Free Republic

Freepers, please visit my husband's new political blog! I hope you will enjoy it, please use the link provided at the bottom of his blog to tell us what you think. I apologize for the vanity, but I think all Freepers will enjoy having a new conservative blog to visit. Thank you! The site is: http://www.LiberalsCostLives.com I hope the link works.

RICHMOND, Aug. 14 -- Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) apologized Monday for what his opponent's campaign said were demeaning and insensitive comments the senator made to a 20-year-old volunteer of Indian descent. At a campaign rally in southwest Virginia on Friday, Allen repeatedly called a volunteer for Democrat James Webb "macaca." During the speech in Breaks, near the Kentucky border, Allen began by saying that he was "going to run this campaign on positive, constructive ideas" and then pointed at S.R. Sidarth in the crowd. "This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is....

LONDON (Reuters) - Muslims criticised the government on Friday for publishing the names of 19 men who police sources say are under arrest for allegedly plotting to blow up passenger planes bound for the United States. The government instructed the Bank of England to publish the names on its Web site on Thursday, just hours after police arrested 24 people in connection with the suspected plot. Police have not named the 24 but a police source confirmed they include the 19 named by the central bank. Although the bank did not give the addresses of the 19, it listed their...

Former Australia Test player Dean Jones was sacked from his job as a commentator on Monday after referring to South African Muslim batsman Hashim Amla as a "terrorist". Jones, who admitted making the comment and apologised, was on a TV commentary team covering the second Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa in Colombo. According to a statement issued by Cricket South Africa on Monday, viewers heard Jones say, "the terrorist has got another wicket" when Amla took the catch that dismissed Kumar Sangakkara. Amla is a devout Muslim who wears a beard for religious reasons and has successfully negotiated...

HARRISBURG - Six staffers on Sen. Rick Santorum's campaign - including an intern who tailed Democratic candidate Bob Casey Jr. in a duck costume - collected voter signatures to help place the Green Party on the fall ballot. The intern, petitions show, collected signatures from voters in five counties in one day. T.J. Rooney, the state Democratic Party chairman, and other Democrats disclosed details of the petition drive that they said offered further evidence of involvement from Santorum supporters to get Carl Romanelli, the Green Party's Senate candidate, on the ballot. Not only did Santorum aides help collect signatures for...

A 19-year-old man was arrested after authorities said he shined a laser pointer at a police helicopter. The bright green laser beamed into the cockpit late Monday night, temporarily blinding the officers, said Melissa Klein, an NYPD spokeswoman. Police arrested Anthony Pepe a short time later, and charged him with reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon, Klein said.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — We went to Kaafoun, north of Beirut in Mount Lebanon, on Thursday looking for a story. But anger and suspicion about our purpose meant we couldn't fully report on life in the beleaguered village. Kaafoun is a village of about 5,000 residents, but it is overwhelmed right now with about 40,000 internally displaced people from other parts of Lebanon.

But I'm Still Right About Pence's Plan by Mac Johnson Human Events Online First let me thank Mr. Brian Johnson (no relation) for thoroughly reading my earlier criticism of Rep. Mike Pence’s not-an-amnesty immigration proposal, and believing it was important enough to dedicate a response to it. Now let me respond to several of the points in Brian Johnson’s article. 1) I was wrong to reject Rep. Pence’s proposal so quickly, especially given his bona fides as a conservative legislator. As the debate over late-term abortion shows, it is sometimes important to kill things quickly, lest they take on...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Without much fanfare, the House of Representatives last week voted to give members of Congress yet another pay raise, as it has done almost every year for nearly a decade. For some reason, our elected officials decided against holding a news conference. Maybe that's because they didn't want to draw attention to the fact that they raise their own salaries almost every year while refusing to raise the pay of our lowest-paid workers.

GOP leaders: No immigration bill this year By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 33 minutes ago In a defeat for President Bush, Republican congressional leaders said Tuesday that broad immigration legislation is all but doomed for the year, a victim of election-year concerns in the House and conservatives' implacable opposition to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. "Our number one priority is to secure the border, and right now I haven't heard a lot of pressure to have a path to citizenship," said Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., announcing plans for an unusual series of hearings to begin in August on...

The results of the California 50th Congressional District special election have been in for only 8 business hours and ALREADY the DUmmies and the Leftist Blogosphere are crying "VOTE FRAUD" via their favorite culprits---Diebold Voting machines. Apparently the DUmmies were NOT satisfied with their "moral victory" and wanted a REAL victory. And the only way to achieve such a victory in this election is to act like sore losers and WHINE about vote fraud as you can see in this DUmmie THREAD petulantly titled, "Results of Busby/Bilbray U.S. House Special Election in Doubt!" Yes, there is no DOUBT about...

As we watch the left of the Democratic Party press its case to return to the top of the heap in American politics, or at least evade the fate of the Dodo, we have ever more evidence validating an insight on which I stake my reputation as a political seer. To wit: partisan politics more often falls under the professional expertise of the psychiatrist than that of the political scientist. A learned shrink can often tell us more about a political issue than any other professional, not excluding a swami or a voodoo priest. Consider the ongoing controversy over Sen....

The Senate voted Wednesday to divert some of the money President Bush requested for the war in Iraq to instead increase patrols against illegal immigrants on the nation's borders and increase security at U.S. ports. An amendment cutting Bush's Iraq request by $1.3 billion to pay for new Border Patrol agents, aircraft some fencing at border crossings widely used by illegal immigrants was adopted on 59-39 vote. While the border security funds had sweeping support, Democrats and Republicans argued over whether the cuts to Pentagon war funds would harm troops on the ground in Iraq. The cuts, offered by Judd...

Thousands of Israeli Arabs suffer humiliating security checks at the airport on their way abroad or back into Israel; hoping to improve situation, Airports Authority establishes joint team with Arab sector representatives The Israeli Airports Authority has established a joint project with representatives from the Israeli Arab community with the aim of improving the experience of Arab citizens when they travel abroad. Renowned Arab author and journalist Salem Jubran spoke to Ynet about the initiative, saying he hoped it would improve the current “journey of tortures” facing Arab travelers. “When a plane lands at the Ben Gurion Airport, everyone claps...

Question: What is your view of the book "The Real Lincoln"? It has been said the Civil War was unnecessary and the South would have reunited with the north eventually.  I read a column by Mark Alexander at townhall.com and was surprised that he agreed with much of what the book has to say.  There seems to be a split on the view of Lincoln, at least among conservatives.  He was either the great emancipator or a sort of dictator.Hanson: Many paleo-conservatives hate Lincoln, blaming him for the rise of big government and claiming that "states' rights," not slavery, was...

The "War on Christmas" has morphed into a "War on Christians." Last December, some evangelical Christian groups declared that the religious celebration of Christmas -- and even the phrase "Merry Christmas" -- was under attack by the forces of secularism. This week, radio commentator Rick Scarborough convened a conference in Washington on the "War on Christians and the Values Voters in 2006." The opening session was devoted to "reports from the frontlines" on "persecution" of Christians in the United States and Canada, including an artist whose paintings were barred from a municipal art show in Deltona, Fla., because they contained...

County median home price reaches $604,000 San Luis Obispo County’s median home price inched past the $600,000 mark last month, reaching $604,170, according to data released by the California Association of Realtors. This was a 2 percent gain from January and a 21.7 percent gain from February 2005, when the median price was $496,430. February’s median was still lower than the record set in November 2005 of $605,160. The county saw an 8.1 percent increase in the number of sales of single-family detached homes compared with February of last year. During the same period, the median price of an existing...

Prominent leaders from the Christian right have warned Republicans they must do more to advance conservative values ahead of the US mid-term elections. Their message to Congress, controlled by Republicans, is "must do better". Support from about a quarter of Americans who describe themselves as evangelicals was a factor in President George W Bush's two election victories. The Republicans will need to keep them onboard if they are to retain control of Congress in November. At a news conference in Washington, some of America's most influential conservative leaders said the current perception among evangelical Christians was that the Republican majority...

Arab-Americans have contended that bias and bigotry, not security concerns, lie behind the uproar over a deal that would place commercial operations at six US ports in the hands of an Arab company. The furore centres around the $6.8 billion acquisition by UAE state-owned Dubai Ports World of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. P&O which had been running operations at shipping terminals in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami, and Philadelphia. James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, said on Tuesday that politicians were exploiting fears left over from the September 11 attacks to gain...

Sitting in armchairs waiting for handouts not the best way to get scoops Members of the elite White House press corps this week have acted more like animals that have been kept in captivity for so long that they can’t find news unless it is forced down their open gullets at a daily press briefing. The Cheney hunting accident story embarrassingly revealed this fact, which probably explains the greater-than-normal anger and outrage of White House correspondents over the last few days. “Why weren’t we told?” has been the refrain, not “How did we miss that story?” The White House press...

An overwhelming amount of Texans approved a ban on gay marriage when they voted in November. That action may have disenfranchised a large number of the state's gay population and hurt their emotional well-being. "After the election and through December, we are aware that the number of clients that we're dealing with who have suicidal thoughts and behaviors or actions really dramatically increased," Derek Leighton with Waterloo Counseling Center said. Waterloo Counseling Center in Austin primarily treats gay and lesbian clients in need of therapeutic emotional support. Some of them are deeply affected by the ban. "It brings up the...

Everyone knows looney head Cindy is thinking of running for the U.S. Senate in California. Oh how I would LOVE for her to run and represent the all the traitors on the left. Thus, we need to encourage her to run. Please have your voice heard here. http://cindyforsenate.blogspot.com/

Speilberg: "Maybe I shouldn't get into this. [Pause] I just feel that filmmakers are much more proactive since the second Bush administration. I think that everybody is trying to declare their independence and state their case for the things that we believe in. No one is really representing us, so we're now representing our own feelings, and we're trying to strike back."

Updated: 08:27 AM EST Deployments Stretching Army, Study Finds By ROBERT BURNS, AP advertisement WASHINGTON (Jan. 25) - Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a "thin green line" that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon. Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report under a Pentagon contract, concluded that the Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon's decision, announced in December, to begin reducing the force...

Rob Glaser has made his peace with Microsoft's Bill Gates. Now, the RealNetworks chief executive is turning up the rhetoric against another technology icon: Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs. At the Digital Living Conference here on Monday, Glaser told a packed hotel ballroom that Jobs & Co.'s refusal to make the iPod compatible with music services other than Apple's iTunes was "pig-headedness." Glaser also said that Apple's unwillingness to cooperate with other online music vendors promotes piracy of copyrighted materials and will eventually draw the wrath of consumers. These are heady times for Glaser and his Internet multimedia company, which...

Perhaps the best explanation for the Democrats' decision to virtually shut down the Senate today can be found in one passage from CIA leak prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's news conference last Friday: This indictment is not about the war. This indictment's not about the propriety of the war. And people who believe fervently in the war effort, people who oppose it, people who have mixed feelings about it should not look to this indictment for any resolution of how they feel or any vindication of how they feel....The indictment will not seek to prove that the war was justified or unjustified....

Democrats claimed “victory for the American people” Tuesday after the Senate Intelligence Committee agreed to continue an investigation into prewar intelligence claims made by the Republicans, the Senate minority leader said. Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session for more than two hours Tuesday, accusing Republicans of ignoring intelligence that President Bush used before invading Iraq. A phase-by-phase investigation will resume, Reid announced after the secret session. It will be the second stage of a probe that Democrats have been pressing for for a year. An appointed six-member task force — three members...

Starting Lineup: Chicago WSox at Houston Chicago WSox   Houston Pos Player HR RBI AVG   Pos Player HR RBI AVG LF Podsednik, Scott 1 4 .286   2B Biggio, Craig 0 4 .326 2B Iguchi, Tadahito 1 4 .207   CF Taveras, Willy 0 0 .357 RF Dye, Jermaine 0 3 .241   LF Berkman, Lance 2 8 .314 1B Konerko, Paul 4 11 .273   3B Ensberg, Morgan 0 9 .256 C Pierzynski, AJ 3 6 .259   1B Lamb, Mike 2 3 .273 CF Rowand, Aaron 0 3 .250   RF Lane, Jason 2 6 .237...

Top 10 Reasons to give Miers a Chance 10. She's Part of Bush's Inner Circle GWB has selected some of the most competent people to work under him of any president in recent history. Sure there's been a couple of stinkers (O'Neill comes to mind), but the people that he leans on over time such as Condi, Rummy, Cheney, Karen Hughes, and Rove are not only competent, but excellent. 9. She's a Former democrat. While not always a great barometer, someone who is bright enough to see the destruction caused by her former party, even by relatively conservative Texas dems,...

When President Bush formed his President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform he charged that panel with developing a tax reform proposal that would achieve three principal objectives: 1. The proposal should simplify the Federal tax code so as to reduce the costs of tax compliance. 2. The proposal should promote home ownership and charitable giving. 3. The proposal should promote economic growth, job creation and encourage individual saving and investment while strengthening the competitiveness of the US in the global economy. We now have a clear indication of the proposals that will come from the president’s tax reform panel,...

It may indeed by that the members of the Tax Panel, collectively, cannot read but there is no doubt that the American Taxpayer at large is giving that opportunity (AND IN SPADES). Here are the first few General Comments to them after their recent pontification that "reform" really is not needed, but just a bit of tinkering. All but about 6 or so comments have been included - some with "Subject" line where appropriate. Some are: funny, sad, biting, reflective, even discerning or not well informed. All are expressions of the American system. The Panel would do well to read...

NOW 'Outraged' Over Roberts Pick Following is a statement by National Organization for Women President Kim Gandy on the nomination of John Roberts to chief justice: "The National Organization for Women has been outspoken in our opposition to the nomination of an anti-women's rights, anti-civil rights judge, John G. Roberts, to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Now that Roberts' attitudes toward women have been revealed, it is an outrage and an insult to the women of this country that George W. Bush has nominated such a jurist to be Chief Justice of the United States. Story Continues Below "First,...

Why are Louisiana politicians having public emotional melt-downs? Why are they crying, moaning, whining, blaming others? For what....making them cry? Well that too, but mostly, I think they are crying because the entire country is about to find out how corrupt and incompetent Louisiana politicians are to this day, and have always been. Crime and corruption in Louisiana politics has always been expected, a way of life, even a source of pride for the folks down there. Corruption is a part of the culture, romanticized and so loved in movies and books. But all that has ended now, and I...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — One day before the deadline for Iraq's new constitution, Sunni Arab (search) negotiators appealed Sunday to the United States and the international community to prevent Shiites and Kurds from pushing a draft charter through parliament without Sunni consent. An Iraqi government spokesman suggested that if the factions cannot agree on a draft by Monday night, parliament may have to amend the interim constitution yet again to extend the deadline and prevent its dissolution.

The non-existent Karl Rove “scandal” is like heroin for the DUmmies. They need it so badly that they can’t stand to be away from it for long. Too bad that revealing the name of a CIA employee who is NOT covert is NOT a crime. My source for that tidbit is the author of the law making it a crime to reveal the name of a COVERT CIA agent. Additionally, the law’s author specifically said that Rove broke NO law. Of course, the DUmmies could care less about the CIA. All they know is that they think this is...

Andrea Levin is grateful that Broward County schools care about her daughter's safety. But this year when they posted a sign that demanded "no running" on the playground, it seemed like overkill. "I realize we want to keep kids from cracking their heads open," said Levin, whose daughter is a Gator Run Elementary fifth grader in Weston. "But there has to be a place where they can get out and run." Broward's "Rules of the Playground" signs, bought from an equipment catalogue and displayed at all 137 elementary schools in the district, are just one of several steps taken to...

In the wake of criticism about a Fourth of July parade float that depicted a bloody, dog-leashed Osama bin Laden being pulled along by Uncle Sam, many local residents expressed their concern. Ed Miller of Valparaiso said he was watching the Chesterton parade Monday from inside Flannery’s Tavern, located downtown along the parade route on Calumet Road, when the float, sponsored by the Supporters of the Military, went by. “I thought it was terrible,” Miller said. “It was inappropriate, especially with the blood on it. The parade is really a children’s event in a small town like this. It opens...

I do not want John McCain as the GOP nominee in 2008. What if it is McCain v. Hillary? Amazingly, I have heard some on this forum say that they would sit out the election. If you do, expect Hillary to send you a thank you note just before Presidential Decision Directives start flowing to nationalize health care, put our troops under direct U.N. control, shut down talk radio, and control the internet. Yeah, that will really show them for nominating McCain. Letting Hillary win will show them good. Of course, if she wins, we will have no country left....

City Council To Weigh Bill Asking For Karl Rove's Resignation June 24, 2005 The City Council is weighing in on the controversial comments made by President George W. Bush's top adviser about the 9/11 attacks. Democratic Speaker Gifford Miller says the Council will introduce a resolution next week that calls on the president to fire White House Senior Adviser Karl Rove. The resolution reads: "Rove's rhetoric and cynical strategy of dividing Americans against each other for partisan gain has no place in our nation's public discourse." The president’s top advisor claimed during a conservative party fundraiser Wednesday that liberals did...

Democrats are demanding that White House adviser Karl Rove immediately retract and apologize for comments that liberals responded to the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes by wanting to ``prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.'' ``The one thing New York has had since Sept. 11 is unity,'' said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. ``To inject politics into this and to defame a large number of people'' is outrageous, he said. ``It's not what New York and America is all about.'' Rove, Bush's chief political adviser, said in a speech Wednesday that ``liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks...

WASHINGTON - With oil prices nearing $60 a barrel, the good will toward Florida finally ran dry. After agreeing last week to maintain the existing moratorium on oil and gas drilling off Florida's shores, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday moved forward with conducting an inventory of energy reserves in all U.S. waters, including the eastern Gulf of Mexico. By a vote of 52-44, the Senate rejected an amendment sponsored by Florida's senators that would have deleted the inventory from the comprehensive energy bill now moving through the Senate. The energy bill still must pass, and the Senate will have to...

A major US research body has warned that cuts in Nasa's 2006 budget will hamper progress in understanding our planet and the rest of the Universe. The American Geophysical Union says there are signs space and Earth science have dropped in priority at Nasa. The AGU says research in these areas is threatened by the financial demands of meeting President Bush's Moon-to-Mars initiative and other manned programmes. It also says Nasa is doing "more than it can with the resources provided". "The problem is that Nasa has a great deal on its plate," said Eric Barron, who has chaired an...

When President George W. Bush comes to the Rochester area Tuesday, not everyone will be on his side. Protestors plan an anti-Bush demonstration at the Liberty Pole in downtown Rochester Tuesday afternoon. Their focus – hammering on the president’s plan to change Social Security.

Hillary gets it. Hillary Clinton says she's against illegal immigration. And she would fine employers who hire illegal aliens. Pundits say the New York Democrat is using this hot-button issue to position herself for the 2008 presidential election. It's a way to hit Republicans from the right. Polls show huge majorities of both Republicans and Democrats oppose illegal immigration -- and are frustrated that President Bush won't do a thing to stop it. But this issue does not belong to the right. Or it shouldn't. Illegal immigration hurts most liberal causes. It depresses wages, crushes unions and kills all hope...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico will send a diplomatic letter to the United States protesting the extension of a wall along the U.S.-California border, officials said Friday. Ruben Aguilar, a spokesman for President Vicente Fox, said the president would also continue to pressure the U.S. government to approve a migration accord that would allow more migrants to work legally north of the border. President Bush proposed a temporary work program last year, but it has stalled amid opposition in Congress. Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said Thursday that Fox had instructed him to send the diplomatic letter with the message...

Yes. I am new to this website and was wondering why my account was banned? I posted an article I wrote about how Buddhism not Islam is a threat to America and is the fastest growing religion instead of Islam. I noted how Buddhism denies the existence of God and the divinity of Christ, I also made note of how Buddhists practice an evil satanic ceremony called doku. It is a ritual where Buddhist monks use a doku drum made of the hide of a white christian baby to conjure up demons for human sacrifice. Using three fingers they beat...

KABUL, May 11 (MASNET and News Agencies) - Afghan troops were deployed on the streets of an eastern city after four people died and scores were injured in riots sparked by reports that U.S. interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center had desecrated the Qur’an. Police in Jalalabad, 80 miles east of the capital, opened fire Wednesday to break up an enraged mob of several thousand people that torched the governor's house, the Pakistani consulate and several foreign aid agencies, police and witnesses told Agence France-Presse (AFP). As black smoke rose over the city, the crowd went on the...

7 May 2005: Relations with France have taken a nose-dive after Air India opted for fifty Boeings to augment its fleet discarding competition Airbus, and the country may back out of supporting India’s bid for a permanent UN Security Council seat with veto powers. Yesterday, French ambassador Dominique Girard was slammed by foreign secretary Shyam Saran for saying to the press that “We are surprised and disappointed. Airbus definitely has an advantage over Boeing…It is clear that some factors other than commercial have played a role.” Previously, Air India was going for a mix of Boeing and Airbus aircraft, but...

I am old enough to be nostalgic about radio, having grown up when it was a stately medium and we listened to Journeys in Musicland with Professor E.B. "Pop" Gordon teaching us the musical scale, and the guest on The Poetry Corner was Anna Hempstead Branch, who read her sonnet cycle, "Ere the Golden Bowl Is Broken," and the gospel station brought us Gleanings From the Word, with the whispery Reverend Riley trudging patiently through the second chapter of Leviticus, and at night there were Fibber and Molly and Amos and Andy and the Sunset Valley Barn Dance with Pop...

WASHINGTON, May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Astronomical Society released a statement today (included in whole below and available at the AAS website (http://www.aas.org/governance/council/resolutions.html) decrying the recently announced cuts to NASA astrophysics funding.