Free Republic

Sarah Palin spoke publicly over the weekend about the 2012 race for the first time in months, mapping out what she sees as the themes for the presidential election. “These two elections, 2010 and 2012, go hand-in-hand,” Palin said Sunday at a business conference in Bakersfield, according a report from NBC. “The theme of 2010 has got to be rebuke their errors, reject, repeal; and then the theme of 2012 — it's renew, revive and restore.” Up until the weekend, the former Alaska governor had been deflecting almost all 2012 speculation by saying only that she was focused on November’s...

Close to 10,000 people crowded into the Bakersfield Business Conference's main tent to see former Vice President Dick Cheney be "interviewed" by Lynne Cheney, his wife of 46 years. Collecting that many people all under one tent roof is a sight to see, and Mrs. Cheney commented on what a great crowd the conference had brought together. "It's almost enough to make you want to run for office again," the former vice president quipped. "Almost." Dick Cheney worked with four of the five Republican presidents following the Eisenhower administration. With that in mind, Mrs. Cheney asked, "So who's your favorite...

Three potential 2012 Republican presidential contenders tested their messages Saturday in the San Joaquin Valley, mixing patriotism with attacks on President Barack Obama and the political left for an appreciative crowd at the Bakersfield Business Conference. Obama and the majority Democrats in Congress were criticized as being anti-growth and anti-investment. They were vilified for building a "nanny state" that discourages innovation and encourages people to look to government to pick them up. Obama, in particular, was criticized for apologizing to the world for the nation's actions under former President George W. Bush. They also blamed Obama for creating the worst...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Sarah Palin got the loudest reception among an array of Republican stars who assailed President Obama's agenda and marked the revival of the Bakersfield Business Conference. The former Alaska governor was introduced Saturday as "the next president of the United States" at the all-day celebration of all things GOP that featured appearances by former vice president Dick Cheney, ex-House speaker Newt Gingrich and strategist-turned-pundit Karl Rove.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney addressed his health and offered another defense of Bush administration "necessary" but "controversial" anti-terrorism policies Saturday...at the Bakersfield Business Conference where he was "interviewed" by his wife, Lynne.

Amen Ahmed Ali of Bakersfield pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally exporting military equipment, possession of stolen U.S. property and conspiracy to act as an illegal agent for a foreign country.

After a five-year hiatus, the Bakersfield Business Conference is back, this time featuring a lineup of Republican heavyweights that includes Sarah Palin, former Vice President Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. As in past years -- when it was held annually -- the conference will feel more political than business. In fact, three potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates are on the bill: Palin, the former Alaska governor, as well as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. "With very little advertising beyond our local community and past attendees, we've received a phenomenal response to our speaker lineup,"...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – A doctor involved in an "on-again, off-again" relationship apparently tried to force her way into her boyfriend's home by sliding down the chimney, police said Tuesday. Her decomposing body was found there three days later. Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac, 49, first tried to get into the house with a shovel, then climbed a ladder to the roof last Wednesday night, removed the chimney cap and slid feet first down the flue, Bakersfield police Sgt. Mary DeGeare said. While she was trying to break in, the man she was pursuing escaped unnoticed from another exit "to avoid a confrontation,"...

The badly decomposed body of a woman found in a chimney flue has been identified as a local doctor, authorities said Monday. Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac had been missing since last week, a day after she went to the house of a man whom she had been dating, Bakersfield police Sgt. Mary DeGeare said. Kotarac went to the man’s house in the 4300 block of La Mirada Drive Wednesday evening and was reported missing by her office staff Thursday morning, DeGeare said. DeGeare said she wasn’t sure what the status of the relationship was — whether they had been broken up...

Kern County/Bakersfield has TWO events planned for this week: the second annual taxpayer revolt on April 15; and the Pre-Tea Party Street Rally on Saturday April 10. SATURDAY: Join us as we promote the biggest Tea Party this city has ever seen. We will meet on Saturday from 3pm-5pm 24'th Street and Oak (Beach Park - Cancer Survivor's Monument) to promote the BIG tax day tea party event to take place on Thursday, April 15. Join us for as little, or as long as you can. This is a meet and greet for people who will be helping out with...

Two veteran pilots -- one a Bakersfield-based national champion in 2004 at a Reno air show -- were killed Wednesday in a World War II vintage airplane they've flown countless times before, according to friends at the crash scene in a canal and open farm field behind the Frito Lay plant. Al Goss, 68, the owner of the blue North American AT-6 (Advanced Training) "Texan" that was based in Shafter's Minter Field, and Steven Ballard, 54, a FedEx pilot from Anchorage, Alaska who worked on Goss's "Warlock team" at Minter Field, died at 11:34 a.m. when the AT-6 broke into...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hazardous material, but not a bomb, was found in a bag at an airport in Bakersfield, California, Fox News reported on Tuesday, citing the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. Security jitters have hit the United States since a botched attempt on Christmas Day to blow up a Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam using explosives smuggled on board. Washington, blaming the incident on a wing of al Qaeda, has ordered additional screening measures for passengers. Fox quoted the TSA as saying it had found a hazardous material in a checked bag at Meadows Field airport in Bakersfield, California, but that...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Transportation Security Administration officials and county authorities are investigating a suspicious substance at Meadows Field Airport that sickened two TSA officials. Authorities said they have tested the substance, and it is believed to be hazardous, so they have shut down and evacuated the airport, reported KERO-TV in Bakersfield. Kern County officials got the call Tuesday at 7:29 a.m. PT that a suspicious substance had sickened two TSA officials, causing some nausea and other sickening symptoms. Those TSA officials are being treated on the scene while the Kern County Sheriff's Department, the fire department, and a hazardous material...

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and actress Goldie Hawn will be among the speakers at next year's Bakersfield Business Conference. The much anticipated one-day conference is returning Oct. 9 after a five-year absence, and organizers are announcing one or two speakers a week as headliners in business, politics and entertainment are confirmed

Kickoff Rally a Huge Success!Hi everyone!  We've now launched the Tea Party Express II: Countdown to Judgment Day with a giant rally in San Diego.  It was incredible!!  The crowd was huge - numbering in the thousands!  The sun was shining on this naval town with our rally on the water and the U.S.S. Midway serving as the backdrop.  Sorry Keith Olbermann and any critics of the Tea Party Express - but "We The People" came together in San Diego today and our voice was heard!I can't begin to tell you how exciting the event was and how meaningful...

http://thecomingdepression.blogspot.com/2009/07/there-is-hunger-coming-like-run-away.html e driven the almost 400 mile stretch of Interstate 5 from L.A. to Sacramento dozens of times. Quite honestly, it's as boring as it gets. with only the usual gas stations, mini-marts, fast-food, home-cookin' restaurants, and strangely a newer batch of Starbuck's Coffee shops sprouting up everywhere. In between... farms, orchards, cattle, and dirt. On July 15th, as I began my trip to Utah, I came off the Grapevine decline and hit the flat 250 or so mile stretch of interstate which begins the farming belt in the valley. Almost immediately I noticed what I had only heard about...

I came out early to see todays Tea Party in Bakersfield. It had a huge turnout. Hundreds at least with 5 lefties who wondered on in and then went to the fringe. (It got to crowded in the main square to move around by about 4:00 PM!). Congressman Kevin McCarthy came by along with local radio show host Jazz McKay. It got so packed I never even saw the two of them! I stayed pretty busy taking pictures so I have a sample of such below with running commentary.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) will reportedly headline the Bakersfield Tea Party !! No word yet as to why Boehner will speak at the Bakersfield event. Other speakers include..

How about it, Bakersfield?

Im travelling down to California in a few days. I was wondering if anyone can tell me about Bakersfield California? I heard multiple views, one that it was the most conservative major city in the state and a safe haven against liberalism, the other that it was the poorest and worst place in the country and the state and that there was nothing to do. Im moving through there and might plan to stay there on the way to Lancaster.