Free Republic

Some parishioners in the Church of Obama discovered last week that their spiritual leader is a false prophet Consider the blow suffered by the liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, who issued a plaintive plea to the president on the eve of his announcement that he was sending 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan. By escalating the war, Moore wrote: "[Y]ou will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says only once since Jan. 20 has White House life annoyed him. It was the Saturday in May when, trying to be a good husband, he kept a campaign promise to take his wife, Michelle, to New York after the election for one of their "date nights" - dinner and a Broadway play. Conservative commentators and Republican officials criticized him for doing so. "People made it into a political issue," Obama told The New York Times Magazine for an article about the Obamas' marriage, appearing in the Nov. 1 issue. The article was posted on...

I have been a reader of the Free Republic for a long time, also I have never been a support of Obama, but I cannot belive all of the tripe that has appeared on this board today. Everything from Obama going to heaven to Obama spreading the waters of the Red Sea. I can remember when the Free Republic was a repository for breaking news, that was news. Not some board that makes fun of the President of the United States. I wonder what has happened to all of the real Freepers who met conversed and enjoyed the Free Republic...

There is the dread of leaving the house that morning. People might stare, or worse, yell insults. Prayers are more intense, visits with family longer. Mosques become a refuge. Eight years after 9/11, many U.S. Muslims still struggle through the anniversary of the attacks. Yes, the sting has lessened. For the younger generation of Muslims, the tragedy can even seem like a distant memory. "Time marches on," said Souha Azmeh Al-Samkari, a 22-year-old student at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Yet, many American Muslims say Sept. 11 will never be routine, no matter how many anniversaries have passed.

IMAGINE WAKING UP to pounding on your front door, you and your kids forced to the floor in your pajamas, heavily armed agents rifling their way through your home as the kids scream out in terror. Now, imagine armed federal agents barging into your home without legal consent! Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano’s recent announcement that her department will be expanding its 287 (g) program that deputizes local law enforcement to act as federal Immigration Customs Enforcement agents will increase the potential for abuse. This program will expand enforcement, leading to unconstitutional searches and seizures of American citizens...

President Barack Obama, trying to regain control of the health-care debate, will likely shift his pitch in September, White House and Democratic officials said, as he faces pressure from supporters to talk more about the moral imperative to provide health insurance to all Americans. The rethinking comes amid a struggle by the White House to clarify its view on a public insurance plan, which liberals see as a critical part of a health overhaul. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday that a public plan isn't the "essential element" of a health bill, prompting sharp words from liberal...

The sponsor of the anti-Semitic hate fests known as Durban I and Durban II, Mary Robinson, can't stand even the slightest criticism of her receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama. Stephen O'Farrell of the Irish Independent (Mary Robinson is Irish) reports her viewpoint: FORMER President Mary Robinson accused "certain elements" of the Jewish community of bullying after a number of pro-Israel lobby groups voiced concerns over her being awarded the top US civilian honour. ....

PRIVATE school: $32,000 a year per student. Mortgage: $96,000 a year. Co-op maintenance fee: $96,000 a year. Nanny: $45,000 a year. We are already at $269,000, and we haven’t even gotten to taxes yet. Five hundred thousand dollars — the amount President Obama wants to set as the top pay for banking executives whose firms accept government bailout money — seems like a lot, and it is a lot. To many people in many places, it is a princely sum to live on. But in the neighborhoods of New York City and its suburban enclaves where successful bankers live, half...

Hit with declines in funding from the economic crisis and the Madoff scandal, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America is laying off around 20% of its staff. Roughly 30 people were let go earlier this week, according to a source who works for the nonprofit. Executives at Planned Parenthood confirmed the layoffs, but declined to give more details. “As with many other nonprofit organizations, Planned Parenthood has had to make staff reductions at our headquarters due to the challenging economic times facing our country,” said Maryana Iskander, chief operating officer at the agency. “While taking this action is never easy,...

John Kerry fighting for own image ‘I am proud that Ted Kennedy is my senior colleague. It does make it harder, that’s all.’ By Hillary Chabot Saturday, October 25, 2008 - Updated 3h ago + Recent Articles + Email EmailE-mail PrintablePrintable Comments(73) Comments LargerSmallerText size ShareShare Rate(0) Rate An exasperated Sen. John F. Kerry vowed to defend his image yesterday and lashed out at opponents’ portrayals of him as a do-nothing senator riding the coattails of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. The former Democratic presidential candidate now up for re-election to the Senate presented a stack of 50 thank-you letters from...

Deportation hurts more than just the immigrant Saturday, September 13, 2008 3:20 AM I recently read the first part of The Dispatch's series "American Divide: The Immigration Crackdown" (Sunday-Wednesday), and it, unlike many other reports, actually offered the point of view of an immigrant. However, I can offer a point of view that many reports do not. I am an American, born and raised in a small town in Pennsylvania. I moved to Ohio in 2001 and received a bachelor's degree from Ohio Wesleyan University. Now I am a manager of a nationwide, very successful retail chain. I've been happily...

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, who helped reignite Barack Obama's pastor problems by mocking Hillary Clinton, said this evening he's received "thousands of hate threats" since his videotaped pulpit rant. "They want to kill me," Pfleger told parishioners during a service in a St. Sabina Church chapel on Chicago's South Side this evening. "It's been very ugly." The firebrand Catholic Priest made his controversial Clinton comments last Sunday at Trinity United Church of Christ, home church of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor. Pfleger mocked Clinton for crying on the campaign trail, and suggested it was "white entitlement" leading Clinton...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H11x6bMu4Y

This is why Obama should have laughed off Rev Wright. Hillary would have. She would have just snorted "That's a minister for you, always preaching hellfire and damnation. Of course I'm not responsible for anything a minister says!" But Obama didn't do that. He accepted the Republican frame that he was tied at the hip to the preacher in his church. He took it all seriously. So now here we go again -- this time with a white guy, a Father Michael Pfleger, who belted out a mean-spirited, ugly, gratituous anti-Hillary skreed last Sunday at good old Trinity United: "....

Lexington, which touts itself as the Horse Capital of the World, now has a less appealing nickname: Bigfoot. A first-of-its-kind study of the carbon footprints of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas being released by the Brookings Institution on Thursday puts Lexington at No. 100 -- the worst of them all.

PDN online, (Photo District News) does not allow their material to be posted on FR but this is worth a look. A guy who works for the San Jose Mercury News has been so discouraged by the continuous layoffs in the news industry, he has started taking pictures of empty hallways and bulletin boards. You can read the story by clicking the link below. Read more here.

AVONDALE, Ariz. - In the corner of a living room in a small house that he rents in this Phoenix suburb, Juan Carlos has piled six black garbage bags stuffed with clothes and housewares along with an old vacuum cleaner. Juan Carlos, 50, said he will donate some of his possessions to a local church and send others to family in Mexico. Unable to afford a moving truck and unsure of his future in Arizona, Juan Carlos is preparing to leave behind his wife and daughter, both undocumented immigrants, for a new state and a new life. Juan Carlos, who...

Her voice quavering, Hillary Clinton spoke from the same church Friday where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. announced 40 years ago - on the night before he was killed - that he'd been to the mountaintop and seen the glory. Recalling hearing of King's assassination, Clinton, in college at the time, said: "I walked into my dorm room and took my book bag and hurled it across the room." Her voice breaking, she told the crowd at Memphis' Mason Temple, "It felt like everything had been shattered, and we'd never be able to put the pieces together again." It...

In an interview with ABC News' Cynthia McFadden to air on this evening's "Nightline," Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., says it's tougher for her to run as a woman than it is for her male opponent. Asked why she thinks so many women may be feeling sorry for her, Clinton said, "I think a lot of women project their own feelings and their lives onto me, and they see how hard this is. It's hard. It's hard being a woman out there. It is obviously challenging with some of the things that are said that are not even personal to me...

Clinton and the press [UPDATED] Clinton's communications director, Howard Wolfson, delivered some really heated criticism of the press on a conference call just now. Halperin has audio, and here's a transcript. I think it is true that every time the Obama campaign in this campaign has attacked Senator Clinton in the worst kind of personal ways, attacked her veracity, attacked her credibility, said that she would say or do anything to get elected, the press has largely applauded him. When we have attempted to make contrasts with Senator Obama, we have been criticized for it. That is a fact...

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., wipes her eye as she listens to a disabled U.S. veteran in the audience tell his story during a campaign stop at The City of Lewiston Memorial Armory in Lewiston, Maine., Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A distasteful comment about Chelsea Clinton by an MSNBC anchor Thursday could imperil Hillary Rodham Clinton's participation in future presidential debates on the network, a Clinton spokesman said. In a conference call with reporters, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson Friday excoriated MSNBC's David Shuster for suggesting the Clinton campaign had "pimped out" 27-year old Chelsea by having her place phone calls to Democratic Party superdelegates on her mother's behalf. Wolfson called the comment "beneath contempt" and disgusting. "I, at this point, can't envision a scenario where we would continue to engage in debates on that network," he added. Clinton and...

Mitt Romney on Monday told Republican rival Mike Huckabee to quit “whining” after Huckabee accused Romney of trying to suppress turnout on Super Tuesday.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton had an emotional reunion Monday with a colleague from the early days of her legal career as a child advocate. The moment came as she revisited her law school days while hosting a campaign event at the Yale Child Study Center where she first pursued her interest in child advocacy. Penn Rhodeen, a New Haven public interest lawyer who worked with Clinton as a student, recalled her showing up on his doorstep wearing purple bellbottoms. "It was so 1972," he recalled, praising Clinton for her longtime interest in helping children. "Here is...

ENJOY THE YOUTUBE, MAKE A COMMENT IF YOU HAVE A MOMENT, AND PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS Paul knows how to sing it and gets right to it.

A make-or-break primary date looms within hours, and once again the focus falls on whether Hillary Clinton can blunt the momentum of the political neophyte Barack Obama. What can she do? She can fall back on the strategy that helped her to a surprise win New Hampshire by getting misty (via The Anchoress): Sen. Hillary Clinton teared up this morning at an event at the Yale Child Study Center, where she worked while in law school in the early 1970s. Penn Rhodeen, who was introducing Clinton, began to choke up, leading Clinton's eyes to fill with tears, which she wiped...

The Crying Game? Hillary brings back the tears Blogger Jason George reports that Sen. Hillary Clinton had another teary moment this morning, this time in New Haven, Conn. Tears served Clinton well leading up to the New Hampshire primary. George, who writes “The Swamp" blog for the Tribune Co.’s Washington Bureau, reports that a doctor who was introducing Clinton began to choke up, which led to Clinton's eyes filling with tears. The tears apparently followed a reference to Clinton’s youthful fashion choices. George reports that "the doctor was saying how proud he was that sheepskin coat- (and) bell- bottom-wearing young...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Sen. Hillary Clinton teared up this morning at an event at the Yale Child Study Center, where she worked while in law school in the early 1970s. A doctor, who was introducing Clinton, began to choke up, leading Clinton's eyes to fill with tears, which she wiped out of her left eye. At the time, the doctor was saying how proud he was that sheepskin-coat, bell-bottom-wearing young woman he met in 1972 was now running for president.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Sen. Hillary Clinton teared up this morning at an event at the Yale Child Study Center, where she worked while in law school in the early 1970s. A doctor, who was introducing Clinton, began to choke up, leading Clinton's eyes to fill with tears, which she wiped out of her left eye. At the time, the doctor was saying how proud he was that sheepskin-coat, bell-bottom-wearing young woman he met in 1972 was now running for president. "Well, I said I would not tear up; already we're not exactly on the path," Clinton said with emotion...

mmigrants hit hard by U.S. slowdown and subprime crisis Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:14am EST By Adriana Garcia WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As an economic slowdown and the subprime mortgage crisis deepen across the United States, Hispanic immigrants are increasingly in danger of losing their jobs and their homes. Both legal and illegal immigrants joined Americans in buying homes they could barely afford when the market spiraled upward and many have been caught with mortgages higher than the value of their homes as prices have slumped in the past year. Just as subprime mortgage payments rose and house prices fell, the...

LOS ANGELES - Producers of the Grammy Awards have requested an interim agreement that would allow striking Hollywood writers to work on next month's telecast, The Recording Academy said Tuesday. Writers Guild of America spokesman Gregg Mitchell said the request was referred to the board of the union's West Coast branch for a decision. He said earlier in the day, however, that a deal "is unlikely to be granted." The situation raised question about the fate of the Feb. 10 Grammys ceremony, set for live broadcast by CBS. The writers guild refused to grant a waiver for last weekend's Golden...

Bill Maher Mercilessly Slams Hillary's Crying Game (updated w/video) By Noel Sheppard | January 12, 2008 - 19:00 ET A truly extraordinary event happened on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" Friday evening: the host, in the first show of the new season delayed as a result of the Hollywood writers' strike, began the program bashing Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) for faking a teary moment in a New Hampshire diner Monday. Maybe even more astounding, Hillary's charade was a central focus of Maher's monologue, as well as the entire program during which he questioned the sanity of voters who bought...

Going into the New Hampshire primary, Hillary Clinton implored voters to keep a level head and not get carried away with a passing crush. Unable to match Barack Obama's inspiring oratory, she sniped, "You campaign in poetry, but you govern in prose." But after winning, she was all gooey sentiment: "I felt like we all spoke from our hearts, and I'm so gratified you responded." Head, heart — what does it matter, as long as she wins? If it took a show of tears to elicit sympathy from New Hampshirites, Sister Frigidaire (as she was known in her youth) was...

A truly extraordinary event happened on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" Friday evening: the host, in the first show of the new season delayed as a result of the Hollywood writers' strike, began the program bashing Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) for faking a teary moment in a New Hampshire diner this passed Monday. Maybe even more astounding, Hillary's charade was a central focus of Maher's monologue, as well as the entire program during which he questioned the sanity of voters who bought into her crying game [0] hook, line and sinker. Readers are cautioned to hold on tightly to...

When I walked into the office Monday, people were clustering around a computer to watch what they thought they would never see: Hillary Clinton with the unmistakable look of tears in her eyes. A woman gazing at the screen was grimacing, saying it was bad. Three guys watched it over and over, drawn to the “humanized” Hillary. One reporter who covers security issues cringed. “We are at war,” he said. “Is this how she’ll talk to Kim Jong-il?” Another reporter joked: “That crying really seemed genuine. I’ll bet she spent hours thinking about it beforehand.” He added dryly: “Crying doesn’t...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Democratic women rallied around Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, according to statewide exit polls, confounding expectations and providing her margin of victory over Senator Barack Obama. In contrast to polling results in the Iowa caucuses, half the women who voted in the Democratic primary gave her their support, the polls showed. Four in 10 voters said Mrs. Clinton was most qualified to be commander-in-chief, while 3 in 10 said the same of Mr. Obama. “It’s assumed that people vote for her because of superficial things, but she has the depth and strength...

As the plane reached cruising speed, the captain's voice crackled across the Tannoy to welcome us aboard and give us details about the flight ahead. Almost immediately I began to shift nervously in my seat. Not because we were being told of impending turbulence or being given giddy-making statistics about our altitude and speed. What unsettled me was the voice coming over the loud speaker. Our captain was a woman. With a female pilot at the helm, my husband immediately made some comment about women drivers before returning to his crossword. I, on the other hand, felt uncomfortable and found...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Maybe the signs pointing to Hillary Clinton's victory in the New Hampshire primary were there all along, hidden in plain sight by the blur of Obamamania and a stack of flawed polls. There was that moment in the ABC News debate Saturday when Barack Obama and John Edwards ganged up on Clinton and she fought back. Later, when Scott Spradling, a local political reporter, suggested that voters didn't find her likable, she replied, "Well, that hurts my feelings." It looked like a genuine reaction from someone so often cast as a stick figure. Obama then made trouble...

Don't let the "Comeback Gal" spin fool you. Despite the unexpectedly close finish in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton's campaign remains in a tailspin. And the Clintons' pre-Granite State primary finger-pointing has left an indelible mark. It's the media's fault. It's sexism's fault. It's the vast right-wing conspiracy's fault. Oh, and it's all your fault that you laugh out loud when she tries to steal the mantle of "change" from Barack Obama by surrounding herself on stage with moldy political fogies like Madeleine Albright, Wesley Clark and James Carville. Watching the Clinton "crack-up" before the vote was less like watching glass...

The first votes in New Hampshire are in! Dixville Notch. Hillary bombs. Not one vote. OK ... so there were only about 11 votes cast, but who's counting. Well, they were, actually ... and McCain got 4 to Obama's 7. Not a great start. Yesterday's show quickly went from "Obama is leading the NH polls" to "Hillary may drop out if she loses in New Hampshire." Well the day has come, and Hillary will still most likely lose here in New Hampshire. But her staff maintains that she is in it until the convention. After all, what else are they...

Last night I discussed Hillary's crying performance with a noted psychologist who has been on radio and is a best-selling author. Many of you would recognize her name. I promised she would remain anonymous. She watched Hillary's performance with amazement. It was totally narcissistic -- it was all about her and her power, not the country as she professed. My friend questions whether Bill subconsciously really does not want Hillary to win. In fairness to the Clintons, this is not a clinical diagnosis, because the doctor has never consulted with them. From her observations, after studying human behavior for many...

(CNN) — Democrat Hillary Clinton talked to CNN's John Roberts about tearing up on the campaign trail Monday, saying the incident proves she has emotions. "Well you know, I actually have emotions — I know there are some people who doubt that, but you know, I really am so touched by what I hear from people," said the New York senator. "It's usually about their problems. “It's usually a mother who throws arm around me and says thank you for the Children's Health Care insurance program, or a man who drove here all the way here from New York to...

Until the votes are counted Tuesday night in New Hampshire, you won't be able to turn on a news program without hearing about Hillary Clinton "crying" at a campaign event Monday in New Hampshire. Is this a cry? And the larger question: Who cares? If you call that a cry, then you've got to say that Fred Thompson was crying, too, last week in Iowa. Hey, wouldn't you with his poll numbers? Even Rudy Giuliani is kicking some "Law and Order" booty in New Hampshire and Rudy's barely campaigning there. But we digress. A cry -- or let's face it,...

The Woman Who Elicited Clinton's Emotion She Was Moved By Barack Obama, But She Moved Hillary Clinton PORTSMOUTH, N.H., Jan. 7, 2008 Clinton Fights Back Tears "CBS News RAW": Hillary Clinton gives an emotional response at a campaign stop in Portsmouth, N.H., when a woman asks her how she stays "upbeat" on the trail. (CBS) It's been a busy couple of days for Marianne Pernold Young, as far as presidential candidates go. She saw Barack Obama speak on Saturday. "But you know, he moved me to tears," Young, a freelance photographer, told CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod....

Exhausted and facing the prospect of losing the second test of her primary campaign, Hillary Rodham Clinton fought back tears as her voice broke at the close of a sedate event in a Portsmouth coffee shop. She expressed the sheer difficulty of heading out to the trail each day — "It's not easy," she said — and suggested she faced "pretty difficult odds." -snip- "It’s not easy, it’s not easy, and I couldn’t do it if I just didn’t passionately believe it was the right thing to do," she said. "I have so many opportunities for this country. I don’t...

ABC News' Kate Snow Report: Campaigning in New Hampshire one day before the first-in-the-nation primary, Senator Hillary Clinton got emotional and had tears in her eyes as she spoke with voters about her passion for the country. Clinton was sitting at a big table in Cafe Espresso in Portsmouth, New Hampshire with 16 undecided voters. The Senator from New York was methodically, warmly and calmly taking questions from the voters. She bored the rest of the table answering for ten minutes one realtor's question about real estate insurance. But then, she had an exchange with a fan of her Democratic...

Hillary Clinton can take a punch, so we know what happens when you "hit the girl". Apparently, she loses it when she finds out that she's not the most popular in the class. When watching the video, I have to admit not seeing any tears. But the cracking of her voice implies an emotional release not expected from the ice lady.

Hillary wells up talking about primaries and how she just doesn't "want to see us fall backwards" etc.

January 7, 2008 -- On the same day she vowed to stay in the race regardless of what happens in New Hampshire, Sen. Hillary Clinton had a rare emotional moment during a question-and-answer session with undecided voters. Maryann Pernold, a 64-year-old undecided Democrat, said that as a woman "I know it's hard to get out of the house and get ready. Who does your hair?" the Wall Street Journal reported. "It's not easy, it's not easy," Clinton said shaking her head. The Journal said her eyes began to get watery as she finished answering. "I couldn't do it if I...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., admitted Thursday that she had underestimated the willingness of Republicans to stand behind President Bush’s Iraq policy despite the drubbing the GOP took in the polls in 2006. “The assumption I made was that the Republicans would soon see the light,” she said. Instead, the minority stuck to the president’s war policy in the face of unrelenting pressure from congressional Democrats and powerful lobbying campaigns by anti-war groups. Bush has consistently refused to accept any limitations on his authority to direct military operations in Iraq, or on funds destined for the war effort. Democrats...