something stinks in there.” If you talk to today’s teenagers, you might hear, “Hey dude, what smells?” In Shakespeare’s time, “Something is rotten in Denmark.” Hamlet Act 1, scene 4, 87–91: The character Marcellus, and not Hamlet, is the one who coined the phrase. There's a reason he said the "State of Denmark" rather than just Denmark: the fish are rotting from the head down—all is not well at the top of the political hierarchy. In 2012, you might say, “Something is rotten in the U.S. Congress.” At this time,...

Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries to Sweden have been threatened by the city of Gothenburg with thousands of dollars in fines for home schooling their children, as the Swedish government attempts to force this Jewish family to send its children to public school. On January 26, Rabbi Alexander Namdar and his wife Leah, representatives of the worldwide Chassidic movement to Sweden for the past 21 years, were served at their home with a notice by the Gothenburg school authorities. According to the notice, four of their children who currently study at an international online school must be delivered to a Swedish school by...

This was supposed to be Mitt Romney's week. Back-to-back wins in Florida and Nevada have helped to cement him as the all-but-certain Republican nominee. Instead, the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll points to President Obama as the biggest winner of the GOP primary contest. President Obama has snuck ahead of Romney among registered voters, 51 percent to 45 percent. What's more, 50 percent of voters in the new poll approve of Obama's job performance and the same percentage say he deserves re-election. http://abcn.ws/z3pXsy

No Murtha Ship! Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus plans to honor the late Congressman John Murtha by giving his name to the Navy's new LPD (Transport Dock Ship), to be launched in 2013. In doing so, Sec. Mabus is breaking the Navy's tradition of naming its San Antonio-class amphibious transports after American cities. He is also honoring a man who: 1) was one of the most corrupt members of the U.S. Congress, and 2) called our Marines murderers who killed Iraqi women and children "in cold blood." We believe that such a man does not deserve to be...

Hi All, Wanted to ask a couple of questions: When we see stats thrown around about how the economy added XXX,XXX jobs last month, does that take into account the number of first-time unemployment filings? In other words, if we see that the economy added 200,000 last month, is that a standalone or a net number? Is that 200,000 added, while (say) 350,000 first time unemployment filings means that there was actually a net *loss* of 150,000 jobs? Or does it mean that, with 350,000 unemployment filings, there were a total gross of 550,000 jobs added, which is balanced to...

Longstanding tension between Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Democratic President Barack Obama flared into the public spotlight Wednesday just after Air Force One touched down in Phoenix. Brewer, who was on the tarmac to greet Obama, hand-delivered a letter before engaging the president "intensely" for several minutes, including pointing her finger directly at him, according to Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown, acting as a pool reporter for other media outlets.

Related: David J Vitale: http://www.muckety.com/David-J-Vitale/5794.muckety "Urban Partnership Bank Chairman David Vitale on ShoreBank, Federal Aid for Banks, and Detroit’s Troubles" http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/April-2011/Urban-Partnership-Bank-Chairman-David-Vitale-on-ShoreBank-Federal-Aid-for-Banks-and-Detroits-Troubles/ UPB link: https://www.upbnk.com/faith-based Board: "Urban Partnership Bank names board" By Becky Yerak Posted Aug. 27, 2010 Urban Partnership Bank, the newly formed group that last week bought failed Chicago-based ShoreBank, has named five-people to its board of directors. It includes three former First Chicago executives who had joined ShoreBank in recent months during its last-ditch and ultimately unsuccessful effort to raise capital so state and federal regulators wouldn’t seize it. Those are David Vitale, who, as previously reported, will...

NHL teams have visited the White House for years after winning the Stanley Cup, but it's a safe bet that never before has a Senator shown up more beaten and broken than the hockey players. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was part of the ceremony honoring the Boston Bruins 2011 Stanley Cup win, appearing like he had just come from a knock-down, drag-out ruckus. Kerry, 68, suffered two black eyes and a broken nose during a "friendly game of hockey" with family and buddies over the Christmas break, according to TheHill.com. If that's the result of a friendly game, we don't...

As he prepares for his third State of the Union address--and, he hopes, not his last--Barack Obama's likelihood of reelection has soared in the last few days to 56.8 percent, the highest it has been since last July. This movement is correlates with Newt Gingrich's increased likelihood of gaining the Republican nomination, now at 29.7 percent, up from about 5 percent. But, this upward trend is also correlates with a simultaneous downward movement of Mitt Romney's likelihood of winning the presidency if he wins the nomination, now at 44.0, down from about 48 percent. We utilize prediction market data for...

New Obama 2012 Campaign Flyer: "I was born in Hawaii to a Single Mother..."This flyer is currently being shared / "re-shared" on Facebook. I am curious as to where it originated and thought it might interest my fellow freepers. I have only posted once or twice.. long ago, so 'bare' with me. ;) The text reads: "I was born in Hawaii to a single mother. I was raised in Kansas by my two loving grandparents. I went to Harvard Law School and became a community organizer in Chicago. My story is one told a million times over in this country;...

Yesterday in Walt Disney World, the land “where dreams come true,” President Barack Obama appeared before Cinderella’s Castle to announce his latest plan to boost jobs in America–an effort to increase tourism to the United States. His announcement came one day after he flat out said “NO” to another plan that would have directly created at least 20,000 truly shovel-ready jobs–and 179,000 American jobs by 2035–while bringing more than 700,000 barrels of oil to the United States each day. That plan was the Keystone XL pipeline. Had the President approved Keystone, a 1,700-mile pipeline would have been extended from Alberta,...

To save the world -- or really to even just make our personal lives better -- we will need to work less. Time, like work, has become commodified, a recent legacy of industrial capitalism, where a controlled, 40-hour week in factories was necessary. Our behavior is totally out of step with human priorities and today’s economy. To lay the foundations for a "steady-state" economy -- one that can continue running sustainably forever -- a recent paper argues that it’s time for advanced developed countries transition to a normal 21-hour work week. This does not mean a mandatory work week or...

Car owners with a television are 27 percent more likely to suffer heart attacks than people who have neither, according to a global study on physical exercise and heart disease published Wednesday. More broadly, the study -- covering more than 29,000 people in 52 countries -- showed that working up a light sweat may be the best preventative medicine against heart failure.

Your chances of getting a job depend greatly on your major. A Georgetown University study released Wednesday shows that unemployment rates among college graduates are highest for those who majored in architecture, arts and the liberal arts. Some want to address D.C.’s high unemployment by getting more District youth to go to college; unemployment is 26 percent in Ward 8, where half of adults stopped their schooling at high school. That’s the impetus behind a new D.C. proposal requiring all District high school students to take a college admission exam. But these unemployment figures show that simply getting a college...

Friend -- These Republican candidates spent in some cases more than a year -- in Mitt Romney's case seven years -- campaigning in Iowa to be the next president. But tonight, GOP voters there couldn't decisively get behind anyone. Who exactly leads the Republican race going forward isn't clear, but we do know two things: 1) The extremist Tea Party agenda won a clear victory. No matter who the Republicans nominate, we'll be running against someone who has embraced that agenda in order to win -- vowing to let Wall Street write its own rules, end Medicare as we know...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Thousands of dead blackbirds rained down on a town in central Arkansas last New Year's Eve after revelers set off fireworks that spooked them from their roost, and officials were reporting a similar occurrence Saturday as 2012 approached.

There’s no doubting that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly has endeared herself to her audience. She’s wildly popular with a loyal fan base. And Thursday afternoon she may have showed why: she’s not afraid to go off script and even get personal. Case in point: she revealed she once had a potentially embarrassing breastfeeding incident on a plane. Fox reporter Trace Gallagher was discussing the recent “nurse-ins,” where mothers — in response to a fellow mother being asked not to breastfeed at a Target store — descended on stores across the country to breastfeed their babies in public. And after...

It sounds like one of those diseases that should have been wiped out long ago, but malaria, unfortunately, is alive and well, especially in Africa and other tropical, third world locations. Battling malaria is complicated for numerous reasons, among them the difficulty of creating drugs to battle the disease. Now, however, Hebrew University researchers have come up with a novel method of producing the medicine that can treat malaria – using common, everyday tobacco plants. Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted via mosquitoes. Symptoms of malaria include fever, headache, and vomiting, and usually appear between...

It wouldn't be Christmas without 'A Christmas Story,' the 1983 movie that became an instant holiday classic thanks to its winning cast and quotable scenes. The film is as time-honored a tradition as getting your tongue stuck to a pole in freezing weather. Here's a then-and-now look at the gang from fictional Hohman, Indiana, who brought the 'original, traditional, one-hundred-percent, red-blooded, two-fisted, all-American Christmas' tale to life ...

Before video games and robotics competitions, toys were much simpler: girls got dolls; boys got model trains and bicycles. Toys that promoted learning and experimentation were rare until one inventor, Alfred Carlton (“A. C.”) Gilbert, started making toys that taught children about science and engineering. His most famous, the Erector set, became one of the best -selling toys of its day and inspired children across the country to build everything from bridges to robots. Gilbert was a man of many talents. He financed his medical degree from Yale University by working as a magician, invented the pole-vaulting box and won...

A large metallic ball fell out of the sky on a remote grassland in Namibia, prompting baffled authorities to contact NASA and the European space agency. The hollow ball with a circumference of 1.1 metres (43 inches) was found near a village in the north of the country some 750 kilometres (480 miles) from the capital Windhoek, according to police forensics director Paul Ludik. Locals had heard several small explosions a few days beforehand, he said. With a diameter of 35 centimetres (14 inches), the ball has a rough surface and appears to consist of "two halves welded together". It...

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.), known for his cantankerous ways and for not speaking to media unless it’s his idea, was overheard at the Delta Crown lounge at Reagan National Airport today talking on his cellphone about an incident he said occurred three weeks ago while at an Episcopal church auction. Please note, a church auction. Our source, a Democratic operative who heard the whole thing, said he was “very loud”. Sensenbrenner was overheard saying that after buying all their “crap” (his word) a woman approached him and praised first lady Michelle Obama. He told the woman that Michelle should practice...

The countdown to the apocalypse is on. We're one year away from Dec. 21, 2012, the date that the ancient Mayan Long Count calendar allegedly marked as the end of an era that would reset the date to zero and signal the end of humanity. But will it? There have been many end of times predictions over the years. Christian radio host Harold Camping faced widespread ridicule when his predictions that the world would end twice this year - on May 21, and then on Oct. 21 - failed to materialize. But in the flurry of doomsday predictions - there...

This Christmas marks the 65th anniversary of “It’s A Wonderful Life,” one of the most beloved holiday movies ever made. And one of the very worst. I know, I know. Admitting you aren’t charmed by the story of George Bailey and Zuzu’s petals is like admitting you spend your spare time kicking puppies, but sorry. The fact is, “It’s A Wonderful Life” is a movie that only an Occupod could love. The story is sweet, but the message is truly awful. Consider George Bailey. In your mind, you see him after a lifetime of poverty, grief and bad luck, running...

A leaked document has revealed that the asshattery of BMW drivers may be more than coincidence. Failing to use turn signals, cutting off other drivers, tailgating, flipping the bird and other affronts to road civility have become indelibly associated with the Bavarian Marque. Why? According to the document, it's all part of a totally illegal customer loyalty scheme. This template document, issued to all BMW dealers (click the image below to expand), comes to us from an anonymous informant known only as "The Whistleblower." It clearly outlines a list of driving behaviors, recorded on the black boxes that have been...

Kwanzaa Is Wack: There, I Said It Kwanzaa is wack. The other day I said this on my Facebook page. Actually, what I said was:” Is it wrong of me to say that I love AFRICA, but I think Kwanzaa is wack? #ducksfromthebricks .” Now, when I said it, I meant it but gave no thought to how it might affect people. I’m kind of bad like that. A ton of people (some Black and some not) got on and said they thought Kwanzaa was wack to. I never thought about it again really. Just a funny little thread. Then...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police stormed a kidnappers' hideout and rescued a 4-year-old American boy who was held for ransom for eight days, officials said Friday. Five suspects were arrested in the second recent case of a kidnapped U.S. minor in the Philippines. The boy, who was living with his Filipino mother and American father, was seized in Manila on Dec. 6 by three gunmen who cut off the car he was traveling in with the mother, said Isagani Nerez, head of the police anti-crime unit. A $13,600 ransom was paid three days later, but the kidnappers demanded $113,000...

Remember all those Jewish terror plots? Jews shouting "Shema Yisrael" as they blew themselves up in crowds of non-Jews and flew planes into buildings? Remember those captured internal documents of Jewish organizations saying they were working toward "eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within" so that "the religion of Moses was victorious over other religions"?

Full title:Meet the North Dakota family of anti-government separatists busted by cops using a Predator drone... after 'stealing six cows'Meet the Brossarts, a North Dakota family deemed so dangerous that the local sheriff needed unleashed an unmanned Predator drone to help bring them in. The Brossart's alleged crime? They wouldn't give back three cows and their calves that wandered onto their 3,000-acre farm this summer.

It wouldn’t matter whether it was at the gambling mecca of Vegas, or, as in the case of Behar Merlaku, at a little-known casino in the tiny Austrian town of Bregenz – if the bells and lights on the slot machine I’m on start ringing and flashing, telling me I’ve won $57 million, then of course I’ll be planning my retirement. But when Swiss national Merlaku went to claim his jackpot, owners of the casino simply said there’d been a “software error” and that the 26-year-old was therefore not entitled to the big money prize. Instead they offered him $100...

Just recieved this. I'm a little suspicious but maybe it's legitimate. Anybody know anything about it? ********************************************************* Dear MSN and Hotmail Subscriber, ===================== Virus Notification A DGTFX Virus has been detected in your folders. Your email account has to be upgraded to our new Secured DGTFX anti-virus 2011 version to prevent damages to our web mail log and to your important files. Click your reply tab, Fill the columns below and send back to us or your email account will be terminated to avoid spread of the virus. Full Name: ................................... User name: ............................... Password: .................................. Reconfirm Password: .................. Date...

How George Soros Sacked Glenn Beck by Cliff Kincaid on 19 Oct 2011 A recent interview of Fox News chief Roger Ailes by Howard Kurtz suggested that the channel is becoming less conservative by design. The real question, not addressed in the piece, is whether the relentless attacks on the channel by George Soros-funded groups have anything to do with this change in the direction of the popular channel and the demise of the Glenn Beck program in particular.On Glenn Beck’s new TV program, carried on the Internet, Beck himself seemed to indicate this was the case. Talking about Orson...

Please contact Mercersburg Academy, a coed boarding high school in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania; this Monday, December 12, Islamic supremacist Reza Aslan is delivering the "Schaff Lecture on Ethics and Morals" -- a unfortunate choice, given the intellectually dishonest and deceptive Aslan's demonstrably unethical behavior over the years.

Key US lawmakers on Thursday demanded General Motors detail its handling of potential safety problems with the Chevrolet Volt after three of the Volt's electric batteries caught fire following safety tests. Republican Representative Darrell Issa, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and two colleagues pressed GM CEO Daniel Akerson in a letter to address their concerns by December 21. "In light of recent reports about the lithium-ion battery system of the Chevrolet Volt, we write with serious questions about the safety of the Volt and the advanced technology developed by General Motors (GM)," they said.

Did Dan Quayle’s endorsement help Mitt Romney’s campaign? Probably not. But just because that bland, punch-line-ready pairing seemed like a sad response to plummeting poll numbers doesn’t mean endorsements don’t matter. Caucuses and primaries can come down to a few hundred votes, and the right endorsement at the right time can make a pivotal difference, providing a local boost, balancing negative perceptions, or rallying the base. The fault lines in this GOP primary—now between Newt Gingrich and Romney, with Ron Paul rounding out the winner’s circle—follow the divisions between establishment and insurgent conservatives that have defined the GOP for decades....

A cannonball misfired by the "Mythbusters" TV show crew blasted through an East Dublin home Tuesday afternoon while its occupants were asleep. It then smashed through a window of a minivan parked a few hundred feet away. No one was injured, and the home's residents did not wake up until the dust was settling on top of them, said an Alameda County Sheriff's Office spokesman. The cannon was shot at the Sheriff's Office bomb range behind Santa Rita Jail about 4:15 p.m., said the spokesman, J.D. Nelson, who is also a consultant for the Discovery Channel TV show. He had...

Going to the chapel! Rosie O'Donnell is engaged to partner Michelle Rounds. A source confirms to Us Weekly that the 49-year-old comedian told her Rosie Show studio audience Friday that she and Rounds will say "I do" over Christmas. O'Donnell and Rounds, a New York City headhunter, made their public debut as a couple in September at Rosie Theater Kids Gala in New York City.

(Wake up, Europe, and smell the treachery. Video by Pat Condell, I think.)

A bomb exploded just 50 yards from the British Embassy in Bahrain yesterday as fears grew that Iranian-backed aggression against the West was spreading through the Middle East.

This is the Ugandan aircraft that Africa hopes will thrust it right into the space race. Constructed amidst the rubble of his mother's backyard, ambitious Chris NSamba believes the African Skyhawk will lead to his continent launching its first astronaut into orbit. The African Space Research Programme founder has been helped by 600 volunteers in partially achieving the first stage of his dream - the creation of the plane that will penetrate the edge of space by flying at 80,000ft.

Comedian and radio host Adam Carolla called the generation closely associated with the Occupy Wall Street protests "self-entitled monsters" in a podcast of his from October 11, according to Slate, that only recently received media attention after being posted on YouTube and highlighted by Media Research Center. It should be noted that Carolla does not mention Occupy Wall Street by name during the nearly 10-minute long chat but does use terms closely associated with the movement like "the 1 percent." "I think it was something like the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid 50 percent of the taxes here in...

Sports fans who have a religious bent won’t be too happy with a new study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EHT). According to the university, which is located in Zurich, Switzerland, atheist children are better at sports (i.e. more athletic) than kids who embrace a religion. To complete the study, 600 first-grade school children in Winterthur, Switzerland were examined. Over a four-year period, researchers looked at their coordination, strength and agility — all measurements that would help to determine their athleticism. In the end, the researchers at ETH’s Institute for Movement Sciences and Sport took the data they...

In an unprecedented move, General Motors will lend Chevrolet Volt owners another GM vehicle for free until the automaker resolves a federal probe over three fires in Volt battery packs. Following Friday’s announcement by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it was opening a formal defect probe into the plug-in hybrid Volt, GM told reporters today it was standing behind the car and would do everything it could to ease any owners’ concerns — including borrowing a non-electric set of wheels. No other automaker has ever handed out free loaners simply because of a defect investigation which may or...