Free Republic

Atlas Shrugged Part 1 Quick Review- 5 stars! Very faithful to Rand's ideas. I didn't feel like they skipped any major items... the back story with Francisco was hinted at and would have been too hard to develop completely. Casting was superb. Hank (Hooray!) and Lillian (Boo!)Rearden and Ellis Wyatt (!!!) were done perfectly as was Wesley Mouch and the other moochers and looters. Dagny was good but it took about ten minutes for me to completely buy her in the role. Pace was perfect... it kept moving at a fast speed, and I didn't want it to end. Cinematography...

2012 Senate Forecasts—The First Look Dateline: Day after election 2010 By: RobFromGa Since the 2010 Senate races are now almost all decided (only WA and AK remain), it is time to look forward to the 2012 Senate Races where the Dems are going to have a tough slate to defend. The Dems need to defend 21 seats to only 10 for the GOP (there are two independents as well-- Lieberman and Sanders who both caucus with the Dems so the Dem caucus is actually defending 23 to only 10 for the GOP) Some history about the 2006 Midterms for...

1) My Senate Predictions: The GOP easily picks up 4 Senate seats in Indiana, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Arkansas which gets them to 45... They are within striking distance of 8 more Dem seats (and they aren't in danger of losing any GOP seats) I think that these first four are almost certainly going to GOP... CO: Buck (R) wins IL: Kirk (R) wins (The Obama seat)... NV: Angle (R) wins (Bye Bye Harry Reid)... PA: Toomey (R) wins (Bye Bye Arlen Specter seat)... This gets GOP to 49... I predict WA: Rossi (R) defeats Murray in a squeaker, upset...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy grew at a faster-than-expected 5.7 percent pace in the fourth quarter, the quickest pace in more than six years, as businesses reduced inventories less aggressively, the Commerce Department said on Friday. The first estimate put fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth at its fastest pace since the third quarter of 2003. The economy expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter...

Think of Disaster Preparation as Survival Insurance… For anyone reading this that thinks that it seems a bit crazy or excessive to spend money to solve a “problem” that they consider “highly unlikely” or that brings you worry just to think about… what about Insurance? We all spend money to insure ourselves against potential losses, many of which are highly unlikely: Home- we insure the value of our homes against fire and other natural disasters; Auto- we are insured against accidents and related medical expenses/liability expenses; Liability/Umbrella- we are insured against someone suing us for inadvertent damages; Health- we are...

Throughout 2008, Larry Summers, the Harvard economist, built the case for a big but surgical stimulus package. Summers warned that a “poorly provided fiscal stimulus can have worse side effects than the disease that is to be cured.” So his proposal had three clear guidelines...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- Military judges on Wednesday will consider motions by the Obama administration to suspend the Guantanamo war crimes trials for 120 days during a review of the system for prosecuting suspected terrorists. The motions, filed late Tuesday at the direction of President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, will be heard in the cases of five men charged in the Sept. 11 attacks and of Canadian Omar Khadr, who is accused of killing an American soldier with a grenade in Afghanistan in 2002.... snip ...Relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, who were...

The polls close in ten minutes. Hopefully Georgia has held the line today. Poll traffic was reported as steady here Northeast Atlanta today...

SENATE PREDICTIONSELECTION DAY...FROM NOV 2008 election, here’s a list of the 35 Senate races. (including 33 regular and the MS & WY special elections)The GOP is defending 23 seats, and the Dems defend 12.THere are 65 Senate seats that are not up for election. The GOP starts with 26 carryover seats, and the Dems start with 39 (counting the 2 “independents” Lieberman-CT and Sanders-VT).I was way TOO OPTIMISTIC in the 2006 Midterms, so I am trying to be less optimistic this time...There are another 26 seats that appear SAFE, barring some major change of events over the next 50...

Today I celebrate my 5th Year of sobriety (although there have been a few days recently that I almost wished I could drink, but not really). October 7, 2003 was my last drop of alcohol... I said "almost wished" above, I didn't really consider it...but we do live in "interesting times". Too interesting I think... Here was my first thread on the subject, way back in Dec 2004 when I was just a 14 month old sober guy: If You Suspect You Might Have A Drinking Problem (An Open Letter)Since then we have our Addiction Recovery Ping list which is...

Report: Top U.S. Military Officer in Pakistan on Unannounced Visit With Senior Leaders ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A top U.S. military officer has flown to Pakistan for an unannounced visit with senior leaders amid Pakistani orders to fire on U.S. troops conducting cross-border raids from Afghanistan... The Pakistan's military ordered its forces Tuesday to take the offensive if U.S. troops launch another air or ground raid across the Afghan border, an army spokesman said Tuesday...

SENATE PREDICTIONS FROM 50 DAYS OUT... FROM NOV 2008 election, here’s a list of the 35 Senate races. (including 33 regular and the MS & WY special elections)The GOP is defending 23 seats, and the Dems defend 12.THere are 65 Senate seats that are not up for election. The GOP starts with 26 carryover seats, and the Dems start with 39 (counting the 2 “independents” Lieberman-CT and Sanders-VT).I was way TOO OPTIMISTIC in the 2006 Midterms, so I am trying to be less optimistic this time...There are another 26 seats that appear SAFE, barring some major change of events...

Just got this poll question from NRCC via email (fund-raiser after you answer the question)... I thought it would be interesting to hear FReeper responses...

Mad How disease   [Mark Steyn] The Washington Post's media man, Howard Kurtz, is mad as hell and he's not gonna take it for more than another couple decades or until the management buy-out offer improves: The media are getting mad. Whether it's the latest back-and-forth over attack ads, the silly lipstick flap or the continuing debate over Sarah and sexism, you can just feel the tension level rising several notches. Maybe it's a sense that this is crunch time, that the election is on the line, that the press is being manipulated... Yes, indeed. Howie feels the press is being...

Barack's Golden Handcuffs (FR exclusive) by RobFromGa A while back, Barack Obama made a pledge to use public financing for his campaign. Then, in a fit of flip-floppery... Obama reversed his earlier pledge and pulled a 180. He decided to allow his vast army of "politifans" to donate the money to finance his campaign privately. Much has been made that this was a flawed decision not just because it shows him to be a flip-flopper, but because it requires him to spend valuable time raising money when he needs to be campaigning. This is an important point because every second...

Credit where it's due [Mark Steyn] I would like to thank the US media for doing such a grand job this last week of lowering expectations by portraying Governor Palin - whoops, I mean Hick-Burg Mayor Palin - as a hillbilly know-nothing permapregnant ditz, half of whose 27 kids are the spawn of a stump-toothed uncle who hasn't worked since he was an extra in Deliverance. How's that narrative holding up, geniuses? Almost as good as your "devoted husband John Edwards" routine? I trust even now Maureen Dowd is working on a hilarious new column mocking proposed names for the...

Should a mother with five children, one of them a pregnant teen and another an infant with special needs, be running for vice president? The question is being much debated, in newspaper stories and columns, on blogs and Web sites, and, yes, around kitchen tables across the country.

Great new Ad... http://www.johnmccain.com/videolanding/theoneII.htm

Obama will be making his Veep choice known within the next 36 hours, soliciting Freeper thoughts and predictions... Step right up and make your guesses....