Free Republic

Deal triumphs over the patriarch of the 1980s “government is the problem,” according to a new Rasmussen poll. By a margin of 45-40 with 15 percent undecided, poll respondents selected Franklin Delano Roosevelt as better than Ronald Reagan. Predictably, the two commanders-in-chief won high marks from those on their ideological spectrum, with 76 percent of liberals favoring Roosevelt and 68 percent of conservatives preferring Reagan. But it’s with moderate, women and African-American voters where the poll gets interesting. Centrists back FDR over Reagan 56 percent to 26 percent, while black voters overwhelmingly support him by a 2-to-1 margin. Women favored...

Beethoven: Revealing His True Identity   In the 15th and 16th century, written history underwent a massive campaign of misinformation and deception. With the European slave trade in full swing, Afrikans were transported to various parts of the world and were stripped of every aspect of their humanity, and in most of western civilization, were no longer considered human. This triggered a wholesale interpretation of history that methodically excluded Afrikans from any respectful mention, other than a legacy of slavery. This can result in being taught, or socialized, from one perspective. In this instance, historical information tends to flow strictly...

Sarah Palin is the rogue elephant in the GOP war room. The maverick mom is distancing herself from John McCain and blowing off the advice of senior Republican aides, convinced they're damaging her reputation and ruining the campaign. Things have gotten so tense between Palin and her traveling staff, an insider said, that she's overruling their advice - which was evident last week when she ignored GOP aides piling into waiting cars at a Colorado event and strolled over to the press corps for an impromptu talk. MORE: Palin Has Future Even If McCain Loses In speeches, Palin has contradicted...

WATERLOO, Iowa, (AFP) – Bitter infighting between aides to John McCain and Sarah Palin erupted into public view in a sign of tension gripping the Republican camp with the election 10 days away. A series of recent surveys have suggested Palin's presence on the ticket is hurting McCain's chances in the November 4 election, at a time when Democratic rival Barack Obama has surged clear in most key polls. The inquests into what has gone wrong with McCain's campaign appear to have already begun, according to reports, with Palin's camp blaming the Arizona senator's senior advisers for mismanaging her contribution....

Sarah Palin is the rogue elephant in the GOP war room. The maverick mom is distancing herself from John McCain and blowing off the advice of senior Republican aides, convinced they're damaging her reputation and ruining the campaign. Things have gotten so tense between Palin and her traveling staff, an insider said, that she's overruling their advice - which was evident last week when she ignored GOP aides piling into waiting cars at a Colorado event and strolled over to the press corps for an impromptu talk. In speeches, Palin has contradicted her running mate's positions on issues, telling a...

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) -- With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama has expanded his national lead over Republican John McCain in the presidential race to 10 points, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Wednesday. Obama leads McCain 52 percent to 42 percent among likely U.S. voters in the latest three-day tracking poll, up from an 8-point advantage for Obama on Tuesday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. It was the third consecutive day Obama gained ground on McCain as the two begin the final sprint to the November 4 election. "Obama just keeps growing, he has expanded his...

Mary Worship Still Alive in Catholicism10/21/2008 - Tur8infan Benedict XVI is reported (link to report) as recently praying to Mary: "We implore you to have pity today on the nations that have gone astray, on all Europe, on the whole world, that they might repent and return to your heart," the text of the prayer reads. This is a prayer that is openly idolatrous. Mankind needs to turn, not to the heart of Mary, but to the Son of Mary, Jesus Christ the Righteous. The true and proper object of worship is God alone. Matthew 4:10 Then saith Jesus...

I recall the first day of the second Gulf War clearly. It was the day I made a speech that quickly became very famous, and which has now been criticised by a former soldier as having left my men "fearful of the dangers that faced them". The Americans had attacked Iraq with, once again, no warning to us, their British allies. It was just like the last time: the first Gulf War, when the first we in the SAS knew of the beginning of the air war was when we saw it on CNN. This time, in March 2003, soldiers...

Hmmmmm… ~snip On September 29, 2008 Pennsylvania attorney Philip J. Berg, filed a response to a motion to dismiss by defendant Barack Obama who was joined in his effort to quash Berg’s lawsuit by the Democratic National Committee, claiming it has no standing to proceed. Berg argued in the brief response that he has provided the precedents which establish the standing and petitioned US District Court Judge R. Barclay Surrick of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to pursue the case. In his Sept. 29 filing, Berg said: “Plaintiff served discovery in way of Admissions and Request for Production of Documents,...

But because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a shortage of the (night-vision) goggles. In the United States, the military gets first access to the goggles, and only a couple of companies manufacture the complex, and classified, equipment. Less than a third of about 800 EMS helicopters in the United States have night-vision technology. A lot more would like it, according to a survey of 382 active helicopter EMS pilots by the National EMS Pilots Association (NEMSPA).

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. -- First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America Because John Mashek is apparently so utterly unfamiliar with it, I'm setting out the text of the First Amendment for his ease of reference. According to his column in U.S. News, the Roman Catholic bishop of Scranton, PA violates the First Amendment by...

A pro-life Catholic group called Catholics United will begin running a cable television ad in Catholic sections of Cleveland, Youngstown and Dayton on Friday that criticizes Sen. John McCain's support for the Iraq war and his August 2007 vote against a bill to provide health care for uninsured children. "Senator McCain, when will you start defending all human life, without exception?" asks the woman in the ad, who identifies herself as a pro-life mother of three children. The Cleveland-area ads will run for a week on the CNN, Fox News, Headline News, Home & Garden and AMC networks. The ads...

    Stealthy ... Brit Jon with B2 bomber        Exclusive   RAF pilot is one hell of a guy     By JOHN KAY Published: Today     AN RAF Top Gun known as “Killers” has been recruited to fly the world’s deadliest aircraft for the elite US Grim Reapers squadron.   13th bomb squadron ... badge of the elite Grim Reapers  Squadron Leader Jon Killerby pilots the £1billion state-of-the-art Stealth Spirit B2 bomber. The former Tornado ace, 34, is based with the 13th Bomb Squadron in Missouri, US. His flying overalls sport the squadron’s badge...

Alongside last Friday's announcement that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be John McCain's running mate, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 170 points. Stocks have shown weakness ever since. While there are many factors that move markets, a looming electoral contest between a tax-hiking Democrat versus a nominally pro-growth Republican surely weighs heavily on market psyche. It says here that the markets concluded that whatever John McCain's true economic views, he has handed the election to the anti-growth candidate with his selection of Palin. Stocks were presumably booing a running-mate choice that will greatly aid Barack Obama's election in November....

Lawsuit over McCain citizenship should be tossed, GOP lawyers say By Josh Richman Oakland Tribune Article Launched: 08/28/2008 06:19:23 PM PDT Lawyers for John McCain and the state and national Republican Party on Thursday asked a federal judge in San Francisco to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the candidate's place on California's Nov. 4 ballot. Markham Robinson of Vacaville, chairman-elect of California's American Independent Party, sued McCain, the GOP and California Secretary of State Debra Bowen on Aug. 11, arguing the presidential candidate's birth 72 years ago today in the Panama Canal Zone means he's not a "natural-born citizen" — a...

Another day, and no white smoke yet from Sen. John McCain’s Sedona, Ariz., residence. The search for a vice president continues as the Democratic clans gather in Denver. In an interview with CBS’s Katie Couric, McCain offered no new information about his vice presidential thinking. But he did have some kind words for Sen. Barack Obama’s newly announced running mate, Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden: “I think he’s a good selection…Joe and I have been friends for many, many years, and we know each other very well, and so I think [Obama’s] made a very wise selection.” Just because McCain’s...

Despite 189 American lives lost in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, the U.S. settled all lawsuits against Libya for terrorist killings and restored diplomatic relations with the country today – with reparations to be paid to Libya. President Ronald Reagan ordered air strikes on Tripoli and Benghazi on April 15, 1986, after Libyan terrorists planted 6 pounds of plastic explosives packed with shrapnel on the dance floor of La Belle discotheque in Berlin, killing three people – including two U.S. soldiers – and maiming 200 others. Libyan President Col. Moammar Gadhafi (Courtesy: Sky News) Two years later, Pan Am...

Barack Obama is not legally a US natural-born citizen according to the law on the books at the time of his birth; a law that was in effect between December 24, 1952 and November 13, 1986, when the law was changed. However, the new law did not preempt the former law in the cases of those born between the above listed dates when the old law was in effect. Therefore, Senator Obama may very well be disqualified.... Barack Obama’s father was not a US citizen, and Obama’s mother was only 18 when he was born, which means although she had...

It’s not just about the filioque or the Immaculate Conception, folks. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have encouraged Catholics to reach out to Orthodox Christians, to respect them and learn their traditions. Catholics by and large have accepted that the Orthodox really are very close to Catholicism in many areas. But many would be surprised to learn that some Orthodox hierarchs (and Oriental Orthodox hierarchs) are soft, even permissive on the issue of abortion–soft like Anglicans.His Holiness, Patriarch Karekin I of Etchmiadzin of Armenia (Oriental Orthodox) who came on a pastoral visit to the US had this...

WASHINGTON - The House on Tuesday issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws. "Today represents a milestone in our nation's efforts to remedy the ills of our past," said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus. The resolution, passed by voice vote, was the work of Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, the only white lawmaker to represent a majority black district. Cohen faces a formidable black challenger in a primary face-off next week.

A new Research 2000 national poll finds Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain, 51% to 39%, with Bob Barr getting 3% and Ralph Nader getting 2%.

You heard it here first. John McCain will scuttle his campaign. Don’t know how, where or when, but all signs point to a health issue. That’s just a hunch. Something, however, is wrong. The man can’t seem to put it together. He’s shrinking by the minute and getting invisible. Barack Obama will have this match handed to him by disqualification. The opponent could not answer the bell. Or, the GOP, in emergency session, will have to step in to provide a candidate that is new, improved and lucid. As Obama sizzles over there, McCain fizzles over here. The man is...

Arch Diocese Says Women Are 'Excommunicating Themselves' BOSTON -- Three Catholic women were ordained as priests in a Back Bay neighborhood church this weekend, despite the Vatican's admonition that the trio would be excommunicated if they did so.VIDEO: Women Priests Ordained In Boston“The women being ordained today have been called and they are following God’s guidance and direction for their lives,” said Dana Reynolds, a woman from California who became a Catholic bishop in a ceremony in Germany three months ago. “They have said ‘yes’ to God.”NewsCenter 5's Rondella Richardson reported that a congregation of Catholic worshippers, both male and...

BELGRADE - They sit like open sores at the heart of this turbulent eastern European nation. Long before international fugitive Miladin Kovacevic revived tensions between the U.S. and Serbia, NATO bombs reduced a row of once formidable government buildings here to hulking shells. The ravaged red-brick and concrete buildings are still standing nearly 10 years after the American-led aerial assault. They represent a wound that, many Serbians say, still runs deep. "Our people look at America like it's an enemy," said Niko Percovic, 30, a reporter based in the northern city of Novi Sad. That is one of the reasons,...

Presumptive Republican nominee's birth location revives debate over the constitutional requirement that limits the presidency to 'natural born' citizens. By Eunice MoscosoWASHINGTON BUREAU Saturday, July 05, 2008 WASHINGTON — Is Sen. John McCain a natural born citizen? Or is he ineligible to be president? The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was born Aug. 29, 1936 — not within the 50 United States, but in the Panama Canal Zone, where his father, a Navy officer, was stationed. His birth location has revived a long-standing debate over the constitutional requirement that limits the presidency to "natural born" citizens. The problem is that the...

Bush may have done a service to us all. The eight years gave us lay offs and unemployment not seen since the great depresion, wars and attrocities commited in the name of advancing american multi corporate agenda and white Christianity, we saw the rich get richer and the poor become even more poor, we heard slogans such as jobless recovery, strategery, modern economy, trickledown effect Ad nauseum. The values of Bush are the values of the capitalist system, another word for fascism. the eight years of Bush proves capitalism is a failed system. We see more debt, unemployment and 100...

This was just too good to pass up. A word of caution, the following might make those with weak stomachs and those who are easily offended uncomfortable. It doesn’t contain any profanity or obscenity but may put images in your head that you would rather not be there. You have been warned. The group Re-create 68, protesters who plan to disrupt the Democratic Convention, are fearful of a new crowd control weapon that they have heard the Denver Police are planning to use on them in August. I will try to be delicate here. The device is called "Brown Note."...

A few days ago I was talking to a prominent conservative commentator who told me how much he'd come to admire the campaign Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., had waged against Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. No fan of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the commentator said to me that if Clinton promised to not raise income taxes and she gave the conservatives the next Supreme Court pick, he'd vote for her. That won't happen, of course -- but it's a remarkable phenomenon, and now it's showing up in conservative publications. Rich Lowry, writing in the National Review: "Was just talking to a...

A remote mountain tomb and relics from 1st century Jerusalem have been discovered in southwest France. Among them are a simple pottery drinking cup and a small ointment vase that were said to have been used at the wedding of Jesus and Mary Magdalene over 2000 years ago. According to the priest who hid them away a century ago, they are sacred relics -- the true Holy Grail -- which symbolized this secret wedding. They have been analyzed by both the British Museum and Dr Gabriel Barkay of Bar Ilan University, Jerusalem, who said: "It is possible that artifacts excavated...

Immigrants and their advocates today found an unlikely ally: the top law enforcement officer in New Jersey. "Being in this country without proper documentation is not a crime," Christie told more than 60 residents and town officials. "The whole phrase of 'illegal immigrant' connotes that the person, by just being here, is committing a crime." Being undocumented may be a civil wrong, but it's not a criminal act, Christie said. "Don't let people make you believe that that's a crime that the U.S. Attorney's Office should be doing something about," he added of entering the country illegally. "It is not."...

My name is Jessie from the United States; I am 30-years-old,i`m a career woman. I work in an insurance company, learning Chinese almost a year. China's Tibet after the incident, I have read many Chinese sites, though not all understand, but a year of learning is not wasted. I found that our own media reports in China and Tibet there are many things inconsistent, in some cases are completely reversed the facts, when I heard C-N-N's Jack Cafferty with the insulting remarks at a shame, I do not know Whether they live in a stress on democracy and freedom, speaking...

Polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea are starving as they struggle to adapt to a warming Arctic climate, according to the latest research by a Canadian polar bear expert. Changing spring sea ice is making it more difficult for the bears to hunt their primary prey, the ringed seal, said Ian Stirling of the Canadian Wildlife Service. Residents and RCMP in Deline, N.W.T., described the three polar bears that wandered into their community April 2 as being thin and hungry. (Photo courtesy Les Baton) In an article published in the March issue of Arctic, the journal of the Arctic...

WHERE TO BUY YOUR USA-GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON-- Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis. These companies import Middle Eastern oil: Shell...........................205,742,000 barrels Chevron/Texaco.........144,332,000 barrels Exxon /Mobil...............130,082,000 barrels Marathon/Speedway...117,740,000 barrels Amoco..........................62,231,000 barrelsCitgo Gas comes from South America, from a Dictator who hates Americans.Do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! (Oil is now $100-$110 a barrel)Here are some large companies that DO NOT import Middle Eastern...

What's the take around here about the story of McCain being the pilot who started the Forrestal explosions/fire by wet-starting his jet on deck, and touching off the rocket of the A-4 behind him? Did he really get an immediate transfer off the ship even before it was under control? (Like they were afraid the surviving crew was going to basically kill him for this?) Is this something that is an urban legend or did it really occur and he has some or all of the blame for this happening?

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. The Bush Administration, its neoconservative allies, its congressional supporters, and the acquiescent mainstream media need to take this week as an opportunity for critical self-examination. It is time for them to face the fact that they have a problem, an addiction to this war. Here are just a few of the signs and examples: Defensiveness, temper tantrums, resentful behavior – i.e. the labeling of those who oppose the war as defeatists, unpatriotic, “blame America first” types, or saying that they don’t “support the troops” Unexplained moodiness or irritability – i.e....

NYT: MCCAIN'S BIRTHPLACE IN CANAL ZONE RAISES ELIGIBILITY QUESTIONS...

Chatter bounces off the bare walls and checkered linoleum floor as Josh Pedaline and other Barack Obama supporters burn through their call sheets. A map of Delaware County splays across a tabletop. Another is laden with cookies, pretzels and other snacks. Volunteers seated elbow-to-elbow peck at cell phones and pitch the Democratic Illinois senator in advance of Ohio's March 4 primary. The scene is a typical campaign boiler room, except that four of the 13 dialing away are lifelong Republicans, including Pedaline, who reveres former President Reagan and twice voted for President Bush. "I am so sick and tired of...

Thomas Paine and the Age of Reason Thomas Paine is sometimes grouped with the Founding Fathers. Your daily newspaper might reinforce this view with editorials like this: Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Paine and most of our other patriarchs were at best deists, believing in the unmoved mover of Aristotle, but not the God of the Old and New Testaments.[1] It would be difficult to name a single one of the Founding Fathers who approved of Paine's Age of Reason, his famous tract attacking religion in general and evangelical Christianity in particular. Even less-than-evangelicals like Benjamin Franklin and the "Unitarians" all denounced...

LOS ANGELES - President Bush cannot exempt the Navy from environmental laws banning sonar training that opponents argue harms whales, a federal judge ruled Monday. Navy officials did not immediately respond to the ruling by U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper. Mark Matsunaga, spokesman for the Navy's Pacific Fleet, headquartered in Hawaii, said officials needed time to review it before commenting. The president signed a waiver Jan. 15 exempting the Navy and its anti-submarine warfare exercises from a preliminary injunction creating a 12 nautical-mile no-sonar zone off Southern California. The Navy's attorneys argued in court last week that he was within...

THE US will commit $US2 billion ($2.27 billion) over the next three years for a new international fund to promote clean energy technologies and fight climate change, President George W. Bush will tell Congress today in his annual State of the Union speech.

Apple has lowered its projected shipments of iPhones from two million units to around 1-1.2 million units for the second fiscal quarter, which will end March 2008, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) quoted sources at Apple's handset component suppliers in Taiwan as indicating. Sales of iPhones in Europe have been lower than expected, pushing Apple to slash its shipment projection for the second quarter, the EDN quoted the sources as saying. Apple shipped more than 2.3 million iPhones in the first fiscal quarter, bringing total shipments of iPhones to close to four million units since its launch, the paper...

The United States, with its claims of exceptionalism, is usually thought of as free of historical analogies. But comparisons with the fate of earlier empires are becoming more common. I have recently been struck by an analogy from German history: the disaster of German leadership during the first world war, epitomised by Kaiser Wilhelm II. In 1888, at just 29, Wilhelm became the leader of a country on the cusp of European mastery. Wilhelm flaunted his absolute power, believing it to be divinely ordained, was contemptuous of parliament, revelled in the trappings of power, and delighted in uniforms. He was...

Republican Ron Paul is out with a new TV ad, set to run in New Hampshire through Tuesday's primary, stressing his military credentials. Patriotic music booms. Soldiers salute. The announcer begins: "A proud military veteran who served our nation. Ron Paul salutes and supports our troops who protect and defend our freedom." A flag waves. The announcer continues, "But who do the troops support? Ron Paul. The record shows they're standing up for him." The ad concludes: "Ron Paul is their choice for commander-in-chief." His campaign spokesman Jesse Benton said Paul "has long been a praised as staunch advocate for...

RALEIGH - No, you're not imagining things. That really is a Ron Paul for President blimp flying over the City of Raleigh today. Organizers for the blimp took off this morning at 8am at the Airship Management Hangar in Elizabeth City, North Carolina and they are on their way to Chester, South Carolina where they will make their first stop. This afternoon, the blimp will be flying over north Raleigh and will most likely be visible from Interstate 540 at some point, said Bryce Henderson, a media coordinator for the effort. Organizers say the current schedule has it passing over...

The story is as enduring as it is dubious: A millennium or so ago in Rome, the pope was riding in a procession when suddenly she–that's right, she–went into labor and had a baby. Nonsense? Europeans in the Middle Ages didn't think so. The story of a pope named Joan, writes historian J.N.D. Kelly in his Oxford Dictionary of Popes, "was accepted without question in Catholic circles for centuries." Only after the Reformation, when Protestants used the story to poke fun at Roman Catholics, did the Vatican begin to deny that one of its Holy Fathers had become an unholy...

ESPN is reporting that Les Miles will be Michigan's next football coach.

Nonintervention and global neutrality should be the national security creed of the United States. Every soldier deployed abroad — whether in South Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, Iraq or elsewhere — should be returned to deter and defend the United States at home. Non-intervention and neutrality everywhere coupled with a threat to annihilate any United States attacker would make the country safer, freer and more prosperous. The United States should recognize the obvious. Its contemporary leaders lack the high-mindedness and wisdom necessary to extend democracy and liberty abroad. Their motives are invariably cynical, and their adventurisms create more enemies than they destroy....

Federal immigration authorities have laid down new guidelines that will reduce the number of suspected illegal immigrants handed over from cities like Irving for possible deportation. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Dallas e-mailed a set of guidelines to the Irving Jail asking officials not to refer suspected illegal immigrants to them if they were arrested for a Class C misdemeanor. Because of that change, the number of suspects Irving turns over to ICE could drop by 60 percent, city officials said. "We are surprised by this action," Irving Mayor Herbert Gears said. "In fact, we cannot imagine how the...

Mexico's frustration with U.S. immigration policy builds Government, advocates are calling for measures to influence U.S. public opinion. By Jeremy Schwartz MEXICO CITY BUREAU Saturday, November 17, 2007 MEXICO CITY — Anger in Mexico is growing in the wake of a number of new state laws in the United States considered by critics to be anti-Mexican, a shift probably reflected in President Felipe Calderón's verbal lashing this week of U.S. presidential candidates. In tougher rhetoric toward U.S. immigration policies, Calderón scolded presidential candidates for using migrants as thematic hostages and announced a media campaign aimed at influencing American public opinion....