Free Republic

Did NASA's James E. Hansen commit perjury when he testified before House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on March 19, 2007? Ferenc Miskolczi had previously informed NASA that the equations being used to predict catastrophic global warming were invalid. Yet Hansen told Congress that "greenhouse gases" posed a serious threat. "The predominance of positive feedbacks, along with the inertia of the oceans and ice sheets, has profound practical implications. It means that if we push the climate system hard enough it can obtain a momentum, it can pass tipping points, such that climate changes continue, out of our control....

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We are part of the many Democrats that will definitely vote for John McCain if Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination to run for president. We would love to have our economy and national image restored to at least what it was during the Clinton years of presidency, but Barack Obama is not the answer. Obama speaks politics and not what he believes. He only says what he must to win. Actions speak louder than words. He does not respect America -- won't wear a flag on his lapel, won't put his hand over his heart during the pledge of...

The head of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign refused to concede Sunday that she has no chance to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Terry McCauliffe said it is still possible for Clinton to win the nomination, even though most pundits have concluded that she cannot overtake her rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, to become the Democratic Party nominee. "Look, tomorrow -- something new could happen," said McCauliffe. "Nothing's impossible. You are talking to Terry McAuliffe. I don't believe anything in life is impossible." McAuliffe argued that Clinton would be a stronger candidate than...

LINCOLN, Neb. — Former Colorado senator and two-time presidential candidate Gary Hart told Nebraska Democrats that Barack Obama will heal the national party, while John McCain's nomination may cause a rift among Republicans. "There's a real struggle for the soul of the Republican Party under way," Hart said Saturday before the state Democratic Party's annual Morrison-Exon Day Dinner. About 450 people attended the party's largest fundraising event. Hart, 71, sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, and was a U.S. senator from 1975 to 1987. Hart said the Republican Party is going to find its ties to religious...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants to build a big highway through the Lone Star State. No, make that a really big highway, as in a monstrously big highway. The exact route hasn't been determined. The mega-highway would run roughly from Laredo on the Rio Grande River through the Hill Country and the Piney Woods and then through Texarkana in that tiny portion of the state that borders Arkansas. Imagine for a moment if that thoroughfare would be pointed in the other direction - from the Valley, through the South Plains and then through the heart of the Panhandle, right past...

Three days after last Tuesday's primaries seemingly tilted the Democratic presidential nomination decisively toward Barack Obama, the surprising fact was that almost half the party's senators had not announced a choice between him and Hillary Clinton. Twenty-one of the 49 Democratic senators were publicly silent as the last six primaries approached. Those senators, along with most other Democrats, desperately want the race to be over so the winner can start focusing on John McCain. But Dick Durbin understands their reluctance to step forward ahead of the other 200-odd uncommitted superdelegates who have the power to bring this marathon to an...

After Words: Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party’s Buried Past", Bruce Bartlett interviewed by Clarence Page About the Program: In "Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party’s Buried Past", Bruce Bartlett argues that the Democratic Party had a racist past and he says there’s an unfair perception of America’s two national parties. In his book, he contends that Democratic Presidents and congressmen of the past supported racial segregation and the "Jim Crow" laws that dominated the Confederate states. Mr. Bartlett discussed his book with Clarence Page, syndicated columnist at the Chicago Tribune. Watch now:http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId=9391&SectionName=After%20Words&PlayMedia=Yes

When people look at a presidential candidate in the same way they see a pop culture figure we are all in a mess. Following the “light that is darkness” will get us someplace but it will not be where we want to be. All too often the negative aspect of the messenger or the prophet is all that is seen or heard but for those with a “cup is half full” mentality the positive side is seen as well. God loves America and he does not want to see it fall or be judged. He said it like this; how...

This year’s long and contentious Democratic presidential battle will end with Barack Obama and a healed party, former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart said Saturday night. In fact, he suggested, it actually may be the Republican Party that splinters before the November election. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain “seems to have a free ride” for now, Hart said in a Lincoln interview. “But there’s a real struggle for the soul of the Republican Party under way.” That clash pits a party tied to the religious right, personal social issues, neoconservative foreign policy and libertarian taxpayers against a traditional GOP that...

Do leaders of the Democrat National Committee (DNC) actually expect the American people to believe that their party has the wherewithal to manage the most powerful nation of earth, when that same party is apparently unable to manage a simple system of pre-election primaries? After nearly two years of plotting and scheming to recapture the White House, just months before election day the Democrat Party remains bitterly divided and may have to spend an additional $30 million dollars just to rerun primary elections in Florida and Michigan. Is that any way to run a party, Howard Dean? And yet despite...

To the question of the moment--What did Barack Obama know and when did he know it?--I answer, Obama knew everything, and he's known it for ages. Far from succumbing to surprise and shock after Jeremiah Wright's disastrous performance at the National Press Club, Barack Obama must have long been aware of his pastor's political radicalism. A careful reading of nearly a year's worth of Trumpet Newsmagazine, Wright's glossy national "lifestyle magazine for the socially conscious," makes it next to impossible to conclude otherwise. Wright founded Trumpet Newsmagazine in 1982 as a "church newspaper"--primarily for his own congregation, one gathers--to "preach...

Bill Clinton stands on a small stage in this tiny town, torrential rain beating on the rooftop, his all-white crowd of coalminers, schoolteachers and union members cheering him on. “Don’t let them tell you she can’t win this thing,” he hollers, his voice hoarse after another day of campaigning. “I’m telling you, she can win this thing, because of people like you, and places like this.” There is huge affection for Mr Clinton in West Virginia, where his wife faces her next primary contest with Barack Obama on Tuesday. The former First Lady holds an overwhelming 25-point lead among one...

Friends and close associates of both Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are now convinced that, assuming she loses the race for the presidential nomination, she is probably going to fight to be the vice presidential nominee on an Obama-for-president ticket. Clinton "is trying to figure out how to land the plane without looking like surrender," a prominent figure in the Obama camp said Friday. This means, in all likelihood, bringing her campaign to a close in the next few weeks and trying to leverage her way onto an Obama ticket from a position of maximum strength, said several knowledgeable...

WASHINGTON -- Three months ago, Sen. John McCain made a calculated decision to begin painting a not-so-pretty picture of Sen. Barack Obama. Although Sen. Hillary Clinton was -- and still is -- battling Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, McCain began preparing his case against the Illinois senator early on. McCain's advisers, like other observers, had concluded that Obama was the likely nominee and wanted to begin shaping Obama's image while the Democrat was still consumed with fighting Clinton. Defining one's opponent is a key task of any campaign, and simply put, McCain has had a long head start. As...

Relativists claim that what is truth for one person may not be truth for another person, or what may be true for one may not be true for another. If truth is relative to one's point-of-view, who can say what is or isn't politically correct speech? Within American society who could say what is or isn't politically correct to say, if truth (and the truth of the matter even concerning political correctness) was relative to one's point-of-view? A relativist could not say that what was true for them (in terms of what is or isn't politically correct to say) would...

No, not the lesson the national press is pushing, that Mr. Jenkins's loss is a sign of GOP disaster this fall, or that it demonstrates how difficult it will be for Republicans to link local competitors to the liberal Mr. Obama. Republicans face tough odds, yes. But that's because they've yet to prove they've learned a lesson, as they demonstrated again with Mr. Jenkins. By the lazy standards of the GOP, Mr. Jenkins should've been a cinch to win a Baton Rouge district in Republican hands for 34 years, and that President Bush won with 59% in 2004. Their candidate...

This election season has been full of stories about bowling scores, barroom boilermakers and basketball. But, recently, a little noticed U.S. Supreme Court ruling may have jeopardized Americans' precious right to vote. In Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the most restrictive voter identification law in the country and failed, I think, in its duty to protect the voting rights of all Americans. In its 6-3 decision, the court sanctioned the practice of requiring Indiana voters to present government-issued photo identification in order to vote. Poll taxes, which were used to disenfranchise Southern black...

Democrats are trying to chase from the political playing field a new conservative group expected to spend tens of millions of dollars this year attacking liberal candidates. Using accusations of links to gambling and "forced abortions," the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is striving to make the group, Freedom's Watch, too toxic for Republicans to stomach. "House Republicans and Republican candidates need to decide whether they can afford to partner with Freedom's Watch, a group that embodies the Republicans' culture of corruption by consistently breaking the law and is bankrolled by money that is inconsistent with their values," said Jennifer...

WASHINGTON -- With the racially tinged Democratic race drawing to an awkward close, Barack Obama and John McCain face the challenge of winning over "Hillary Democrats" _ the white, working-class voters who favored the former first lady over Obama's historic candidacy. Obama and McCain clearly have set their sights on each other, a recognition of the long odds Clinton faces in trying to capture the Democratic presidential nomination. The McCain campaign figures some of her supporters might be up for grabs and won't necessarily vote Democratic in the general election in November. "I've been saying for a year that you...

Lieberman: Carter Is 'Naive' at Best Thursday , April 17, 2008 Former President Jimmy Carter met another top Hamas official Thursday in a Cairo hotel and planned to meet more officials in Syria Friday, drawing the ire of dozens of U.S. lawmakers. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., told FOX News that "at best, President Carter is being naive" in trying to negotiate with avowed terrorists. "There is a long list of people who thought they could reason with dictators and killers, going back to Neville Chamberlain and Hitler in the 1930s, but it has been shown to be absolutely wrong." Rep....

WASHINGTON - Former CIA operative Valerie Plame is trying to resurrect a lawsuit against those in the Bush administration she says illegally disclosed her identity. A federal judge dismissed Plame's lawsuit last year, saying there was no basis to bring a case. Plame's lawyers asked a federal appeals court Friday to send the case back before the judge and force him to consider its merits. Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, sued Vice President Dick Cheney; his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby; former White House political adviser Karl Rove and former Deputy Secretary of State...

Heavens to Murgatroyd! Chris Matthews has reduced Hillary Clinton to a cartoon character. Snagglepuss to be precise. "Exit stage left" was one of the Hanna-Barbera animation's catchphrases, and Matthews used it to wonder whether Hillary was prepared to leave the presidential race, given her flagging political fortunes. Here's how Matthews put it at the top of today's Hardball: CHRIS MATTHEWS: Meanwhile, listen carefully. That sound you hear is the slow falling of electoral delegates, of superdelegates, to Barack Obama. Seven more came aboard today. So with Obama way ahead in elected delegates, now trails Hillary Clinton by only four-and-a-half superdelegates....

The dying days of the Hillary Clinton campaign have brought the breathtaking spectacle of a candidate lashing out at every element of public life that has nourished her career. The über-wonk has disparaged economists and expertise. The staunch ally of black America has attacked her opponent for lacking support of "working, hard-working Americans, white Americans." People who thought they knew Hillary Clinton have gazed in astonishment: What has she become? The answer is, a conservative populist. Conservative populism and liberal populism are entirely different things. Liberal populism posits that the rich wield disproportionate influence over the government and push for...

Kennedy: No soup or VP slot for you TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Apparently, Sen. Ted Kennedy does not think Sen. Hillary Clinton has "real" leadership qualities or "is in tune with his appeal for the nobler aspiration(s) of the American people."

It's obvious that I've been favoring Barack in the Democratic primary, but I find the calls for Hillary to drop out of the race somewhat puzzling. As I understand it, pro-Obama pundits and pols believe Hillary should withdraw because: *Even if she wins all the remaining primaries, she will not have enough pledged delegates to win the nomination. *Even if some compromise is worked out with the Michigan and Florida delegations, she will still trail Obama in the popular vote. *Her staying in the race will only further tarnish Obama, to the benefit of John McCain, thus costing the Democrats...

Until recently, Barack Obama's presidential campaign was premised on the future. The senator from Illinois orated floridly about bringing "change" to the country; a New Political Man, he pledged to soothe the feuds of old and usher in a national reconciliation amid troubled times. With the emergence of divisive figures like Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's longtime friend and acerbically Afro-centric pastor, the focus has shifted to the past, and with good reason. As FrontPageMag.com senior editor Jacob Laksin discovered in his recent reporting from Chicago's South Side, the predominantly black community where Obama launched his political career in the eighties...

Rich Lowry April 25, 2008 -- THE self-appointed 19th-century prophet William Miller attracted an intense following when he predicted the end of the world and the arrival of the Second Coming sometime between March 1843 and April 1844. When the appointed time embarrassingly came and went, one of his followers pluckily predicted a new date of Oct. 22, 1844. The Millerites gathered that night to await the blessed event, and instead experienced what became known as "The Great Disappointment."

Never-before-seen video of "space aliens" - footage that will be revealed to the public in a few weeks - convinced Jeff Peckman that extraterrestrials exist. "These happen to be the little gray ones, about four feet tall," said Peckman, who is proposing the creation of an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver, believed to be the first of its kind. "You could see them blink as they looked in a window and panned a room," Peckman, 54, said. Peckman is sponsoring an initiative that would require the city to create an ET Commission... Among the curious who attended the hearing were...

A scandal has been emerging in the trial lawyer industry. It points to a potentially cancerous growth in our economy that is killing jobs and hampering prosperity at a time when families are being pummeled by the rising cost of living. What are Democrats in Congress planning to do about it? So far, the answer has been: nothing.

DNC Superdelegate Puts His Vote Up For Sale Steven Ybarra Wants $20 Million For His Vote SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CBS13) ― In this tight battle for the Democratic nomination we've heard a lot about the candidates courting superdelegates. But, one superdelegate is courting the candidates. He says he'll sell his vote for a price. A very high price: $20 million. Steven Ybarra of Sacramento says that eight-figure price is peanuts for the presidency.

By Amanda Carpenter Thursday, May 8, 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama flatly promised to raise taxes in a television interview Thursday afternoon. “I will raise CEO taxes,” Obama told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room.” “If you’re a CEO in this country you’ll probably pay more taxes,” Obama said. Obama speculated his CEO tax rates “won’t be prohibitively high, you’ll pay roughly what you did in the 90’s when they were doing fine.” Obama also said he would eliminate the Bush tax cuts and install what he called a “middle class tax cut.” Blitzer asked Obama to define...

As Ann Coulter points out in the cover story of this week's HUMAN EVENTS, the Democratic Party has long pursued a strategy designed to force up the price of gasoline for American families. Part of this strategy is to maintain a moratorium on oil drilling off the East and West coasts of the United States, thus artificially limiting the domestic supply. Back in 1982, according to the Energy Information Agency, Congress enacted a moratorium on oil and gas drilling off the coast of Northern California. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush ordered the Department of Interior not to allow any...

Supreme Court justices take an oath promising to "faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties . . . of the Supreme Court of the United States under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God." They do not take an oath to "faithfully and impartially perform all duties . . . except when personally offended, or when having pangs of empathy for the poor or trying to be a standup guy or gal." Listening to Barack Obama, you may think they do. And though the Bush administration cared little for the Constitution, the next...

(05-08) 18:49 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Bernie Ward, the most prominent liberal voice on Bay Area talk radio for more than two decades, admitted Thursday to distribution of child pornography by e-mail in a plea deal that will send him to federal prison for at least five years. Ward, 57, a former Roman Catholic priest, was a fixture on KGO-AM 810 for three hours every weeknight, known in recent years for his fervent denunciations of President Bush and the war in Iraq during his news talk show. He also hosted "God Talk," a Sunday morning program on religion, and was...

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(In the May issue of the new Townhall Magazine, long-time Second Amendment defender, Dave Kopel exposes the clandestine strategy being employed to rob you of your right to bear arms. The Left believes that they can distract you with the national debate over gun rights while they make their move at the local level. Townhall Magazine exposes their plans before it's too late.) If you doubt the transformational power of Barack Obama, consider the change that he’s effected on Hillary Clinton. The New York Senator came into the 2008 race with a nearly perfect anti-gun rights voting record, following her...

Obama trolls House, but Altmire remains neutral TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Rep. Jason Altmire said his baseline for a decision to endorse Sen. Hillary Clinton over Sen. Barack Obama would be if Clinton managed to reach somewhere close to a delegate tie with him when the primaries were over. "She earned her right to continue the campaign when she won in Pennsylvania and won my district," he said. Altmire said even after her loss in North Carolina and slim win in Indiana, she still has that right. "It's a long shot, I understand that, but I still want to give...

DUBAI, March 9 (Reuters) - The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, has been arrested in Iraq, the Arabic television station al-Arabiya reported on Friday, quoting the Iraqi Defence Ministry. Arabiya said Muhajir, successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had been detained in a joint Iraqi-U.S. operation in Mosul in northern Iraq.

Democrats divide by race, gender, classCINCINNATI (Reuters) - It's now common wisdom that Sen. Hillary Clinton attracts older voters, women and the white working class, while Sen. Barack Obama is the go-to guy for youth, African-Americans and the elite. Retired teacher Maggie Lauria, 58, fits the mold. "For us women, our time has come," Lauria said at a rally on Wednesday for Clinton in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. That the Democratic candidates battling to be the party's nominee for the November presidential election became so closely identified with certain voter segments has been chalked up to demographics and campaign tactics --...

At West Virginia rally, Clinton vows to fight on By David Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW Thursday, May 8, 2008 CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Memo to those writing political obituaries for Hillary Clinton: She ain't done yet. Clinton sought to drive home that message to hundreds of cheering supporters at a rally here today, contending West Virginia will muzzle the pundits by giving her a resounding win on Tuesday over Barack Obama, whose victory Tuesday in North Carolina and strong showing in Indiana moved him closer to clinching the Democratic presidential nomination. "I know that according to the polls, I'm doing well here. But...

The Democratic coalition rubs its hands at the prospect of taking over Washington. If you ever want a window into the needs and desires of the labor movement, you should listen to Stewart Acuff. And if you get within 50 yards of Acuff, you’ll be listening: The snow-bearded activist, now the AFL-CIO’s director of organizing, projects his voice like an opera singer. He grips the podium, white-knuckled. He clasps his hands, then pulls them apart with a snap. When I saw him at the Take Back America conference in Washington in March, his reedy voice grew rougher and louder as...

Not long after the polls close in the May 20 Kentucky and Oregon primaries, Barack Obama plans to declare victory in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. And, until at least May 31 and perhaps longer, Hillary Clinton's campaign plans to dispute it. It's a train wreck waiting to happen, with one candidate claiming to be the nominee while the other vigorously denies it, all predicated on an argument over what exactly constitutes the finish line of the primary race.

"Either relativism is a genuine theory in which a real assertion is made, or else it isn't. But any attempt to assert relativism without relying on just-plain truth [absolute] would inevitably fail, because it would generate an infinite regress. And, of course, any assertion of relativism that does not rely on just-plain truth would be-self defeating. So it looks like any apparent assertion of relativism is either self-defeating or else is not a real assertion, but something more like an empty slogan." (Jubien, Michael. Contemporary Metaphysics. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1997) "The only way the relativist can avoid the painful dilemma...

The Washington Times recently reported that "the church where Sen. Barack Obama has worshipped for two decades publicly declares that its ministry is founded on a 1960s book that espouses ‘the destruction of the white enemy.’ Trinity United Church of Christ’s Web site says its teachings are based on the black liberation theology of James H. Cone and his 1969 book ‘Black Theology and Black Power.’ …Conrad Worrill, a leader of the Chicago-based National Black United Front, said…’I think most black people would agree that what Jeremiah Wright said is the truth.’" It sure is ironic, then, that a parishioner...

Follow the link, and please explain to me the goal of that museum... Liberals are SO twisted !!!

With last night's results in North Carolina and Indiana, only the most stalwart Hillary supporters can think anything but that Barack Obama will be the Democrat nominee for POTUS. A more accurate analysis of the fall general election race can finally begin. For both parties, their nominees are at best a mixed bag. Obama has a ton of money (about $274 million) through a very successful small donor campaign. He is also an extremely powerful orator. He is running in an election with a very shaky economy, record gas prices, a war and an unpopular incumbent of the opposite party....

Glenn Beck attempts to explain what Dem Superdelegates really are. (Video at the link)

Is Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., staying in the race to get the vice presidential slot? George thinks so. Clinton vowed to fight on today, despite a growing chorus that says Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has just about wrapped up the Democratic presidential nominaton. ABC's chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos told Charles Gibson on "World News" that Clinton is staying in the race to negotiate a spot on the Democratic ticket in November. CHARLES GIBSON: George, she puts on a brave face in public. What's going on behind the scenes? GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, I think it's fair to say ... that...

From a new iTax to higher income taxes, state lawmakers have introduced a slew of new taxes to solve California’s $20 billion budget deficit. Thanks to legislative Republicans (and even a few moderate Democrats), most of these bad ideas have been defeated. While taxpayers can celebrate these victories, the worst tax increase of all still lives: a $45 billion sales tax on services. Late last month, the Board of Equalization Chair reported to legislative leaders that a new sales tax on services could single-handedly eliminate California’s budget deficit. “At the state General Fund rate of 5 percent, a tax levy...