Free Republic

If Texas Democrats, or even Republicans for that matter, thought they’d have a quieter, gentler Rick Perry on their hands in the wake of his . . . um . . . temporary diversion into Presidential politics, they know better today. In a speech Monday in Houston, Perry laid out five fundamental conservative principles for the Texas Legislature to follow, essentially throwing down the gauntlet to any legislator — or wanna-be legislator — who thinks they’ll be able to bring a tax and spend mindset to the Texas Capitol building. Perry’s “Texas Budget Compact” is pretty much bedrock conservative fare:...

(CNN) – Rick Santorum participated in two meetings with conservative leaders on Thursday which focused on his candidacy, but not on whether rival Newt Gingrich should end his, sources with knowledge of the meetings told CNN. "There was some frustration about the fact that Gingrich wasn't in Wisconsin, and if his vote had gone to Santorum then Santorum would have won, but I would not in any way say that meeting focused on getting Gingrich out," one participant said. This source and others spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity because of the non-public nature of the meeting.

The voting is over, and so for the most part is the counting. The delegate math, I leave to others; let’s take a look at how the popular vote has shaped up over the course of this primary season and what conclusions we can draw. First, the overall popular vote before Super Tuesday, on Super Tuesday, and to date.* In addition to listing the candidates’ individual vote totals, I’ve classified them in three groups: the five conservative candidates (Santorum, Gingrich, Perry, Bachmann and Cain), the two moderate candidates (Romney and Hunstman) and the libertarian (Paul). While there will undoubtedly be...

<p>TODAY'S Wall Street Journal features an op-ed in which Rick Santorum pledges that "...in my first 100 days as president, I'll submit to Congress and work to pass a comprehensive pro-growth and pro-family Economic Freedom Agenda". No one is more receptive than I to an "economic freedom agenda", yet Mr Santorum's has my bullshit detector howling like an air-raid siren.</p>

I can confirm tonight from multiple sources that phone calls are in fact occurring between Republicans in Washington and among evangelical leaders to raise money for Rick Santorum rapidly. The sources tell me that this is not for a Santorum win, though the evangelicals I spoke to continue to hope it is possible. This is to stop Newt Gingrich. One evangelical leader I spoke to said, “If Newt wins, we won’t be able to make family values an issue in the general.” One lobbyist I spoke to said, “They [the GOP leaders in DC] are really nervous about Gingrich and...

Rick Perry has locked in his front runner lead and in a novel twist of things, some Democrats are starting to panic. Why? Because the way Perry talks about immigration works to his advantage with hispanic immigrants and hispanic immigrants want someone other than Obama. At the same time, Michele Bachmann seems to have hit the self-destruct button on her campaign. Even Ed Rollins is less than “all in” for her it seems. Mitt Romney has a problem and it is bigger than Rick Perry’s problem — he’s boxing himself in on entitlement reform in a way that hurts him...

The US's new war against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is the latest sign of its steady regional decline. In media interviews over the weekend, US military chief Adm. Michael Mullen was hard-pressed to explain either the goal of the military strikes in Libya or their strategic rationale. Mullen's difficulty explaining the purpose of this new war was indicative of the increasing irrationality of US foreign policy. Traditionally, states have crafted their foreign policy to expand their wealth and bolster their national security. In this context, US foreign policy in the Middle East has traditionally been directed towards advancing three goals:...

THE precise details of what has gone wrong at the nuclear power plants in north-eastern Japan following the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck the area on March 11th remain hazy. But a picture is beginning to emerge as events unfold and information is made available by the plants' operators and the Japanese authorities. Start with the basics. Nuclear energy is produced by atomic fission. A large atom (uranium or plutonium) breaks into two smaller ones, releasing energy and neutrons. These neutrons may then trigger the break-up of further atoms, creating a chain reaction. The faster the neutron, the fewer break-ups...

Following the opening of the first-ever Zionist editing group aimed at defending Israel on Wikipedia, a group of Palestinian Authority journalists plan to join the fray and create their own Wikipedia editing program. Palestinian Journalists Syndicate head Abdul Nasser An-Najar told the Bethlehem-based Maan news agency that his organization plans to set up editing groups to counter attempts to present Israel's view on Wikipedia. He called on the PA to take part in the initiative. An-Najar warned that the next regional war would be a “media war.” Online information on the Israeli-Arab conflict shapes world opinion, he said. -more at...

It's springtime for Jew haters. This week Oscar winning conspiracy theorist Oliver Stone joined Helen Thomas and Mel Gibson in the swelling ranks of out-of-the-closet celebrity Jew haters. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Stone said that Adolf Hitler had been given a bum rap and that through "Jewish domination of the media," the Jews have inflated the importance of the Holocaust and wrecked US foreign policy. In the wake of criticism in Jewish circles, on Wednesday Stone's publicist issued a mealy-mouthed clarification. Stone failed to retract or amend his statement that "There's a major lobby in the United...

Chaim Shmuel Golubchuk, a"h, has gone to his Eternal reward. But the issues that pitted his children Percy Golubchuk and Miriam Geller against Grace General Hospital in Winnipeg over the last seven months will long be with us. After being informed by their father's doctors that they intended to end his life by removing his ventilation and feeding tube, the Golubchuk children sought an injunction against the hospital. They argued that their father would adamantly oppose any attempt to shorten his life, which is forbidden by Jewish law. After the entry of a temporary injunction, the hospital pursued an aggressive...

Hamadi information minister, a Druze, said Sunday night that Nasrallah had broken his word to order Hizballah fighters south of the Litani to hand in their weapons to allow Lebanese army troops to be deployed there. DEBKAfile reports: Amid heavy fighting across the entire Lebanese front, Israeli field commanders await directives for Monday 0800 hours when the ceasefire deadline goes into force. Lebanon front commander Maj-Gen Benny Gantz said Sunday night the IDF will honor the ceasefire but also defend its troops and Israeli civilians. DEBKAfile asks: Have they been told to hold their fire in line with Israel’s acceptance...

KCNA Blasts U.S. Ambition for "Unipolar World" Pyongyang, May 25 (KCNA) -- The U.S. arbitrary practices to dominate the international arena are unlimited. Recently the U.S. has drawn up a list of "unstable states" in secrecy. The list is said to include the DPRK and 24 other countries which the National Intelligence Committee selected as the "extremely dangerous or unstable countries" at the request of the U.S. administration. The point at issue is that the list was premised on the necessary U.S. intervention under the pretext of "the settlement of dispute" and "peace." This is an open attempt to invent...