Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- Conservative Republicans stole the spotlight with their opposition to the $700-billion financial rescue plan that fizzled in the House Monday, but they had help from a slew of liberal California Democrats who joined them to defeat the bill. Those Californians found themselves in the unfamiliar position of not only standing with some of the most staunchly conservative Republicans in the House, but also voting against a traditional ally, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who campaigned tirelessly for passage. Among the 14 California Democrats refusing to endorse the bailout plan were Southern Californians, including Reps. Adam B. Schiff...

Video from NRA by a US Soldier. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hvhZgUhpCE

Fox just interviewed Stanley Kurtz. Kurtz claimed a documented, direct link between Obama's training ACORN criminals and the mortgage disaster as ACORN was the largest gang in forcing the banks to make the bad loans. Obama was ACORN's principal trainer in Illinois. My question: where is McCain? He could run ads proving this link and destroy Obama's candidacy. He isn't.

For Democratic leaders, it's a striking defeat as they agree to allow expanded offshore drilling in waters they once called sacrosanct, giving Republicans a rare victory on energy policy six weeks before the election. In a matter of months, Republicans turned offshore oil drilling from a non-issue — even one feared as a political liability by many Republicans in Congress — into political gold as anger over high gasoline prices made voters receptive to calls for more domestic energy production. After vowing to protect a quarter-century ban on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, Democrats on Wednesday moved through...

Glimpses of what may come about if Obama is elected... 123

A BID to legalise euthanasia in Victoria has been defeated in parliament. Greens MP Colleen Hartland introduced a private members Bill to legislate right-to-die laws in the upper house in June. The Bill was defeated today by a vote of 25-13. "I'm very disappointed because we've put a lot of effort into this, the disappointing part is all the people ringing my office urging me to do this and for them this is a terrible disappointment," Ms Hartland said. The Medical Treatment (Physician-Assisted Dying) Bill would have enabled Victorians suffering "intolerably from a terminal or advanced incurable illness" to end...

This article is not the first to note the cultural contradiction in American liberalism, but just now the point bears restating. The election may turn on it. Democrats speak up for the less prosperous; they have well-intentioned policies to help them; they are disturbed by inequality, and want to do something about it. Their concern is real and admirable. The trouble is, they lack respect for the objects of their solicitude. Their sympathy comes mixed with disdain, and even contempt. Democrats regard their policies as self-evidently in the interests of the US working and middle classes. Yet those wide segments...

After the Vietnam War, respect for the military sank to an all-time low. In one survey, sanitation workers were the only profession Americans thought less of - and some considered that an insult to sanitation workers. Defense spending plummeted. The armed services "hollowed out," lacking the budgets to sustain modernization, training and readiness. By the end of the 1980s, however, after the Reagan-era military build-up, the military polled as the most admired institution in the nation. Even today, despite the political debates over the Long War on Terrorism, the armed forces remain highly respected. For that reason, many Pentagon experts...

Roy Hertel, Montgomery County GOP chairman, while acknowledging that Obama’s being from Illinois won’t help, added, “I still think there’s enough stuff going on in Illinois right now that we can elect some Republicans that may have not had a chance to be elected before.” One of those people could be Steve Sauerberg, the GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Dick Durbin, said David Snider, a farmer in rural Tazewell County. While Sauerberg faces an uphill battle, Snider said, “I don’t think it’s impossible.” Republicans agreed their party stands to gain from what they termed...

So I'm finally in a place where I can rest a bit, and have some more time for blogging. But here's a quick note on all that's happening in Iraq concerning the Provincial Elections Law, the Oil Law, and Kirkuk: the question that everyone should be asking is "Will this political turmoil lead to violence?" and answer is that the potential for increased violence in minimal. It's politics, folks. Why should Americans involve themselves in the nitty-gritty details of Iraqi politics? It is all being sorted out in heated bargaining and deal-making. Should Iraqis concern themselves with the pork-barreling and...

"Too close to call." "Within the margin of error." "A statistical dead heat." If you've been following news coverage of the 2008 presidential election, you're probably familiar with these phrases. Media commentary on the presidential horserace, reflecting the results of a series of new national polls, has strained to make a case for a hotly contested election that is essentially up for grabs. Signs of Barack Obama's weaknesses allegedly abound. The huge generic Democratic Party advantage is not reflected in the McCain-Obama pairings in national polls. Why, according to the constant refrain, hasn't Obama put this election away? A large...

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain issued the following statement on recent progress in Iraq: "Progress between the United States and Iraq on a time horizon for American troop presence is further evidence that the surge has succeeded. Most of the U.S. forces used in the surge have already been withdrawn. When a further conditions-based withdrawal of U.S. forces is possible, it will be because we and our Iraqi partners built on the successes of the surge strategy, which Senator Obama opposed, predicted would fail, voted against and campaigned against in the primary. When we withdraw, we will withdraw...

PEACENIKS AND THE PRICE OF SURRENDER Gene’s Blog Problems in America — Solutions for America! PEACENIKS AND THE PRICE OF SURRENDER http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/07/17/code_pink/?source=newsletter PEACENIKS! “Why does the peace movement have to dress and act like an irritating children’s birthday party?” headlines this Salon.com article. What else would this author expect? The so-called “peace movement” is populated with the remnants of the “Flower Children” of the 60’s and 70’s and the “Woodstock Generation” and their progeny and fellow travellers. This is the same misguided group which senselessly prolonged the Vietnam War and caused untold losses of American troops in the process. (Think...

U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who once sang in jest about bombing Iran, on Tuesday reacted to a report of rising U.S. cigarette exports to the country by saying it may be "a way of killing 'em." McCain, known for acerbic comments and for sometimes firing verbally from the hip, was responding to a report that U.S. exports to Iran rose tenfold during President George W. Bush's term in office despite hostility between the two states. A rise in cigarette sales was a big part of that, according to an Associated Press analysis of seven years of U.S. trade...

A Careful, Exacting Indictment   By Jon Kyl NationalLedger.com | Tuesday, June 17, 2008 The following is one of the first reviews of the new book Party of Defeat, a meticulously footnoted tour de force examining how "Radicals Undermined America's War on Terror Before and After 9/11." Its author could hardly be more qualified. Sen. Jon Kyl, the junior senator from Arizona, serves as Senate Minority Whip, the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate. Among his many assignments, Sen. Kyl sits on the subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security; and the subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law....

Posterity may well remember the Hillary Clinton campaign as the nearest that a member of the female gender had thus far gotten to the nomination of a major political party. But the episode will be recalled for many other salient features as well. The first time that the wife of an ex-president had leveraged her first-lady status into a senatorial seat and then a bid for the presidency. http://www.slate.com/id/2193684/

-By Warner Todd Huston Congressional Democrats announced early in May that they wanted to make "military propaganda" illegal. To achieve this goal they passed new legislation that strengthened previous legislation that is supposed to ban the Pentagon from indulging in "propaganda" for the military. This bill is supposed to stop the military from sending "any form of communication in support of national objectives designed to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes or behavior of the people of the United States in order to benefit the sponsor, either directly or indirectly." In other words, the military is not allowed to talk to...

Afghan insurgents 'on brink of defeat' By Thomas Harding in Lashkar Gah Last Updated: 10:31PM BST 01/06/2008 Missions by special forces and air strikes by unmanned drones have "decapitated" the Taliban and brought the war in Afghanistan to a "tipping point", the commander of British forces has said. A member of 2 Scots acquires a personal escort as he patrols the town of Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province The new "precise, surgical" tactics have killed scores of insurgent leaders and made it extremely difficult for Pakistan-based Taliban leaders to prosecute the campaign, according to Brig Mark Carleton-Smith. In the past...

While the three remaining presidential candidates try to out-green each other, the rest of the world is rebelling at the astronomical costs involved. “Somehow” this rebellion has received little U.S. media attention. This explains how Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain can still advocate government- and tax-heavy approaches with straight faces. Meanwhile, my nearly daily emails from the indefatigable Benny Peiser of CCnet, whose assemblages of environment and science links and summaries are essential for anyone who wants to keep up with worldwide environmentalist mischief, tell me that: Governments elsewhere are balking at meeting mandatory targets for reducing so-called...

Al Qaeda web sites are making a lot of noise about "why we lost in Iraq." Western intelligence agencies are fascinated by the statistics being posted in several of these Arab language sites. Not the kind of stuff you read about in the Western media. According to al Qaeda, their collapse in Iraq was steep and catastrophic. According to their stats, in late 2006, al Qaeda was responsible for 60 percent of the terrorist attacks, and nearly all the ones that involved killing a lot of civilians. The rest of the violence was carried out by Iraqi Sunni Arab groups,...

BAGHDAD - The U.S. ambassador to Iraq said Saturday that al-Qaida's network in the country has never been closer to defeat, and he praised Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for his moves to rein in Shiite and Sunni militant groups. Ryan Crocker's comments came as Iraqi forces have been conducting crackdowns on al-Qaida militants in the northern city of Mosul and on Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Basra. Thousands of Iraqi forces also moved into the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad last week imposing control for the first time in years. But truces with the powerful...

"Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct, presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions." - Barackobama.com Barack Obama has enshrined the principle of unconditional summitry with Iran as one of the central foreign policy planks of his campaign for President. This despite recent efforts by Obama surrogates to confuse the electorate. The statement above is found on the campaign website of Senator Obama and reflects his view -- repeated a number of times by himself in debates and question and answer sessions -- that the thrust of his foreign policy will be personal Presidential engagement with tyrannical regimes...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A soldier used the Quran -- Islam's holy book -- for target practice, forcing the chief U.S. commander in Baghdad to issue a formal apology on Saturday. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond apologizes after a soldier admitted using the Quran for target practice. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, apologized to leaders in Radhwaniya, in the western outskirts of Baghdad, for the staff sergeant who was a sniper section leader assigned to the headquarters of the 64th Armored Regiment. He also read a letter of apology by the shooter. It was the first...

Hizbullah's successful overthrow of the pro-democracy forces in Lebanon this past week was eminently foreseeable. But that doesn't make the violent overthrow of the forces of freedom in that country any less of a tragedy. And the fact that Hizbullah's coup was predictable does not mean that it was inevitable. A great many forces had to turn their backs on Lebanon's democratic forces in order to enable Hizbullah's easy triumph. A great many actors had to turn a blind eye to Hizbullah's Iranian and Syrian-financed rearmament over the past two years. A great many actors had to ignore and so...

HILLARY Clinton's campaign overnight predicted a rapid end to the Democratic White House race next month as the press read the last rites to her quest to be the first woman president. With more party elders drifting to Barack Obama's camp and the media declaring the nominating battle all but over, Senator Clinton aides battled back with appeals for voters to be heard and for new donors to come forward. Even as he vowed no surrender from the former first lady, Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said party bosses known as "superdelegates" would coalesce behind a candidate once the final...

Representative Tom Cole, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, made a revealing but little-noticed comment to the New York Times. He said of the presidential race: “I don’t need the nominee to win; I just need him to be competitive enough that we can win behind him in the places that should be ours. I need him to be Gerald Ford.� Conservative readers may have blanched at that name. But Cole was not talking about Ford’s policies. He was referring to the 1976 election. In the aftermath of their huge losses in the 1974 midterm, Republicans feared for their...

FBI head predicts al-Qaeda defeat By Frank Gardner Security correspondent, BBC News Robert Mueller outlined what he sees as a three-tiered threat from al-Qaeda The head of the FBI has said he believes the West can achieve victory over al-Qaeda within three-and-a-half years. Robert Mueller described how his organisation is working closely with British intelligence to confront ever-more-complex plots. Flanked by broad-shouldered security men with tell-tale bulges beneath their suits, the director of the FBI gave a rare public address in London. As head of one of 16 US intelligence agencies, Mr Mueller is at the forefront of preventing a...

Sen. Hillary Clinton has road-tested several versions of attacks on Sen. Barack Obama that don't work. Obviously, and first, don't come out against change and hope — the perennial themes of successful election campaigns. Even my old boss, Ronald Reagan, campaigned for re-election in 1984 in response to the claim that America needed to change on the phrase "We ARE the change" (as well as on the hopeful theme of "morning in America").

Islamic fundamentalists lose big in Pakistan vote By Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers Tue Feb 19, 4:38 PM ET LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistani voters handed Islamist political parties a massive defeat Monday, virtually eliminating them from regional parliaments in an election that's likely to have a wide-ranging impact on efforts to rein in growing Taliban and al Qaida influence in Pakistan's North West Frontier province. In 2002, fundamentalist religious parties, some openly sympathetic to the Taliban, won 12 percent of the national vote. That was enough to form a regional government in the North West Frontier province, which borders Afghanistan ,...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistanis dealt a crushing defeat to President Pervez Musharraf in parliamentary elections Monday, in what government and opposition politicians said was a firm rejection of his policies since 2001 and those of his close ally, the United States. Almost all the leading figures in the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, the party that has governed for the last five years under Mr. Musharraf, lost their seats, including the leader of the party, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussein, the former speaker of parliament, Chaudhry Amir Hussein, and six ministers. Though official results would not be announced until Tuesday, early returns indicated that...

Story.

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a fresh sign of trouble for Hillary Rodham Clinton, one of the former first lady's congressional black supporters intends to vote for Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, and a second, more prominent lawmaker is openly discussing a possible switch. Rep. David Scott's defection and Rep. John Lewis' remarks highlight one of the challenges confronting Clinton in a campaign that pits a black man against a woman for a nomination that historically has been the exclusive property of white men. "You've got to represent the wishes of your constituency," Scott said in an interview Wednesday...

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez took responsibility for the failure of the term limits initiative on Tuesday's ballot and for not pairing it with redistricting reform. The defeat of Proposition 93 has set in motion the process to change leadership in both houses of the Legislature. Democrats plan to vote March 11 for a new speaker, although Democrats agreed that Nunez will stay on until the end of the legislative session in August. Proposition 93 would have shaved two years off the maximum amount of time most lawmakers could serve. But it also would have given dozens of lawmakers a chance...

Drudge is reporting some rumors that Hillary Clinton might be considering an exit from the race to the White House. From New Hampshire, PJM’s Richard Miniter asked Rudy Giuliani what he thought. Asked about reports that Hillary Clinton may drop out of the presidential race, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, amid the press scrum infront of Jackie’s Diner in Main Street, Nashua, New Hampshire, Nashua, laughed . Then laughed again and said: “I have no comment on that. Absolutely no comment on that.” Laughing again turned to this reporter and asked “is that really the report?” “Yes, it’s in...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2007 – Afghan and coalition soldiers foiled a Taliban ambush in the Kariz-e Sadeqin area of Afghanistan’s Farah province Dec. 5, military officials reported. The combined force was conducting a reconnaissance mission for a weapons cache when two squad-size elements of insurgents ambushed them with small arms, rockets and indirect fire. Afghan forces returned fire with small arms and mortars, which allowed them to outmaneuver the insurgent forces and engage them with close-air support. "The government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's efforts to increase security in this region will positively affect the establishment of conditions necessary...

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, loser in the recent Venezuelan national referendum which would grant him increasing dictatorial powers, has ended his brief benevolence and contrition (if it ever was there) it would seem. But he did so with a backdrop of Venezuela's top military, sending a strong, yet somewhat shaky, staged subliminal message to his opponents.The video (short, in Spanish) is at the link above and here: http://www.el-nacional.com/www/site/detalle_multimedia.php?q=med/5475 Just hit the white "arrow" to see.

The freewheeling tactics of his supporters have made the GOP candidate an Internet sensation and an unlikely phenomenon. The late-fall night fairly crackled with energy -- from a persistent Santa Ana wind, the high-tension power lines overhead and, especially, from the crowd packed inside the living room of a ranch house at the west end of the San Gabriel Valley. Eighty people sat elbow to elbow on tight rows of folding chairs, chattering with enthusiasm and ideas. They would produce wall calendars and a concert. They would reenact the Boston Tea Party on the Santa Monica Pier. They would write...

My name is William T Russell. I am running for Congress against John Murtha as a Republican in the 12th Congressional District of Pennsylvania in the November 2008 election. I would like to introduce myself to you. I am a family man, a husband, and a father. I am also a small business owner and entrepreneur, as well as an American Soldier. http://www.williamrussellforcongress.com/

Senate Leaders Warn: Administration May Try to Spin Victory Claim Aug. 12th, 1945. WASHINGTON, DC (Routers) Network experts today cast doubt on the authenticity of the enigmatic recording released by the Administration yesterday, and alleged to be a radio address by Emperor Hirohito. Some Administration figures have begun to spin the alleged recording as a "surrender" speech broadcast by Hirohito on Japanese radio, although objective experts have pointed out that, as Hirohito's voice has never been heard in public before, there is no way to guarantee that the voice was actually his, or even that it had been actually broadcast...

British soldiers serving in southern Afghanistan have foiled a suicide car bomber who attempted to attack their patrol as they were returning to base. The incident, which lasted a matter of seconds, happened as the soldiers, from 473 Special Observation Post Battery, 5 Regiment Royal Artillery, were heading back to the camp in Gereshk. A white Toyota Corolla, which contained a suicide car bomber, suddenly pulled out and attempted to drive into their convoy of Pinzgauer vehicles. The first Pinzgauer swerved to avoid the car and the top cover sentry, Corporal Lee Wilbor, fired a single shot through its window,...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2007 – A combination of unceasing pressure by U.S. and Iraqi security forces and citizens’ anger at al Qaeda in Iraq’s brutal tactics have put the terror group “on the run,” a senior U.S. military officer said today. (Video) “The surge in operations centered in Baghdad and the surrounding belts and up in the Diyala River Valley have driven much of al Qaeda into the rural areas and has caused them to flee northward,” Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, told reporters at a Baghdad news conference. The recently launched Operation...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2007 – Keeping al Qaeda “on the ropes” is job No. 1 for the 1st Armored Division and Multinational Division North, the organization’s commander said today. Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, who took command of Multinational Division North yesterday, said his command is well-positioned for success following the great work done by the men and women of the 25th Infantry Division. He spoke to online journalists and “bloggers” from his base at Forward Operating Base Speicher, near Tikrit. Northern Iraq is a very complex unique and diverse environment, Hertling said, adding that the area is on...

On October 22nd, Osama bin Laden admitted that al Qaeda had lost its war in Iraq. In an audiotape speech titled "Message to the people of Iraq," bin Laden complains of disunity and poor use of resources. He admits that al Qaeda made mistakes, and that all Sunni Arabs must unite to defeat the foreigners and Shia Moslems. What bin Laden is most upset about is the large number of Sunni Arab terrorists who have switched sides in Iraq. This has actually been going on for a while. Tribal leaders and warlords in the west (Anbar province) have been turning...

Taliban fighters in a second day of sustained fighting near the Musa Qaleh Wadi region of Helmand province today. The combined force was conducting a reconnaissance mission when Taliban fighters engaged the patrol with rocket and small-arms fire. ANSF and coalition forces returned fire and easily out-maneuvered the enemy, quickly putting them on the defensive. The Taliban continued attempting to reinforce their ambush positions for several hours. The coalition used small-arms, machine gun, mortar fire and close-air support to destroy Taliban fighters. The enemy also placed an improvised explosive device along the route to prevent Afghan and coalition forces’ movements;...

LONDON – The fate of the world economy hinges on what happens to house prices in America and that may not be a good thing, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said on Monday. Speaking at the Reuters headquarters in London, the former Fed chair delivered a gloomy prognosis on the state of the global economy – U.S. house prices are likely to fall further and they could drag the rest of the world with them. * * * “The critical variable in this judgement is the price of homes in the United States,” said Greenspan, who ran the U.S....

ATHENS, Greece - On election day, the Papandreou name failed to work its old magic. Now, Greece's best-known political dynasty could face extinction after a half-century's affair with power. Shocked out of their usual voting patterns by the summer's unprecedented wildfires, Greeks dealt a blow to both major parties on Sunday, switching support to smaller groups. But the socialists fared by far the worst, clocking their poorest result in 30 years, while the conservatives were narrowly re-elected. George Papandreou — who heads the PASOK party founded by his late father, the anti-U.S. firebrand Andreas Papandreou — had barely finished his...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told grieving family members at the Pentagon’s west wall today that the military would continue to pursue and defeat America’s enemies, especially terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda, which instigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. (Video) Mazie Lawson meets with reporters after the Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony at the Pentagon on the sixth anniversary of the attacks. Lawson said she still grieves for her daughter, Cecelia E. Richard, a federal civilian employee who was among the 184 innocent people killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2007 – An eight-hour battle this morning in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province ended with another defeat of the Taliban by Afghan forces. A combined force led by an element of 205th Afghan National Army Corps advised by coalition forces was on a combat patrol near a small village in the Meian Nashin district when more than 30 enemy fighters attacked from multiple compounds and fighting positions using small-arms fire. The Afghan-led force repelled the attempted ambush with small-arms and crew-served-weapons fire. As the insurgents continued to reinforce their positions with additional fighters, the ground commander requested coalition close-air...

History, as Marx famously said (by way of paraphrasing Hegel), repeats itself -- "the first time as tragedy, the second as farce." A catchy concept, to say the least. And while there's definitely something to it, it's also true that sometimes history does not repeat itself. Take American wars in Japan, the Koreas, Vietnam and Iraq. President Bush, addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars, recently made a case -- a flawed case -- for a kind of core continuity linking these disparate conflicts. It's not that he didn't admit there are many differences among them ("There are many differences" among...