Free Republic

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Al Gore, a leading voice in the fight against global warming, is being called a hypocrite by a conservative group that claims his Nashville mansion uses too much electricity. But a spokeswoman for Gore said the former vice president invests in enough renewable energy to make up for the home's power consumption. Gore's documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth" won an Oscar on Sunday for chronicling his campaign against global warming. The next day, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research put out a news release saying Gore was not doing enough to reduce his own consumption of electricity....

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - In 25 years of interviews with his hometown paper that could only be released upon his death, former President Ford once called Jimmy Carter a "disaster" who ranked alongside Warren Harding, and said Ronald Reagan received far too much credit for ending the Cold War. "It makes me very irritated when Reagan's people pound their chests and say that because we had this big military buildup, the Kremlin collapsed," Ford told The Grand Rapids Press. The best president of his lifetime, Ford said, was a more moderate Republican: Dwight D. Eisenhower. Harry Truman "would get very...

Iraq's interior ministry has formed a press monitoring unit in response to what it described as "fabricated and false news" that misrepresents the country's security situation. Singling out the Associated Press for criticism, spokesman Brigadier General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said yesterday that dedicated unit would monitor news coverage and even initiate legal action if journalists do not correct stories it believes to be incorrect. "Fabricated and false news hurts and gives the Iraqis a wrong picture that the security situation is very bad, when the facts are totally different," he said. He added that the media should consult the ministry's large...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group was Sen. John Kerry's albatross in 2004. Now, the Democrat is warning his party about suffering the same fate in a fundraising letter. In 2004, the Swift Boat group, backed by Texas businessman Bob Perry, made unsubstantiated allegations about Kerry's Vietnam War heroism. The presidential nominee's slow and uncertain response is blamed for helping doom his White House bid.

Arrested Pulitzer Prize winning Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein, who took the infamous pictures of a terrorist execution on Haifa Street in Baghdad, and is notorious in the blogosphere for his collusion with jihadis as they tried to kill Americans, is the subject of a very lengthy attempt by the AP to whitewash his acts: U.S. holds AP photographer in Iraq 5 mos. (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin.) The AP spins furiously and buries it in the middle, but here’s some interesting information from the US Army: The military said Hussein was captured with two insurgents, including Hamid Hamad Motib, an...

Jed Babbin, Undersecretary of Defense for Pres. George HW Bush, is subbing today for Laura Ingraham on her syndicated show. Babbin is all over the story of what happened in hearings yesterday in which Hillary Clinton confronted Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Babbin is claiming that it is totally manufactured news. The AP set this up with her and the payoff was an inclusive interview. It sold papers and made them money. Babbin says that "this is manufactured news. She is their great white hope." HERE IS THE AP BLURB: War in Iraq Hillary to Rumsfeld: Quit August 4, 2006...

An LGF reader has forwarded the following email (I suppose you could say our reader “leaked” it), sent to all Associated Press employees, congratulating themselves on the propaganda photos from Qana and awarding the photographers cash prizes: "Dear Staffers: Last Sunday proved to be one of the most dramatic days in the war between Israel and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. AP’s extensive photo team produced a stunning series of images that day that beat the competition and scored huge play worldwide. Rumors surfaced early Sunday morning that an Israeli airstrike had flattened a house in the southern Lebanese village of...

AP Blog: No Election Celebration in Mexico By The Associated Press , 07.03.2006, 05:15 PM Will Weissert and Mark Stevenson covered Mexico's two presidential front-runners on election night, with Weissert following conservative Felipe Calderon and Stevenson with leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Monday, July 3, 12:50 p.m. local time MEXICO CITY - Jubilation was replaced by anger and disbelief among followers of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. But violence seemed unlikely, especially with Lopez Obrador telling supporters to stay calm. Last night, supporters were chanting "We are going to win!" They were so desperate to see him that they tried to...

Will Mexico Go Left or Stay Conservative? By MARK STEVENSON , 07.01.2006, 11:52 AM Mexicans buffeted by a mudslinging, polarized presidential campaign are choosing Sunday between plunging into Latin America's left-wing tide or electing a conservative who favors free trade and globalization. With leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon running neck-and-neck, the election - which will also pick both houses of congress and five governors - hinges on class divisions that have seldom been talked about so openly in Mexican politics. For 71 years, until President Vicente Fox's victory in 2000, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI,...

BEIJI, Iraq - Five U.S. Army soldiers are being investigated for allegedly raping a young woman, then killing her and three members of her family in Iraq, a U.S. military official said Friday. The soldiers also allegedly burned the body of the woman they are accused of assaulting in the March incident, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. The U.S. command issued a sparse statement, saying Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of coalition troops in Baghdad, had ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged killing of a family...

Below is an eight page review of information on the subject of "global warming," and a petition in the form of a reply card. Please consider these materials carefully. The United States is very close to adopting an international agreement that would ration the use of energy and of technologies that depend upon coal, oil, and natural gas and some other organic compounds. This treaty is, in our opinion, based upon flawed ideas. Research data on climate change do not show that human use of hydrocarbons is harmful. To the contrary, there is good evidence that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide...

CAIRO, Egypt - The new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq killed two U.S. soldiers whom the group abducted last week, an insurgent umbrella group said in a Web statement posted Tuesday. The statement, which could not be authenticated, said the two soldiers were "slaughtered," suggesting they had been beheaded by Abu Hamza al-Muhajer. The Arabic word used in the statement, "nahr," is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings. The claim of responsibility was posted on an Islamic militant Web site where insurgent groups regularly post...

WASHINGTON - A music video posted to the Internet, telling a tale about a U.S. Marine killing members of an Iraqi family, is being condemned by an Islamic group and investigated by the Marine Corps. The four-minute video, called "Hadji Girl," appears to be sung by a Marine in front of a cheering audience. The lyrics talk about the Marine gunning down members of an Iraqi woman's family after they confront him with automatic weapons. Lt. Col. Scott Fazekas, a spokesman for the Marines, said Tuesday that the Marines were aware of a video posted on the Internet that "purports...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A "stench of despair" hangs over the Guantanamo Bay prison, where three detainees killed themselves this weekend, said a defense lawyer who recently visited the U.S. jail in Cuba. No other detainees had tried to commit suicide since U.S. military guards found two Saudis and one Yemeni prisoner hanging by nooses made from sheets and clothing early Saturday, Army Lt. Col. Lora Tucker told The Associated Press on Sunday. While U.S. officials argue the suicides were political acts aimed at hurting American standing in the world, human rights activists and former detainees say prisoners are...

CBS/AP) An Iraqi man who was one of the first people on the scene of the U.S. airstrike targeting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said he saw American troops beating a man who had a beard like the al Qaeda leader. The witness, who lives near the house where al-Zarqawi spent his last days, said he saw the man lying on the ground near an irrigation canal. He was badly wounded but still alive, the man told Associated Press Television News. U.S. troops arriving on the scene wrapped the man's head in an Arab robe and began beating him, said the local...

Baghdad - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's faction has claimed responsibility for attacks that have left hundreds of Iraqis dead, and the United States has called him the most dangerous terrorist in Iraq. Still, even as al-Zarqawi threatens more chaos - in recordings and internet messages - many Iraqis believe the Jordanian militant does not even exist and is merely a phantom created by the Americans to sow unrest in the country. Similar disbelief greeted Britain's explanation that its soldiers, arrested in southern Iraq disguised as Arabs, were on an undercover hunt for terrorists. Instead, some Iraqis argue the soldiers were out...

Nice bias title by the AP. They could have said: "Bush welcomes Olympic athletes to the White House." But no, they have to play up the the "dudes and dudesses" comment in the headline to make him look like an idiot. I especially like the last two paragraphs with the comment and quote. Bush welcomes Olympic 'dudes and dudesses' Republican Bloom tries to score points by giving McNabb jersey to president The Associated Press Updated: 12:48 p.m. ET May 17, 2006 WASHINGTON - President Bush welcomed “dudes and dudesses” from the U.S. Winter Olympic team on Wednesday in a White...

ST. HELENA, Calif. -- Unable to drive down high oil prices, President Bush is spending Earth Day promoting futuristic hydrogen fuel technology as a way to wean Americans from gas-guzzling vehicles. After a bike ride near his Napa Valley resort Saturday morning, Bush planned to visit the California Fuel Cell Partnership in West Sacramento for a tour and speech on his energy plan. The plan does not include any measures that would reduce gas prices in the short term, the White House acknowledges. But with Republicans worried that the increasing cost to drive could hurt them in the voting booth...

NEW DELHI - Hindu priests who look after the memorial of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi conducted a purification ceremony at the shrine after a visit from President Bush. But it wasn't the president who offended them, it was the sniffer-dogs who scoured the area ahead of his visit. After the dog visit, the memorial was cleansed with water brought from the Ganges river, which Hindus consider holy, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported Sunday. Bush visited the memorial on Thursday during his three day visit to India. The site, where pacifist icon Gandhi was cremated, is considered sacred and all...

Clarification: Katrina-Video story ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) _ In a March 1 story, The Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing among U.S. officials. The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking. The day before the storm hit, Bush was...