Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Sen. Barack Obama has the Democratic Party's pro-abortion political base incensed and up in arms over recent overtures designed to soften the candidate's image as the party's most pro-abortion presidential candidate ever. The presumptive nominee has followed recent calls for continuing faith-based initiatives by voicing a position in favor of abstinence education and prohibiting abortion in certain cases. Sen. Barack Obama has been trying to enhance his appeal to voters by moving closer to the political center at the same time as pro-family and pro-life groups have been drawing attention to his extreme...

The California Democratic Party has donated $250,000 to help Don Perata pay off his legal bills, as the Senate Democratic leader continues to rack up expenses fending off an ongoing FBI corruption investigation. The party made the quarter-million dollar donation on July 1, according to campaign filings. The money comes just in time for Perata, who, according to a May disclosure, had only $273 cash on hand in his legal defense fund and $250,000 in unpaid bills. Jason Kinney, a spokesman for Perata on legal issues, said the donation -- and the continuing expenses -- are "no indication of anything."...

"Our massive strategy was to use the Fairness Doctrine to challenge and harass right-wing broadcasters and hope the challenges would be so costly to them that they would be inhibited and decide it was too expensive to continue." --Bill Ruder, Democratic campaign consultant and Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Kennedy Administration The usual suspects will be doing the dirty work. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) or Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) will likely resurrect the failed Media Act (Meaningful Expression of Democracy in America Act) intended to make political commentary unflattering to Democrats more difficult to deliver and easier to suppress through congressional...

It looks as if Wesley Clark is waving the white flag -- sort of -- in an attempt to avoid more discussion of his remarks on "Face the Nation" a week ago suggesting that John McCain's military experience didn't at all qualify him to be president. When the former general and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate was criticized for those remarks, he dug in and defended them. Then members of his own party begged him to get off center stage. "On a scale of 1 to 10, Clark's words were a 10 in terms of unhelpfulness," a prominent Democratic consultant told...

The “God Not Guns” coalition is predictably upset about the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning the Washington, D.C., handgun ban. “It will embolden adherents of GUNdamentalism in their belief in the inerrancy of the 2nd Amendment,” intoned the Rev. Nancy Smith, coalition founder and chief. “Gundamentalism is a religious movement without spiritual grounding. Rather, it is rooted in the sale and promotion of violence.”

550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium worth millions of dollars were shipped out of Iraq to Canada. The uranium was transported in 37 military flights in 3,500 secure barrels. Though the yellowcake had been in Iraq for some time and had been discovered by the United Nations inspectors after the first Gulf War in during the Senior President Bush’s presidency the material has finally been removed. This is a fact the Democrats don’t want publicized and the MSM will oblige.

You would think that this story is right out of science fiction. But the facts appear to be that the US Democrat-controlled Congress intends to destroy the Republican middle class with $11 per gallon gasoline. The Democrats’ base -- wealthy white “limousine liberals”, and very poor people -- won’t be harmed, but the families who live in suburbia will be devastated. The multi-millionaires like billionaire Senators John Kerry & Jay Rockefeller, financial speculator George Soros, filmmaker Michael Moore, and actors George Clooney & Meg Ryan can easily pay for their auto and private jet fuel. Poor people are forced to...

Five-point energy proposal may lower gas prices in near future5-point plan aims to help rid nation of 'oil addiction' By Kevin Clark | South Florida Sun-Sentinel 10:07 PM EDT, July 3, 2008 DEERFIELD BEACH - U.S. Rep. Ron Klein announced a "Declaration of Energy Independence" Thursday, a plan he hopes to push through Congress that he says will help the country with what he calls an "addiction to oil." Klein, D- Boca Raton, thinks the plan, unveiled at a news conference, , could work to lower gas prices in the near future. The five-point plan consists of: • Imposing criminal...

Americans are worried. Americans are angry. Soaring gas prices are seriously crippling our economy and hitting us where it hurts the most -- in our pockets. We have a right to be angry, but anger is no longer enough. It’s time for rage -- good, old American rage aimed at those elitist Democrats who prefer to see the folks beggared by soaring fuel prices rather than take the action this very real economic crisis demands. Drill. We know that the law of supply and demand is what’s causing gas prices to soar, but merely knowing the ultimate cause of the...

SOURCE Video, charts, audio, and text at the site.

First, it was cow gas that was wrecking the environment. Then gas-powered lawnmowers. Now, it’s fireworks we’re supposed to worry about. Fireworks, it was reported this week, are helping ruin both the Earth and our health. Where most of us looked up at the sky last night and saw red, white and blue, some people, it seems, saw only the first. Fireworks, some scientists are warning, are toxic, and you know what’s next. All those “ooohhhhhhhs” and “aaahhhhhhhhhhs” will soon be “booooos” and “baaaaaaaaahs.” Except that people, many people, have had enough of “Enough.”“No matter what you do, something is...

More ties to the radical left have surfaced in Barack Obama's past. The latest stem from his involvement with the activist group, ACORN... ACORN...is the nation’s largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities. Obama was a member of ACORN and taught leadership conferences for the group while working for Miner, Barnhill & Galland... Obama actively sought and received the endorsement by ACORN for his local campaigns. He has now done the same in his bid for the USA presidency... So what is ACORN all about? In a Spring 2003 article for...

Sen. Barack Obama spoke on the subject of patriotism this past week in an effort to undo some of the damage he has already inflicted on his own image -- through his associations, his statements and policy positions -- and to obscure his liberalism. Liberals rightly feel defensive about their patriotism because they always seem to find themselves blaming the United States for this or that, exhorting us to be more like the "enlightened" nations of Europe or forever shouting that we are a "laughing stock" in the eyes of other nations. It was not a conservative who wrote in...

One week after Hillary Clinton made a public show of unity with Barack Obama, a new survey suggests supporters of the New York senator are increasingly less likely to follow her lead. A growing number of Clinton supporters say they may stay home in November instead of casting their ballot for Obama, a clear sign the party has yet to coalesce around the Illinois senator four weeks after the most prolonged and at times divisive primary race in modern American history came to a close. According to a new survey from CNN and the Opinion Research Corporation, the number of...

Presidential nominee Barack Obama joins the list of several other high-profile Democratic Party members who received highly favorable home loans. Obama, D-Ill., reportedly purchased a $1.65 million mansion in Chicago through a “super, super jumbo” loan he received from Northern Trust Bank in Illinois, the Washington Post reports. The portion of the money financed through the lender ($1.32 million) was offered to the Obamas at an unusually low discount interest rate locked in at 5.625 percent over the life of the 30-year fixed-rate loan, which was below the average of what a typical Chicagoan pursuing a similar low loan rate...

More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress critical of oil companies have investments in the industry, according to a review of lawmakers’ financial assets. At least 14 Democratic members of the House and one senator have holdings ranging from several thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars in companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. or partnerships such as Schlumberger and Hornbeck Offshore Services. These lawmakers have accused oil companies for making record profits, manipulating prices, benefiting from unnecessary tax breaks and trying to gobble up federal lands. Democrats argue that their criticisms of the oil...

“Obama’s alleged support of the Second Amendment is utterly cynical and false.”April 13th, 2008 by Bruno Behrend So says the NRA, and they are 100% correct. The above headline is from one of their recent blast e-mails, and I must say that I endorse their view in this situation. _____ To understand Barack Obama on the Second Amendment, you have to know about the clash of character between the then-Chicago state senator and an ordinary citizen who exercised his right to armed self-defense in violation of a local gun ban. That citizen was a 52-year-old resident of Wilmette, Illinois, who,...

(CNSNews.com) - A Consumer Reports survey reveals that Americans are blaming Congress for high gas prices, which are compelling them to make shifts and sacrifices in their consuming habits. The Auto Pulse Survey, conducted by Consumer Reports National Research Center, showed that 77 percent of consumers single out the government's failure to implement an effective energy policy as a root cause for high gas prices; 75 percent of consumers blame oil companies; and 70 percent blame foreign oil producers. When asked about actions the federal government could take to reduce fuel costs, 81 percent want to allow more drilling in...

"I want you to think about this," Barack Obama said in Las Vegas last week. "The oil companies have already been given 68 million acres of federal land, both onshore and offshore, to drill. They're allowed to drill it, and yet they haven't touched it – 68 million acres that have the potential to nearly double America's total oil production." Wow, how come the oil companies didn't think of that? Perhaps because the notion is obviously false – at least to anyone who knows how oil and gas exploration actually works. Predictably, however, Mr. Obama's claim is also the mantra...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, one of the things that -- we talk about the Drive-By Media here quite a bit, and we analyze them a lot, and there have been periods of time in this program I've frankly gotten tired of it because everybody knows that they have a bias and everybody knows that they have an agenda, and what's news about it? I try to ignore 'em, and just can't. They are such a destructive force. They are so heavily aligned with the Democrats. But perhaps the thing of which they are the most responsible and guilty is a...

The Washington Post published a June 28th piece geared to protect Barack Obama from the nagging rumors that he is a secret Muslim, rumors that have been circulating since 2004. The Post's Matthew Mosk penned an attack on Free Republic, based on an Obama flak who claims she has somehow discovered that Freepers are to blame, if not initially responsible, for floating the Barack-is-a-Muslim chain email that so many millions of Americans have found in their email boxes over the last four years. But, the Washington Post's article is so filled with assumptions and a singular desire not to...

A recent Consumer Reports survey as reported on the Fox News Channel indicated that 77 percent of Americans blame Congress for our oil price crisis. This implies that the Democrats’ attempt to shift the blame to oil executives, OPEC and oil speculators did not work. Seventy-four percent of likely voters, according to a recent Zogby poll, support oil drilling in U.S. coastal waters. And yet the Democrats blocked legislation in the Senate and the House several times within the last few weeks. Congressman Lynn Westmoreland has gotten 183 of his congressional colleagues to sign a simple petition that says, “I...

It looks like Google has officially joined the Barack Obama campaign and decided that its contribution would be to shut down any blog on the Google owned Blogspot.com blogging system that has an anti-Obama message. Yes, it sure seems that Google has begun to go through its many thousands of blogs to lock out the owners of anti-Obama blogs so that the noObama message is effectively squelched. Thus far, Google has terminated the access by blog owners to 7 such sites and the list may be growing. Boy, it must be nice for Barack Obama to have an ally powerful...

The Washington Post reports that Sen. Barack Obama is aggressively trying to “reintroduce” himself to voters, echoing the spin of Obama’s advisers that not everyone knows him yet. In reality, Obama’s major campaign challenge will not be to reveal, but to conceal his true identity. Obama is not trying to introduce himself to unreached voters, but is engaged in damage control with many he’s already reached — and insulted and disillusioned. As long as he was soaring above the fray with the lofty rhetoric of hope, change and unity, Obama could masquerade as a quasi-messianic figure, but once forced into...

Obama speak of equality and human rights but supports the murdering of innocent children through abortion and embryonic stem cell research as if such people were a sub-class of human beings . This is not consistent with the U.S. Declaration of Independence which clearly states "... all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This refers to the human fetus as does the similar decree by the United Nations. Without the right to life no other human right makes sense. Hence,...

I was able to get a great deal of FACTUAL information about oil leases - although it was not easy. The industry is not very good at communicating. I keep trying to link this. If this doesn't work just click on the Bulletin link. http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=19809681&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8

Senator Obama's tax plan is a dramatic redistribution of the nation's tax burden, according to a new Tax Foundation analysis. In Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact, No. 132, Tax Foundation president Scott Hodge uses revenue estimates from the Tax Policy Center to show that Obama's plan would greatly accelerate the decades-long trend toward a federal government that depends for tax revenue almost exclusively on a few high-income people. This contrasts starkly with the McCain plan, according to Hodge, which would give every taxpayer a cut and leave the current tax burden distribution approximately where it is. "Under the Obama plan for...

Once you've watched liberals long enough to understand how they think -- scratch that, how they feel -- they become extraordinarily predictable. To begin with, the liberal agenda is, in many respects, the same as it was in the thirties. Whether you call it communism, fascism, socialism, liberalism, or progressivism, the only real difference is how much they believe they can get away with, the way they sell it to people, and the latest trendy name for what they believe. So, once the liberals pick a policy from their stale program to push, the next step is to get it...

Communist China Protecting Obama Add to the list of people who love Obama -- the despotic, communist regime of China. We received information which we verified that the Chinese government has our site, and several other NOBAMA-type websites, blocked in their country. That's right, the despotic communist regime there in China doesn't want its people reading what we write here. They love Obama and all far-left people such as his buddy George Soros, because they represent what China and all other enemies of this country hope is the future of America -- despotism and total government control over the lives...

There is no place like Free Republic for getting answers, so here goes. I'm arguing away on another site about how Bush said we should drill ANWR six years ago, but the Democrats stopped us. Then someone asked, since the GOP controlled the House and Senate in 2002... how did the Dems stop us?And I realized I did not know the answer. How DID they stop us? Does anyone know?

<p>A leading democrat says Americans need to get used to paying $5 to $6 a gallon for their gas.</p> <p>U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, has a double dose of predictions on gasoline prices that nobody wants to hear: Prices are going up a lot more, he says, and the nation doesn't have any good ways to bring prices down.</p>

It is becoming more evident every day that the left-wing of the Democratic Party is delighted that the price of gasoline and diesel fuel is now between $4.00 and $5.00 per gallon. According to Barack Obama, high gas prices don’t really constitute a problem for Americans. He stated recently that the reason for our anger is “the rapid increase in prices, not the prices themselves”. Obama claimed that Americans would have accepted a “gradual adjustment” to the current cost. For years now, in response to the demands of environmental extremists, liberal Democrats like Obama and some RINO’s have pursued policies...

A Republican effort to force a vote on opening up more land to drilling on Thursday threatened to bring the annual appropriations process in the U.S. House of Representatives to a halt. Democrats, who control the House, shut down Appropriations Committee work on two major federal funding bills after Republicans tried to force a vote on drilling. "I think we've probably had our last meeting of the year," Chairman David Obey heatedly told reporters after the bill-drafting session broke up. The meeting was called to work on Labor and Agriculture department bills. Republicans tried to attach the Interior Department bill...

Barack Obama says he does not support the return of the Fairness Doctrine. There may be some Democrats talking about reimposing the Fairness Doctrine, but one very important one does not: presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama. The Illinois senator’s top aide said the issue continues to be used as a distraction from more pressing media business. “Sen. Obama does not support reimposing the Fairness Doctrine on broadcasters,” press secretary Michael Ortiz said in an e-mail to B&C late Wednesday. Whew! Good thing Barack Obama has the reputation of always standing by his decisions and keeping his word.

A group planning to bring 50,000 anti-war demonstrators here for the Democratic National Convention might get to pitch tents in City Park, but they could be knocking on doors for a place to sleep or take a shower. The city issued an assembly permit in the southwest corner of the park for Tent State University to bring a tribe of college kids from across the country for an "alternative university" Aug. 24-28. "Come to Denver to end a war!" While the city said the permit is for "approximately 20,000 participants," chief Tent State organizer Adam Jung said he dreams of...

Last week, Barack Obama revealed his plan to shore up Social Security's shaky finances by raising the income level on which the payroll tax is applied. Currently, incomes above $102,000 are exempt, with that threshold rising every year indexed to wage inflation. Mr. Obama would keep that limit in place, but then assess payroll taxes on incomes above $250,000, which his campaign claims would apply to only the richest 3% of Americans. Mr. Obama angered liberals last year when he admitted that there was a "Social Security crisis." But at least Mr. Obama's base should be appeased now that his...

Representative Mike Pence,R-IN., revealed no Democrat has signed the discharge petition for the Broadcaster's Freedom Act. Speaker Pelosi recently admitted to Human Events her support for the 'Fairness' Doctrine. VIDEO

Va, Senate Democrats Reject New Energy Bill June 24, 2008 Richmond, VA: Virginia State Senator Frank Wagner (R - Virginia Beach) saw Senate Democrats scuttle his effort to dedicate potential royalties to transportation and environmental protection programs from any off-shore exploration and drilling of natural gas 50 miles or more off the Virginia coastline. On a straight, party line vote, Democrats voted to "pass by for the day" effectively killing Wagner's measure for this Special Session. Sixteen other Republican senators had already signed on as co-patrons of Wagner's bill. Senator Ken T. Cuccinelli, II (R - Fairfax) had introduced a...

This is a video, about seven and a half minutes, of Gaddafi talking about the upcoming election. He is trying to explain Obama's comments about Israel--saying that although the Muslim world was shocked by his support for Israel they all hope this is just a lie in order to get elected. It goes downhill from there. In the process of all this Gaddafi refers to Obama as a Muslim and to his "Islamic identity."

A group of Democratic senators led by Charles E. Schumer of New York is appealing to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to block a set of contentious no-bid oil contracts that Iraq has decided to award to the Western oil giants Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP. And if that appeal, which Mr. Schumer’s office said it faxed in the form of a letter to the State Department on Monday afternoon, is not heeded, the senators will try to cut off financing for as-yet-unspecified programs in Iraq that are not directly in support of American troops, Mr. Schumer said in...

This week I want to do something a little different. Although my Winning the Future message has always been directed at all Americans, whether they consider themselves Republicans, Democrats, or independents, today I am directing my message specifically to Democrats. And my message is this:The American people have spoken. Are your leaders listening?Over 1.1 Million Americans Call on Congress to "Drill Here, Drill Now" We really had no idea, just 35 days ago when we first posted the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" petition here, that we would provide the spark that has ignited a fire among frustrated, struggling...

Oh my, I do believe we're starting to get evidence that Barack Obama's definition of "change" is painfully synonymous with "politics as usual." Recently, in an apparent effort to move to the political center, Obama's had some convenient changes of heart. He's rejected public financing for his general election campaign, despite previously and frequently promising he wouldn't. Obama has decided to support the new FISA bill, which is certainly playing againt his Most-Lefty-U.S.-Senator type. BUt thankfully, there's one Democrat/lefty principle Obama would never betray - crying "Racism!" without justification: "We know what kind of campaign [the REpublicans are] going to...

BARACK OBAMA PUNCTUATED his opposition last week to offshore drilling for oil and natural gas with a clever jab at John McCain. "The politics may have changed, but the facts have not," he quipped. A few days earlier, McCain had called for lifting the moratorium on exploration and drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Obama was only half right. With gasoline at $4-plus a gallon, the politics have indeed changed--in favor of increased domestic oil production. But so have the facts. And it's that change that has made offshore drilling cost-effective, environmentally safe, and no threat to become an...

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 06/23/2008 Pelosi Statement on Senator McCain’s Energy Proposals Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on Senator John McCain’s energy proposals: “With American consumers and businesses struggling as the price at the pump cascades across our economy, Senator McCain’s proposals show he aims to continue the ‘drill and veto’ policies of the current Administration. John McCain’s energy proposal is an attempt to divert attention away from his recent flip flop and his support of the failed Bush-Cheney policies that have resulted in skyrocketing gasoline prices for...

Barack Obama’s campaign has canned its use of an emblem that critics had panned as a theft of the official U.S. presidential seal. The new seal was trotted out Friday at a round-table discussion with Democratic governors. It had a blue background and an eagle in the center clutching arrows and an olive branch, similar to the president’s logo. An Obama campaign spokesperson said the seal was “a one-time thing designed for a one-time use at the governors’ meeting.” But another campaign source told The Atlantic.com that the campaign decided to stop using the logo because it didn’t want to...

Dear Member of Congress: In recent weeks, there has been much discussion about access and federal oil and natural gas leases, and I thought it helpful to provide you with information on this matter. The criticism of the oil and natural gas industry is that it seeks greater access to our nation’s resources under federal lands when companies already own many leases that are allegedly sitting there, undeveloped and producing nothing. There are now even calls for oil companies to be denied new leases, if they have “unexploited” leases. To many, this criticism may sound reasonable. However, these claims of...

Environmentalists have contended for decades that if gasoline, heating oil and natural-gas prices rose high enough, Americans would clamor for energy alternatives. Well, each fuel sets a record almost daily, and Americans are clamoring — for more gasoline, heating oil and natural gas. A new Rasmussen poll finds two-thirds of Americans favor more offshore drilling, as opposed to just 18 percent who oppose it. Drilling is backed by 57 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of unaffiliated voters. Even liberals think environmental concerns must take a backseat to more plentiful, less expensive fossil fuels, 46 percent to 37 percent. Last...

Quinnipiac analyst: "It’s clear that if Sen. Obama loses this November, Democrats will have to conclude that yes, in fact, their defeats are linked to their brand of politics, not their salesman’s communication skills." Of course, that's not true. If Barry loses, it's because of racism.

In the good ole days, when liberals were actually “liberal,” focused upon individual liberty above all else, and Democrats were actually “democratic” instead of dictatorial elitists focused more on not counting votes than on letting every voice be heard, the words “democratic change” had a very different meaning. The concept of democracy has since been hijacked. In the 2008 race for the White House, the Democrat candidate with the most popular support is Hillary Clinton. But somehow, the DNC nominee is Barack Hussein Obama. Not so long ago, this could not have been defined as democracy in action. It would...

Barack Obama stooped to a new low in his campaign of division and distraction on Saturday when he scraped the bottom of the barrel in his inference that John McCain may be partially to , blame for levee collapses throughout the region. In a prepared statement Obama stated, "I know ...