Free Republic

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Mayor Bloomberg is decrying the state of the 2008 presidential race, faulting the major party candidates for offering shallow, simplistic prescriptions, and scolding the press for failing to demand more from those seeking the White House. During an appearance at Google's headquarters in Silicon Valley yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg said the televised debates among the presidential candidates have been, in essence, a waste of time. "They have absolutely nothing to do with the job and the qualifications. And they don't tell you anything about whether or not any of those candidates would be good or bad presidents....

Associated Press New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg left the Republican Party on Tuesday and switched to unaffiliated, a move certain to be seen as a prelude to an independent presidential bid that would upend the 2008 race. The billionaire former CEO, who was a lifelong Democrat before he switched to the Republican Party in 2001 for his first mayoral run, said the change in his voter registration does not mean he is running for president. "Although my plans for the future haven't changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to...

While questions continue to arise about the alleged plot to blow up a fuel pipeline beneath JFK Airport and surrounding neighborhoods, some are questioning why New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn't had a louder voice since the plot was foiled on Saturday. On Monday, Bloomberg finally weighed in, but his response was not what some would have expected. "There are lots of threats to you in the world. There's the threat of a heart attack for genetic reasons. You can't sit there and worry about everything. Get a life," he said. That "What, me worry?" attitude pretty much sums...

Police in Clackamas County are looking for a man they say locked three live pigs in his house in the hopes that they would trash the place. All because he was upset the home went into foreclosure. Lovett bought a home on SE Wildcat Mountain Drive in Eagle Creek a few years ago. In January the house went into foreclosure. Neighbors told police that Lovett was extremely distraught over the the situation. He apparently told several that he had put the animals inside the house over a week ago and even joked about the fact that they did not have...

Alec Baldwin has taken a vow of silence after a recording of a volcanic tirade by the actor to his 11-year-old daughter appeared in US media reports.The Oscar-nominated star of "The Departed" unleashed a heated tirade at daughter Ireland, who has been caught in the middle of tit-for-tat legal battles between Baldwin and ex-wife Kim Basinger in recent years. Baldwin's April 11 rant -- where at one point he informs his daughter that she is a "rude, thoughtless, little pig" -- was reported widely in US broadcast and online media Friday... Baldwin's spokesman said in a statement that "in the...

In his commentary on last night’s “60 Minutes,” Andy “Negro is a perfectly good word” Rooney said that today’s military is like the military during World War II, which was made of “losers” who did not complete high school.

Virginia Man Faces Charges for Assaulting Republicans Wednesday, February 21, 2007 AP ADVERTISEMENTClick here to find out more! FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — A Fredericksburg man is facing several assault charges after police say he hunted down a group of Republicans and confronted them in their home over their beliefs. Police said Andrew Stone, 23, recently went to a home in Fredericksburg at around 5:30 p.m. after he saw a name and nearby address on a Republican Web site. Stone confronted three residents about their political viewpoints, police said. When he found out the residents supported the Republican-led war effort in Iraq,...

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned to the national spotlight on Valentine's Day to tell U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that he misses her verbal attacks. "It had been days since she had given me any attention. How are you, Condoleezza?" Chavez asked in a speech Wednesday to pensioners in the capital of Caracas. It was Chavez's first response to Rice's testimony last week to a U.S. congressional committee that the Venezuelan leader was "destroying his own country" economically and politically — an apparent reference to a centralization of power in Venezuela and moves to nationalize key...

The federal prosecutor who helped convict two U.S. Border Patrol agents sentenced to more than a decade in jail for shooting a suspected drug smuggler who illegally crossed the border from Mexico understands why the case stirred public outrage. However, he attributes the anger to the portrayal of the case by the news media and said the media version "is unfortunately not the narrative the jury heard" before convicting the two...

Dec. 29, 2006 — In yet another moral blow to Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys called for the prosecutor to step down from the Duke lacrosse case. The group, which represents district attorneys from across North Carolina, said in a statement that "it is in the interest of justice and the effective administration of criminal justice that Mr. Nifong immediately withdraw and recuse himself from the prosecution." "It's extraordinarily unusual and it means a great deal," said Joshua Marquis, a district attorney in Clatsop County, Ore. The district attorney group also called...

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a brief statement late Tuesday on the death of former President Gerald R. Ford. Annan released the brief, two-paragraph statement to media through his spokesman Stephane Dujarric: "The secretary-general mourns the passing of former President Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States, who died yesterday at the age of 93. He extends his sincere condolences to Mrs. Betty Ford, to the family of the former president, and to the government and people of the United States. "President Ford will be remembered for the leadership, calm resolve, and broad experience he brought to...

Stop crying your heart out, Oasis singer tells British troops in Iraq Tue Nov 21, 8:22 AM ET Noel Gallagher of the British rock band Oasis has told soldiers fighting in Iraq to stop complaining when they get wounded. The chief songwriter and lead guitarist said Tuesday troops loved getting involved in war-zone action until they get hurt. In a wide-ranging rant, the fired-up 39-year-old also turned his guns on British Prime Minister Tony Blair, environmentalists, Elton John, his brother Liam -- the lead singer in the band -- and predicted his own daughter would become a "mental, axe-wielding, cyber-punk...

Reason Magazine Blogger Finds Pleasure in Tears of Rick Santorum's 8-year-old Daughter Because the libertarian universe has no place for the vulnerable, weak, or the dependent--since none are autonomous adult-choosers in search of virtual kiddie porn--it has no qualms in providing a forum in which children and their families can be verbally abused and have profanities hurled at them. Read and weep Julian Sanchez's "Your Tears Are So Yummy and Sweet" in which the writer says he finds joy in the tears of Rick Santorum's eight-year-old daughter, who is pictured crying next to her father as he gives his concession...

Snipets to fit excerpt rule -- Page 50: Why did Kerry, a Vietnam War opponent, decide to enlist? In addition to feeling obliged to serve his country (and wanting to go on the same adventure that his Yale friends were going on), Kerry says that part of the reason he enlisted in Vietnam was fear of the draft: "I called [the draft board] because I was thinking one of the options was, maybe I'll go study abroad, which was a euphemism for screwing around a bit, but it was clear to me that I was going to be at risk....

WASHINGTON (AP) - During a Vietnam-era run for Congress three decades ago, John Kerry said he opposed a volunteer Army because it would be dominated by the underprivileged, be less accountable and be more prone to "the perpetuation of war crimes." Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran who turned against the war, made the observations in answers to a 1972 candidate questionnaire from a Massachusetts peace group. After Kerry caused a firestorm this week with what he termed a botched campaign joke that Republicans said insulted current soldiers, The Associated Press was alerted to the historical comments by a former law...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2006 — Karl Rove, President Bush's top advisor, talked to ABC News' Ann Compton about the remarks Sen. John Kerry says were a botched joke about the president, and about Bush's future. Here is a transcript of the conversation: COMPTON: Senator John Kerry has made a statement about Iraq. Do you take him at his word that he was talking about the president and not the troops? ROVE: I take him at his word when he insulted America's fighting forces. This is a habit that he's had over the years. He did it when he came back...

Just announced on the FNC.

Former President Bill Clinton gestures during remarks before the Center for American Progress, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2006 at Georgetown University in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the BBC in an interview set to be broadcast on Monday that his country would be prepared to hold talks with Israel provided that "an impartial arbiter" could be found. In a wide-ranging television interview to be broadcast later Monday, Assad accused the U.S. of neither having "the will or vision" to pursue peace in the Middle East. Assad suggested that U.S. President George Bush could not be an impartial arbiter and said no direct dialogue had taken place between the two nations.

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria's president said in remarks released Sunday that he has increased the number of troops on the border with Lebanon, a move apparently aimed to appease international demands to bolster security following the Israel-Hezbollah war. But the troop movement was still likely to draw criticism from the U.S. and Iraqi governments, as President Bashar Assad said Syria shifted forces away from its eastern border with Iraq to fortify its frontier with Lebanon. The U.S. and Iraq have long accused Syria of not doing enough to stop insurgents crossing into Iraq to fight U.S. troops. Syria denies the...