Free Republic

A study funded by the U.S. space agency suggested oxygen existed in Earth's atmosphere much earlier than thought. Two separate teams of astrobiologists found evidence of oxygen in the Earth's oceans and atmosphere approximately 2.5 billion years ago by analyzing a nearly 1-mile-long drill core from Western Australia. "We seem to have captured a piece of time during which the amount of oxygen was actually changing -- caught in the act, as it were," said Arizona State University-Tempe Associate Professor Ariel Anbar, who led one of the research teams. The other research group was led by Alan Kaufman of the...

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Wall Street loves to talk about letting financial markets weed out the weak. But when the Street itself gets in trouble, it sticks out its little tin cup, asking for help. And gets it. The subprime-mortgage-market meltdown is a classic example of the way small fry get devoured, but the whales of Wall Street get rescued. Here's the deal: People with crummy credit who took out mortgages are being allowed to fail in record numbers. The mortgage companies that made those loans are being allowed to fail. More from FORTUNE Crisis counsel The escape of the...

Tab for Teaching English Put at $3 Billion June Kronholz reports on immigration. The cost of teaching English to 12 million legal and illegal adult immigrants now in the U.S. would approach $3 billion a year, says the Migration Policy Institute in a new report that’s likely to add fuel to an immigration fight that seemed to have cooled lately. The Washington-based nonpartisan think tank said that bringing the 5.8 million legal immigrants to a level of English proficiency that would enable them to get involved in civic life would cost $200 million a year for six years. That would...

Tens of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars soon could be flowing into the National Council of La Raza, an organization that advocates for civil rights for Hispanics and has connections to groups that advocate the separation of several southwestern states from the rest of the nation. The proposal has been made by U.S. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, and it would give the organization that describes itself as "the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States – [working] to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans" $5 million annually starting in 2008, with the funding to double the next...

Docs journal reports hospitals being closed, previously vanquished diseases being spreadCristobal Silverio emigrated illegally from Mexico to Stockton, Calif., in 1997 to work as a fruit picker. He brought with him his wife, Felipa, and three children, 19, 12 and 8 – all illegals. When Felipa gave birth to her fourth child, daughter Flor, the family had what is referred to as an "anchor baby" – an American citizen by birth who provided the entire Silverio clan a ticket to remain in the U.S. permanently. But Flor was born premature, spent three months in the neonatal incubator and cost the...

NEW HAVEN Immigrant rights advocates are accusing state probation officials of breaking the law by working with federal authorities to arrest illegal immigrants. The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut and other advocacy groups call the practice a "shameful subversion" of the purpose of probation to rehabilitate. They say it makes it less likely that people who are not citizens will comply with or accept plea deals involving probation. "We think that it's inhumane," said Renee Redman, legal director of the ACLU of Connecticut. The ACLU and the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic of Yale Law School sent a...

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy told senators Wednesday that Congress has neglected judicial pay, harming morale among judges and threatening to undermine judicial independence. The current salary level for judges "is insufficient to attract the finest members" of the legal profession to accept appointments to the bench, Kennedy said during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Kennedy picked up on an issue that Chief Justice John Roberts recently called a "constitutional crisis."

In just a little over a week, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral arguments in two cases involving the constitutionality of Congress’s ban on partial-birth abortion. We filed briefs in both cases representing members of the House and Senate who sponsored the legislation outlawing this gruesome act that many, including Justices of the Supreme Court, consider to be infanticide. One of the most disturbing aspects of this case is the fact that the plaintiff, Planned Parenthood, has received in the last two years - that they’ve reported - over $500 million in taxpayer money. America needs...

The Commerce Department has lost 1,137 laptop computers since 2001, most of them assigned to the Census Bureau, officials said Thursday night. The Census Bureau, the main collector of information about Americans, lost 672 computers. Of those, 246 contained some personal data, the department said in a statement. However, no personal information from any of the missing computers has been known to have been improperly used, the department said. The number of people affected by the equipment losses could not be determined, the department said. "All of the equipment that was lost or stolen contained protections to prevent a breach...

Dear Ronald, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), your tax supported agency of the federal government, is currently promoting June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. The theme for the month is "Pride, not Prejudice." The EPA Office of Civil Rights, Diversity Program for Sexual Orientation, is sponsoring an opening event to be held on June 14. On June 28 EPA will hosts Gilles Marchildon, Executive Director for Egale Canada (Equality Canada) as a guest speaker. Karen Higginbotham, Director, Office of Civil Rights, states there will be other activities in which the homosexual lifestyle will be celebrated in EPA offices across...

Court: Measure can't be on Colo. ballot By JON SARCHE, Associated Press Writer 10 minutes ago The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday that a proposal to deny most state services to illegal immigrants cannot appear on the November ballot. The proposed constitutional amendment, promoted by Defend Colorado Now, violated a state constitutional requirement that initiatives deal with only one subject, the court said in a 5-2 opinion. According to the ruling, Defend Colorado Now touted the possibility of reducing taxpayer expenditures by restricting illegal immigrants' access to services, as well as the goal of restricting access to services. Proponents, including...

Microsoft Corp. warned users of its Windows operating system on Tuesday of three newly found "critical" security flaws in its software, including one that could allow attackers to take complete control of a computer. Computer security experts urged users to download and install the patches, which are available at www.microsoft.com/security. "Users (should) apply the updates as quickly as possible," said Oliver Friedrichs, senior manager of Symantec Security Response, part of security software company Symantec Corp. SYMC.O. Microsoft said that vulnerabilities exist in its Internet Explorer Web browser, the most severe of which could allow an attacker to take complete control...