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States in New England top a new set of rankings, while the South still lags. If you want to be healthy, live in Vermont--or at least act like you do. It is the healthiest state in the country, according to a new report from the nonprofit United Health Foundation.

It seems like there was a bit of a kerfuffle in Paris that has him fuming mad. An internet marketing company decided to stage a promotional stunt: they were going to drive a bus through the city throwing money at passers-by. The event was advertised heavily (Duh - it's a marketing company) and attracted large crowds. So large, in fact, that police became nervous at the size of the crowd, estimated at 7,000 strong, and its composition — young, low-income males from bad parts of Paris' suburbs. Given the risk of violence and traffic chaos caused by the crowd, the...

In the wake of the murder of 13 and the wounding of 38 soldiers at Fort Hood on November 5, media analysts, politicians, and other sundry experts scrambled to present the accused perpetrator of the acts, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, as a victim. In so doing they served, knowingly or otherwise, as apologists for radical Islam. From CNN to the New York Times, NPR to the Washington Post, the killings were presented as a result of racism. They were attributed to fear of deployment in Afghanistan and harassment from other soldiers. Cited were Major Hasan’s supposed maladjustment to his...

Are our bishops all Republicans?! By Phil Lawler | November 12, 2009 1:14 PM On the Commentary blog, Eduardo Peñlaver reports that he is uncomfortable with Bishop Tobin's public denunciation of Patrick Kennedy.Bishop Tobin’s attitude towards being Catholic — accept teachings X, Y, and Z, or go to another institution that does not affirm them — strikes me as nothing if not supremely un-Catholic in its ethos.Peñlaver's argument is profoundly confused, I think. But it is not an unusual one; you'll find roughly the same reasoning put forward by many other liberal Catholics. And Peñlaver is not an unintelligent observer...

IsraelNN.com) The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), attempting to help Arabs in Samaria take over a plot of land bordering the Tapuach Junction checkpoint, says it will return tomorrow to complete the project. Early Sunday morning, IDF soldiers at the Tapuach checkpoint were surprised to see an empty field suddenly come to life. Some 50 local Arabs, accompanied by three Red Cross jeeps, arrived on the scene for an attempted “land grab.” Eyewitnesses said they saw Arabs emerging from the jeeps. Over the past decade, a local Jewish shepherd has grazed his goats on the large plot of...

Budapest, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Investor and philanthropist George Soros forecast in Budapest on Friday that China would emerge as the big winner of the global financial crisis. Soros called on Chinese leaders to "rise to the occasion" and take an active role in the creation of a new multilateral financial order urgently required to reinvent the "broken international financial system." Soros also warned that "the worst financial crisis since WWII" may not be over. The Hungarian-born billionaire sounded a pessimistic note throughout the week and said that those who believe the global economy is stabilizing are wrong. In the...

(T)he Chinese are concerned about the viability of the American economic system and about the long-term value of their more than $1 trillion of investments in American bonds. They are also dependent on the market even a recession-mired America offers, with exports to the United States still near $300 billion a year. Americans are worried about the effect of lower-cost Chinese labor on U.S. jobs, even though most of the lost jobs were lost long ago and have as much to do with the corrosive effects of technology on labor as they do with cheap production in China. Meanwhile, China...

thelastcrusade.orgA soft-spoken and sedate Staten Island Muslim woman tried to slit her husband's throat as he lay sleeping in the middle of the night. Rabia Sarwar, 37, was enraged that her husband Sheikh Naseem, 41, asked her to eat pork and to wear non-Islamic attire, officials said. "It's time for you to die!" the Muslim woman screamed as she pounced on hubby and hacked at his neck with a butcher knife, sources said. He woke early Wednesday to find her straddling his chest and hacking at his neck with a knife. Naseem, a burly teacher at Susan Wagner High...

I just watched a video at Pamela Geller’s Atlas Shrugs blog of then-candidate Barack Obama telling 7 outrageous lies in a row in 1minute and 46 seconds time, which helped propel him into the White House. This has to be a world record for a politician lying. The main reason that he is in the White House is because the Republican Party and Libertarian Party put him there. That is right, not the Democrats, they simply believed his lies, but we could have stopped his election. We all have our work cut out for us if we want to get...

The recent defection of the daughter of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s film advisor to Germany is the latest clue to a non-military "cold war” against a nuclear Iran. Iranian filmmaker Narges Kalhor, whose father is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s cultural affairs advisor and a media spokesman, has applied for political asylum in Germany.

The Constitution of the U.S.S.R. - (1918, 1936, 1977) At first glance, it would appear that the citizens of the USSR had more rights than their American counterparts. Stalin's constitution guaranteed the people the right to work, the right to rest and leisure (no overtime), maintenance in old age (Social Security), right to education, economic equality, right to form unions, right to privacy, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press. Unfortunately, the constitution doesn't explain exactly how these freedoms are guaranteed. For instance, the US Constitution grants freedom of speech with the following paragraph:...

All nations eventually fail. Some go peacefully; others in paroxysms of violence and bloodshed. All that I have examined were guilty, at least in part, of nurturing the process. Even given that, one is hard pressed to imagine how a democratic or an autocratic government can be expected to survive. To wit: Democracies do not start wars (with the exception of the US under Lincoln). Further, citizens are not by nature war like and see no need to shed blood and treasure to acquire an empire. Empires acquired by any means eventually will cause their own demise. FDR had to...

The United States flag, which Robert E. Lee had defended as a soldier, flew at half mast in Lexington, Virginia and throughout the USA.

In an attempt to gain favor with China, the United States pressured Tibetan representatives to postpone a meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Obama until after Obama's summit with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, scheduled for next month, according to diplomats, government officials and other sources familiar with the talks. For the first time since 1991, the Tibetan spiritual leader will visit Washington this week and not meet with the president. Since 1991, he has been here 10 times. Most times the meetings have been "drop-in" visits at the White House. The last time he was here, in 2007,...

For years the mantra of the Left was that continuing to fight in Iraq would embolden terrorists and that reversing Bush-era policies would help ease al Qaeda's 'concerns.' Guantanamo Bay prison is on its way to being closed. Fighting has nearly ceased in Iraq and troops are being pulled out. Obama lauded the Muslim world in a Cairo speech. And in less than a month, five possible plots to attack the United States have been uncovered.

My son who is 10 years old is going to the Montgomery County school system in Maryland this year to give him some wider experience after having all of his previous education in either Israeli or Jewish community schools. It certainly is an experience! In some ways, it seems like a parody of multiculturalism. My children are tough, well-informed and have strong characters, largely informed by an Israeli world view. But they also have a very American persona, though one that may be becoming increasingly rare among upper middle class elite counterparts. Here are some highlights of fourth-grade life in...

"More than likely, a US collapse will have direct and balkanizing effects not only on the US but also on the weak Canadian confederacy, tied economically to the hip of the US economic might or there lack of, and to the civil war torn Mexican giant. As such, from what was originally four states: Canada, USA, Mexico and Cuba, as well as the dozen or so small island statelits of the north Caribbean, will form thirteen new entities, separated politically and economically. We will now review each and everyone of these, starting from the West and moving to the East....

But, what's interesting is to see the parallels between what this paper finds and how it stacks up to how ethnic Koreans are perceived or how Koreans are expected to be in the United States. Considering that China too is a very diverse, multiethnic country and that, at least on paper, the Chinese have a similar definition of identity as that of the United States, I'd like to argue that it can be shown that the expectations or beliefs that Americans may hold towards Korean-Americans can indeed be validated. We can show by seeing if these same expectations can be...

Why We Are Going to Hell – Part 2,036 Radical Jew-Hating Muslims Welcomed by Rabbi bythelastcrusade.org On Friday afternoons and other times during the week, a synagogue in Reston, Virginia is used as a mosque, where hundreds of Muslims remove their shoes, unfurl their prayer rugs, and bow to the east in adoration of Allah.The members of the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation, who worship at the synagogue on Friday nights, see no problem with this arrangement which grants an additional $300 a day in revenue.And the Jewish congregants appear to be blissfully unaware that many of the Muslims who...

   The SPEAKER pro tempore.: Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann) is recognized for 5 minutes.    Mrs. BACHMANN.:    Mr. Speaker, the context of my remarks is engaging the issue of the current financial situation that the United States finds itself in.    Mr. Speaker, it was less than 1 year ago that the government began Bailout Nation, which was $700 billion in tax money that was given to the United States Treasury Secretary for the purpose of stabilizing America's financial situation. Let's take just a brief history of what has happened...

But, what makes East Asia different is that the Communist leaders were first and foremost, popular national heroes, who, by the above logic and the U.S. decision to support colonial colloborators or participants of past institutions, that happened to choose to be communist. You see, while I'm not exactly writing part IV in this installment, I'm setting the argument up for how economic development, or these so called "miracles" in East Asia seem to keep happening over and over again. Also, it has been pointed out that Mongolia is a state that does not enjoy economic development, which is geographically...

Michelle Malkin: Independent TV documentarian Jan Helfeld asks California Democrat Rep. Pete Stark about the national debt and the economy. Stark tells him repeatedly to “shut up,

Barack Obama said the Waxman-Markey carbon tax would help create "green energy" jobs in the U.S. He is now using taxpayer dollars to fund jobs in Spain.Barack Obama sold the Waxman-Markey "American Clean Energy and Security Act" to Congress and the American people by saying that investment in so-called "green energy" would create millions of high-wage American manufacturing jobs. We received an E-mail from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (nonpartisan professional organization) that exposed Barack Obama as a blatant prevaricator who is shamelessly using our tax dollars to create jobs not in the United States but in foreign countries. We...

Throughout history governments have ignored the rights of citizens and instead have maximized their own power. Those in public office have used it for their own personal gain, or to take wealth from some and give to others in order to maintain their own power. It is a classic model that hasn’t changed much in thousands of years. The modern iteration of this is a leviathan federal government run by a political party based precisely on such principles. The bread and circuses of Roman times have merely been replaced with redistribution of wealth and a paternalistic state. The other major...

We’re just loving the service Glenn Beck is providing to America on his Fox News television program, using his crack team of investigators to uncover intriguing and potentially explosive information about key players in our federal government, particularly in the executive branch, whose presence may threaten American sovereignty and security. This past week, Mr. Beck focused on Mr. Obama’s unelected, unvetted, unaccountable czars who have been given the use of gargantuan budgets funded by the use of our personal, hard-earned money (without our permission, of course). Since some of the czars have served prison terms or are self-proclaimed Communists (and...

SPRING HILL, FL -- While showing off her JROTC uniform, 16-year-old Heather Lawrence told us joining the Army is her next big goal, to follow in the footsteps of her father and grandfather. "Our flag represents everything that our country is," she said. The teen says an issue over the American flag is why she was written up and handed a five-day suspension from Springstead High School this week for criticizing a Muslim student. Heather says the other girl was sitting down during the Pledge of Allegiance. "You know, I made a not-so-kind remark, and I do sincerely apologize for...

The national flag of the People's Republic of China (PRC) will be hoisted at the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on September 20, media reported Sunday. Chinese associations in the United States had applied to hold a ceremony in front of the US President’s residence to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of PRC. Chen Ronghua, chairman of Fujian Association of the United States, told reporters that their application was approved not only

Yesterday I wrote a piece for my host paper here in Berlin, der Tagesspiegel, defending American beer. Needless to say, the reaction from commenters has been swift and harsh. But because it's in German, I'm really only seeing half the debate. What do Americans think about German beer? And what do readers think about the piece? Remember, it's for a German audience, but I hope the arguments can get some discussion going. Read the piece in translation below; read it in the original German here. Dish water. Piss. A joke. There are a lot of stereotypes about American beer here...

“Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable—a most sacred right—a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.” —Abraham Lincoln The battle lines continue to be drawn, and in this article I will discuss one that you can, and should, draw now. Glenn Beck ought to get the Medal of Freedom, and Fox News deserves America’s heart-felt gratitude. Without Fox News, and Beck in particular, we would largely be...

"Here's to You Mr. Jefferson" Awesome! by Mike Church

The general convention of the Episcopal Church ended last month in Anaheim, Calif., with a whimper, despite these rather staggering announcements: it would, after years of internal battling, continue to elevate gay priests to bishops, and it would consider blessing same-sex unions in the states that allow gays and lesbians to marry. The convention—and these announcements—received a fair amount of obligatory coverage, but the news cycle quickly moved on. In the wake of that coverage I received the following e-mail from an editor: "I've been following this story and trying, without success, to think of an interesting line of argument....

NORTH ROSE – A Wolcott fruit grower is accusing the U.S. Border Patrol of racially profiling four of his workers who were stopped on Route 414 Aug. 17 as they were returning to his farm from a trip to purchase clothing. The men were all detained and taken for processing; Border Patrol Officer E. Rodriguez, who was in charge of the scene, told fruit grower Brian Doyle the men volunteered they were in the U.S. illegally. Doyle said Rodriguez then accused him of being a “federal criminal” because he employed the men. He said Rodriguez continually referred to the men...

There are ten easy steps toward a progressive-socialist-Marxist civil society: change the popular consensus; destroy Christianity, the traditional family, and existing social mores; transform the culture; install a radical Left mind-control; attain political power; impose strict control of the military and law enforcement; restrict freedom; socialize the economy; erase American sovereignty; and embrace a world without borders.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Militia groups with gripes against the government are regrouping across the country and could grow rapidly, according to an organization that tracks such trends. The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the public debate about illegal immigration. Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is...

<p>An Ohio teenager says she ran away from home to Florida because her family threatened to kill her for converting from Islam to Christianity, local media reported.</p> <p>Rifqa Bary, 17, testified Monday at a custody hearing in Orlando that she'd recently changed religions and is worried her relatives will do something drastic, according to WFTV in Orlando and Central Florida News 13.</p>

It is a sad day America, when our President is appologizing to the rest of the world for what we have done. That is at least how I feel as do many other Americans. During President Obamas first international trip the agenda appeared to be apologizing for the U.S. instead of promoting the strengths of our great nation. Obama worked harder at making friends rather than instilling confidence in the United States. Mr. Obama evidently lives in a much different world than I and many Americans do. I feel no need to apologize to any one for what the U.S....

. America’s extreme left tricked American moderates into supporting their candidate last November by campaigning on post-partisan cooperation and transparency in government. Six months after the election of a freshman senator with a blank résumé, a laundry list of evil associates and a life more secret than your average CIA agent, Obama’s entire history remains a mystery and his administration is the most hardcore partisan dictatorship ever experienced in the USA. Washington DC partisanship has turned into outright Obama-Pelosi dictatorship. The so-called “Commander-in-Chief” is fast losing control of his military, which is increasingly and viciously divided between those who are...

My NEXT phone call to Senators Voinovich and Brown: Hello, My name is Kimberly ..... and I would like to leave a message for Senator...... “Oh, its you, again” (I’m just waiting for THAT response!) Yes, it’s me...I’d like to know if Senator Voinovich is aware that there are far more than 12 million illegal aliens in this country already and it is clear that our government’s use of that number is entirely meant to mislead the public. “Is that your message?”. Yes, I resent continuing to be treated as if I’m stupid. Apparently our Senators aren’t aware that Homeland...

America chose to save us from the most evil party, and the most despicable President in the universe [Saddam]. Meanwhile, the Arab powers stood firmly against the American project. They used all means to thwart them, but Allah’s will had another say in this matter. America turned the Ba’athists into the world’s laughing stock by showing them fleeing in their underwear on live television. Meanwhile, the Arab powers turned those cowards into national heroes on their satellite channels. America gave the lives of 4,000 of its people to Iraq’s land to instill security and democracy, while the Arabs sent us...

I remember a few years back during the Good Ol' Days we had ... a George W. Bush as president of the White House. I didn't really appreciate what people meant when they believed the United States was the country most dangerous to world security and stability at that point in time yet. (See my post America the Dangerous). By the way, just as in the post below, please send me corrections. I would hate to think that I would be propagating something untrue. Ahh. Those were the good ol' days. The U.S. economy was booming (after a sharp, but...

Peter Hughes of Highway Energy Systems Ltd. is an electrical and mechanical engineer responsible for many sustainable technological innovations. He spent years as an environmental consultant to the United Nations. Hughes developed ways to use solar-powered cooking at night for third world countries, and ways to force water into arid climates. But none of his accomplishments is as impressive as his most recent innovation. The electro-kinetic road ramp, or as he refers to it, his “prized jewel in the crown,” is already making an impact in the UK and will soon be coming to the United States. In development for...

Both Russia and the United States are likely to oppose the imposition of further political or economic sanctions on Iran at this week's G8 Summit. This, despite pressure from other G8 nations to punish Tehran for its violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters at home, as well as to influence its nuclear development policy.

CAIRO, Egypt -- A Kyrgyz deal with the United States to keep a U.S. air base open was agreed with Russia, a Kremlin official said Thursday. "We support all steps aimed at stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan," said the official accompanying President Dmitry Medvedev in Egypt. But Kommersant quoted an unidentified Russian diplomat as saying Moscow felt that it had been tricked by Kyrgyzstan over the base and would make an "adequate response" to the deal. The United States has agreed to pay $180 million to keep open the Manas air base after haggling with Kyrgyzstan since February, when the...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia was tricked by Kyrgyzstan over a deal with the United States to keep open a key air base in Central Asia, a Russian diplomat was quoted as saying by local media on Wednesday. ... The Kommersant newspaper quoted an unidentified Russian diplomat as saying Moscow viewed the U.S. move as a trick and that Russia would soon make an "adequate response" to the deal.

"Incredibly, former President and Nobel laureate President Kim Dae Jung had a lot to say about current President Lee Myung Bak (left photo, source: Agence France-Presse). ... But, supporters of the failed and discredited Sunshine Policy and detractors of South Korea's current president should note that the gap in wealth between North and South Korea has only grown since the Sunshine Policy was first instituted."

Please come out and support the premiere of "The Stoning of Soraya M" You can do your part by attending the premier or forwarding this email on to your distribution lists. “The Stoning of Soraya M” - Theater Listing for June 26 Premiere Initial Listing of Nationwide theaters where “The Stoning of Soraya M.” is scheduled to be shown, premiering June 26, 2009: Boston - Norfolk County Chestnut Hill/Brookline CFB W Newton Cinema 6 Boston - Middlesex County Cambridge LNDMRK Kendall Square Cinema New York - NY-Manhattan East Side JACOBS Beekman Village LNDMRK Sunshine Cinema Philadelphia Philadelphia LNDMRK Ritz 5...

North Korea warned on Wednesday of an overwhelming military strike against the United States and its allies if they provoke the country. The statement, carried by the communist state's official news agency KCNA, came a day after U.S. President Barack Obama called the North's nuclear program a "grave threat", and said the new sanctions against Pyongyang would be strictly enforced.

The wife of Jonathan Pollard read a letter to American President Barack Obama appealing for her husband's release during a protest rally opposite the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem Wednesday night. The demonstration was aimed at Obama’s “cold shoulder” towards Israel. Pollard is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison for spying for Israel. “Mr. Obama, my husband Jonathan Pollard has now served more than six times the usual sentence for the offense he committed," Esther Pollard said. "After more than two decades of the harshest afflictions in prison, including seven years in solitary confinement, it is time to release...

On the 30th anniversary of the Iranian Hostage crisis Iran’s Supreme leader responds to US President Obama’s video message with sound defiance suggesting that until they see the changes US President Obama preached during his election campaign then don’t expect much of a policy shift from Tehran. During the election most Iranians were intensely enthusiastic to see a US Black man with Hussein as his middle name take the highest office of the United States. The name "Hussein" is very sacred for Shia Iranians as this was the name of their third beloved Imam who, even today maintains a very...

To Kill an American You probably missed this in the rush of news, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper, an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is . So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!) 'An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish , Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian,...