Free Republic

Ayn Rand couldn't have imagined it any better: a government with a majority ownership stake in a car maker lobbing sound bites that damage the "competition." While it's not Ray LaHood's fault that the U.S. government got into the car business, his comments suggesting that Toyota drivers should stop driving their cars did a nice job of underscoring the folly of this type of government intervention.

NEW YORK, February 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As nations around the world are beginning to feel the effects of plummeting birth rates, the Vatican’s representative to the United Nations has stressed that population growth is the key to overcoming poverty. Speaking before the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, Archbishop Celestino Migliore said, “too often population growth is viewed as the cause of poverty whereas it is a means of overcoming it, for only within the work force can the solution for poverty be found.”The archbishop explained: “where economic growth rates have declined, the answers lie not...

MOST of the time, watching cars travel the looping highways of Texas cities is like tracking luggage on an airport carousel. Everything looks the same: Silver, white, black. Silver, white, black. Ah, a red one. Standing in a parking lot, it can be hard to distinguish one’s car from the monotone masses. It might be easy to blame the lack of color on the tough times in the auto industry. A few years ago, the industry was selling 16 million to 17 million cars a year. Last year it was about 10 million, said John Felice, Ford Motor Co.’s general...

I want to remove a useless letter of the alphabet. Why is there a "Q"? Why does it have an unearned spot in the alphabet? The most useful letters of the alphabet are all front loaded. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP the slackers of the crowd are all stuck in the back as an afterthought, i.e. WXYZ. Where does the self rightous, 10 point Scrabble letter "Q" get off slipping into line before RSTUV? Did they know the bouncer? Notice Q's accomplice U garnered a cheap 1 point role in Scrabble to facilitate Q's infiltration into the language. If I have my way we...

So who's lying? On Tuesday: (h/t Doug Ross) [FBI Director] Mueller said none of the intelligence chiefs at Tuesday's hearing (including Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and CIA Director Leon Panetta) were consulted about the decision to read AbdulMutallab his Miranda rights. That decision was made by the chief security interrogator at the scene in consultation with the Department of Justice, Mueller said. Same day report from CNN: At congressional hearings last month, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano admitted they had not been consulted about the decision to Mirandize Abdulmutallab. Today: Ten...

Defense: The administration decision to scrap a proven aircraft in favor of a supposedly cheaper, more flexible replacement is proving to be an expensive mistake. We may wind up defenseless and broke. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that was supposed to be America's frontline fighter for the foreseeable future is in big trouble. Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired the general in charge of the program this week amid concerns of spiraling costs and program delays. Gates also announced he is withholding $614 million in fees from the prime contractor, Lockheed Martin. Daniel J. Crowley, one of Lockheed Martin's project managers,...

On Friday, January 29th, 2010, Lech Walesa, former President of Poland, traveled to Chicago to endorse Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate, Adam Andrzejewski. We were fortunate enough to have an opportunity to sit down with the President and Mr. Andrzejewski. Our video from that visit is below. Items that stand out: 1) Lech Walesa tells his American Audience that the United States no longer leads the world politically or morally 2) At least one of your Founding Bloggers asks President Walesa if he thinks America is slipping toward Socialism. His Answer? Yes! 3) Andrzejewski is running on a platform of forensically...

I'm walking from my underwater mortgage By JANET SPEER Last Updated: 7:34 PM, January 31, 2010 Posted: 4:34 AM, January 31, 2010 I stopped paying my $1,450-a-month mortgage on my 200-year-old, four-bedroom home in September 2008 -- after making the hard decision to walk away from my mortgage because it is hopelessly underwater. It is not an easy decision to walk away from your home, and in the beginning I actually felt like a loser. That was the hardest part. You see, I was raised to live up to my financial responsibilities. I was taught plenty about personal responsibility. But...

Anger, frustration and a hunger for revenge are running high among US Marines as casualties mount on the frontline of the battle against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. On a base near Marjah, a Taliban stronghold in Helmand province, Marines are grieving the deaths of a sergeant and corporal killed by the remote-controlled bombs that have become the scourge of the long-running conflict. Commanders try to keep the men's rage in check, aware that winning over an Afghan public wary of the foreign military presence and furious about mounting civilian casualties is as crucial as any battlefield success. "It causes...

"Call it "a live-action 'Call of Duty.'" Call it "fast, smart, hard." Call it a remake, a reimagining, whatever. The new "Red Dawn" is high on our list of action flicks that have us pumped about the 2010 cinema schedule. And while the updated version will make some key changes to the 1984 flick's storyline, the original's red, white and blue center will stay just the same."

You're A Liar and Murderer They Screamed At Him: Fury In Public Gallery as Blair Says 'I Have Not A Regret' JAMES CHAPMAN 29th January 2010 An unrepentant Tony Blair was heckled and jeered by families of Britain's war dead last night as he declared he had 'not a regret' about invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein. At the end of what had been billed as his 'Judgment Day', the former Prime Minister made it clear he would do the same again - and warned world leaders they may soon have to take similar decisions over Iran. Despite the deaths...

12:17 a.m. EST, January 27, 2010 E-mail Print Share Text Size NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon are dead. So are the rockets being designed to take them there — that is, if President Barack Obama gets his way. When the White House releases his budget proposal Monday, there will be no money for the Constellation program that was supposed to return humans to the moon by 2020. The troubled and expensive Ares I rocket that was to replace the space shuttle to ferry humans to space will be gone, along with money for its bigger brother, the...

Pelosi again says House doesn't have votes to pass Senate health bill By Jared Allen - 01/26/10 06:43 PM ET Responding to pressure from some Democrats on the other side of the Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday once again said there are not enough votes in the House to pass the Senate healthcare bill. After a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Pelosi stated, "As I have said, at this time and in this form, there aren't the votes in the House -- not anywhere near -- to pass the Senate bill. Now, some kind of...

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 01/26/2010 Pelosi: New CBO Report a Reminder of GOP Policies That Led to Millions of Jobs Lost and Record Deficits Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement on the 10-year budget forecast released today by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO): “Today’s CBO report is a clear reminder of the Bush and Republican Congress-era policies that have resulted in the loss of millions of jobs, led to the worst recession since the Great Depression, and turned record surpluses under the Clinton Administration into record deficits. “Since coming to...

Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday is expected to announce 1,200 factory jobs will be added its Chicago assembly complex, where the company currently builds the Ford Taurus and Lincoln MKS sedans, according to a person familiar with the matter. The additional shift of workers will assemble a redesigned Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicle, which is scheduled to go into production later this year. Ford will spend roughly $400 million to get the Chicago plant ready for the SUV production, according to this person. The plant currently operates with a single shift of hourly, unionized workers. Ford now builds Explorers at its...

(CNSNews.com) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that the issue of job creation has “permeated” the efforts of congressional Democrats over the past year. Pelosi’s statement stands in stark contrast to a bleak jobs year that saw unemployment rise to over 10 percent. “The jobs issue has permeated everything, [every] major initiative that we have,” Pelosi said at her weekly press briefing Thursday. The speaker outlined the various proposals that she said had pulled the economy “back from the brink” over the past year. “With the recovery package, we not only created jobs – about 2 million saved or...

Hero pooch saves 7-year-old Queens girl A barking dog and an alert woman scared off a pervert in Queens after he lured a girl into a backyard by promising to show her worms, police and witnesses said yesterday. "Mommy! Daddy!" the 7-year-old girl screamed as she fought off her attacker between two garages about 7:45 p.m. Friday. "Help me!" Her cries for help startled a dog on the other side of a fence. Bleu, a mixed pit bull, began barking incessantly, which brought his owner, Heather Fretes, to the window. "He was going wild barking," Fretes said. "I looked out...

Coming off one of the most difficult weeks of his presidency, Barack Obama has beefed up his political staff and is expected to deliver an uncompromising State of the Union address. Aides said Sunday that the White House wasn't making any abrupt policy shifts, even as the message was retooled to focus more sharply on job creation. If anything, an unfinished agenda from 2009 will grow larger as, in addition to tackling health care and unemployment, the president presses for a bipartisan commission to tackle the budget deficit against resistance from Republicans. ... The re-emergence of David Plouffe took some...

Scott Baio has caused a stir on Twitter. After the former Charles in Charge star, 48, posted an unflattering photo of Michelle Obama on his Twitter page, he was bombarded with angry replies from fans and enemies alike. Some called the actor -- who has often used his Twitter page to speak out about his Republican beliefs -- an "a**hole" and many said his post was racist. Baio, however, insisted the post was just a joke and shared screenshots of several death threats he received. "Easy to find your house Scottie boy and finish you," one commenter wrote while another...

If you haven't been watching Hannity tonight, He announced that it has been revealed that the Dems have over 116,000 registered voters, on their rolls, and many more thousands that have since moved out of their voting districts, and even if still alive, cannot legally vote in their voting districts, even bt abestee ballot without being guilty of election fraud....or the person(s) who claim to be them.

Obama’s Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says his boss isn’t worried about polls showing that voters favor the Republican candidate, Scott Brown, over his Democratic opponent, Martha Coakley, for the Massachusetts senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy. “Polls don’t decide anything,” Gibbs declared. “It is those who count the votes who decide the outcome.” Gibbs pointed out that “having a Democrat in charge of overseeing the tabulation of the votes will ensure that the late Senator Kennedy’s seat will not be stolen by underhanded Republican trickery. In fact, the President will meet with key Democrats in Massachusetts on Sunday to...

“You can have religious freedom but you probably shouldn’t work in the emergency room.” Democrat Martha Coakley was on with Ken Pittman from WBSM in Massachusetts today. Martha told Ken that if you object to abortion and are a devout Catholic then… “You probably shouldn’t work in the emergency room.”

Julian and Samantha Mosedale, both 45, were looking forward to moving back into their dream home with their three young children after spending a fortune refurbishing it. But their hopes turned into a nightmare when the unwanted guests moved into the three- bedroom house over the Christmas holidays and changed the locks. The couple’s ordeal was compounded when they called police who took no action. Instead, the couple claim officers accused them of being “racist” for questioning the squatters’ rights to live in Britain on benefits.

This is just too good to add as an update to my earlier Coakley post.  Via Jammie Wearing Fool, MassLive pays attention to that disclaimer message at the end of a Martha Coakley ad, and notices a Dan Quayle moment: On the heels of last night’s final debate between Martha Coakley, Scott Brown and Joseph L. Kennedy, Coakley released a new ad attacking Scott Brown — an aggressive turn that many observers have thought was long overdue.However the ad’s message might get lost by a spelling gaffe that appears in the ad’s closing seconds. In the fine print appearing at...

GOP Candidate: ‘I Am Not Just Some Articulate, Clean, Well Spoken Negro’ By David Weigel 1/11/10 9:18 AM I’ve spotlighted retired Lt. Col. Allen West as one of the GOP’s most credible African-American candidates for Congress this year–he lost a 2008 bid in his Florida district by 10 points, but is getting full support from the National Republican Congressional Committee this time. West’s response to the Harry Reid flap is the angriest one I’ve seen, a lengthy bill of complaints against Democrats as the party of “slavery, secession, segregation, and now socialism,” which “birthed” the Ku Klux Klan, and which...

DETROIT (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre promised Monday that taxpayers will make a profit on the $50 billion that Treasury has sunk into the company over the past 13 months. "I think the government's investment is well placed and I think they'll make a lot of money," Whitacre told reporters after an event at the annual auto show here Monday morning. "It won't be too long." The promise of profits on the $50 billion, which was echoed by Vice Chairman Bob Lutz in an interview with CNNMoney.com, is quite a bit more bullish than any previous...

THE world's first "sexbot" — a life-sized rubber doll named Roxxxy who can chat about football — has been unveiled. The dark-haired, lingerie-clad robot has inbuilt artificial intelligence — meaning she can talk footie and cars with her owner. Roxxxy also boasts impressive, flesh-like, synthetic skin. The revolutionary invention — set to take the sex toy industry by storm — also comes with FIVE different "personalities".