Free Republic

Oslo University 'honors' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his achievements in 'inspiring hostility among nations, increasing human suffering.' University professor says prize's aim to remind world of ongoing genocide, tortureA day before US President Barack Obama receives the Nobel Peace Prize, Norway presents an original initiative of its own. Oslo University decided to award Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with the "dictator of the year prize" Wednesday. Khamenei was chosen out of 11 candidates - selected by human rights experts - including North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and Myanmar's General Than Schwe. Out of 4145...

Major sections of the print paper just blanked out.Once again, News Corp.-owned Times of London is being censored in Dubai for daring to criticize the royals who turned the country into such a gigantic mess. WSJ: The Times of London available in the United Arab Emirates was censored Saturday for an article that appeared to criticize Dubai's ruler. Reference to Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum as a "benign dictator" in a page 14 article titled: "Confidence will never return," was blanked out in the print copy of the paper in Dubai. The full article, which also criticized the Crown...

The situation in neighboring Venezuela is going from strange to foreboding. President Hugo Chavez has been unsuccessful in getting the voters to make him president for life, but he has used his presidential powers to replace thousands of key officials with people selected mainly for their loyalty to Hugo Chavez. Since the government controls so much of the economy (mainly because of the oil industry), this has had disastrous results. There are increasing power blackouts, and an increasing number of state employees are not getting paid, or paid on time. There are increasing shortages of consumer goods. There is growing...

America stands as the last historical example of exodus. Oppressed peoples who could not overcome the tyranny surrounding them choose to extract themselves from it and come here. We no longer have that option.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is inviting his mentor Fidel Castro to visit Venezuela during the coming months. Chavez read aloud a letter to the 83-year-old former Cuban leader during a televised speech Saturday night, saying "Venezuela awaits you." Chavez proposed that Castro visit at some point between now and April, during a congress of his socialist party. The 83-year-old Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing a series of emergency intestinal surgeries in July 2006.

Here’s how: The bills require a federal declaration of a “climate emergency” if world greenhouse gas levels reach 450 parts per million. Guess what? The Pacific Northwest National Lab says it is a virtual certainty that level will be reached within a few months. The bill then requires the president to “direct all Federal agencies to use existing statutory authority to take appropriate actions...to address shortfalls" in achieving needed greenhouse gas reductions. The Examiner's David Freddoso reports that Sen. David Vitter, R-LA, is holding a news conference later today concerning this provision. Vitter wonders if companies that support cap-and-trade in...

Witness the brutal story of Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union with an iron hand. Even Stalin's successors viewed him as brutal, and in the years following Stalin's death they heavily toned down his crimes. But now, after the fall of Communism, people have come forward to reveal the tyranny they themselves lived in.

MEXICO CITY – Horrified by the excesses of dictatorship, Latin Americans discarded the strongman model at the end of the 20th century and limited politicians' time in power. Now a new wave of populist presidents is trying to do away with those limits, arguing they impede real change. As leaders in country after country move to extend their rule, opponents fearing a return to the "caudillo" era of authoritarian power have done everything to stop them — from throwing eggs to staging coups.

Diplomacy: The restoration of a president with dictatorial dreams in Honduras is being touted by the administration as a triumph of "dialogue." In truth, it's just old-fashioned yanqui interventionism. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed Thursday night's agreement in Tegucigalpa as "a restoration of the constitutional order," and praised it highly. "I cannot think of another example of a country in Latin America that, having suffered a rupture of its democratic and constitutional order, overcame such a crisis through negotiation and dialogue." What worked here, though, wasn't dialogue, but U.S. diplomatic muscle. A last-minute mission from Assistant Secretary of State...

President Obama's school age daughters have not been vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says the vaccine is not available to them based on their risk.

As very few of our Congressional elected officials—Democrats AND Republicans—are taking any actions or exhibiting any desire to stop the Obama Dictatorship and We-the-People are now being completely left out of any and all legislation that directly affects us, I can only surmise that we as the Nation of the United states of America may have reached the point of no return in our rapidly forced descent into totalitarianism. From the anti-American and anti-human recently-passed Congressional bills, I have also concluded that—as these self-same elected officials no longer care what their constituents think—our attempts to stop the insanity of government...

Aided and abetted by imposters posing as authentic American citizens the United States of America has been taken over by an authentic dictator. How could so many millions of U. S. citizens just gently cede their heritage and birthright so easily; without more than a whimper? Assisted by genuine anti-American leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, actually elected by unknowing and uninformed lemmings, Barack Hussein Obama has surely seized the ultimate power of dictatorship and is making decisions not within the established authority of the office of President, which are opposed only by vocal chants from a gaggle of conservatives...

The Honduran President was escorted from the Honduran presidency in June. In September, Manuel Zelaya quietly slipped back into the country and has been holed up within the Brazilian embassy ever since. The military forced Zelaya out on June 28 because the President sought to hold a public vote to extend his term limit. It seems Manuel rather enjoys being President and doesn’t want to turn over the cushy job to a freely-elected opponent. Hugo Chavez successfully extended his presidency of Venezuela indefinitely. The power-mad dictator first attempted to sieze power there twice in 1992. The coup d’état failed to...

Translated from the Portuguese. Author asked that his article be forwarded, so I do not believe there are any copyright violations in translating it in full. My comments and clarifications in brackets [] If you click here: http://vimeo.com/6825710, you will have access to a video which you could hear the voice of David Romero, director of Globo radio, who supports Manuel Zelaya. It is that radio which sufferd intervention from the interim government, accused of inciting violence, and which impassioned Bolibarian Brazilians. Listening to what is there, you have a notion of who these people are. Zelaya has accused that...

"Hear our cry, Obama." "Deliver us, Obama." Video at link.

Here is video of ultra-Left Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters yesterday on MSNBC where she urged President Obama to use the "Nuclear Option" in the Senate to pass a Health Care Bill with a "Public Option." Waters actually urged Obama to use "parliamentary procedure" to take advantage of the "reconciliation process" to pass a bill in the Senate on a majority vote. This would bypass the "Cloture" rule in the Senate, which requires 60 votes to bring a bill to the floor of the Senate for a vote. The "reconciliation process" has often been referred to as the "Nuclear Option." ....

TeleSUR, Venezuela From 15 hours ago. (Van) Jones, special advisor for Green Jobs and Environment Innovation of the White House, submitted his resignation early Sunday, as the product of a great scandal generated when ventilating himself in support of an organization that offered that ex-President George Bush was complicit in the attacks on September 11th. This is an adviser of the current president of the United States, Barack Obama, and that worked in the Council of Environmental Quality office, had to apologize already in public, after the existence was known a recording in which he made offensive signallings against...

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HAVANA – Cuban state media have released a second recent photo showing Fidel Castro in regular civilian clothing instead of the track suits that he commonly wore after falling ill in July 2006. In the picture, the 83-year-old Castro is shaking hands with the visiting head of the Chinese parliament in the walled backyard of an undisclosed home. Castro is wearing a red, short-sleeve dress shirt as he greets National People's Congress leader Wu Bangguo. ..

"The Kennedy family, in particular the assassinated President, John F. Kennedy, were representative of a new generation of Americans confronting the old and dirty politics of men in the mold of Nixon...The Kennedy family's (role) in Barack Obama's electoral victory should not be overlooked. Without that moral, political and financial support, the dirty saga of the Bush and Nixon clans would be continuing." That was a portion of an editorial last week in Stalinist Cuba's version of Nazi Germany's Der Sturmer. But no one familiar with Cuban history should doubt the editorials' sincerity. Fidel and Raul Castro, after all, owe...

Broun, R-Athens, apparently has not changed his belief that President Obama may be a fascist since he made similar remarks in Augusta in November and then in an Associated Press interview.

A second Obama Zero dollar is out. Focused on the intrusion Obamacare (or HR 3200 if you believe it's not Obama's plan) will be into our private lives and information. Please download it, print out both sides if you like it, and pass it out at opportune moments to like-minded folks, or leave it in places that anyone can find. Get them out there exposing the lies of Obamacare. Keep fighting it any way you can. Front of it is first, then the back image. For the whole series of Zero dollar bills, go here: "Flickr Archive of Zero Bills"

Every once in a while I just get lucky. I make an offhanded remark on the air that sends the looters into such paroxysms of angst and outrage that I get about a weeks worth of a free ride in blogs, columns and radio and TV shows.

Sorry for the intrusive vanity. Several weeks ago, Rush mentioned a woman from Nigeria who wrote an article comparing Obammie the Commie to an African-style communist/Marxist dictator. Can someone please point me either to the article or the author's name? Thanks in advance.

In December 1917 Bolshevik Russian leaders, including one of the founders of Socialist thuggery Vladimir Lenin, established the Cheka—Russia’s first political secret police. With almost unlimited power, the Cheka implemented “campaigns of terror” against the wealthy, land owners and those who opposed Lenin and Bolshevism. !n 1922, once most of Russia’s opposition to their new absolute rulers had lessened, the Cheka was disbanded. However, under the singularly oppressive Josef Stalin, Cheka was reinstated and ultimately renamed “The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs” (NKVD) and what would be known as Stalin’s “Great Terror of the 1930s began. The NKVD was used...

HAVANA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is trying to make positive changes in the United States, but is being fought at every turn by right-wingers who hate him because he is black, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Tuesday. In an unusually conciliatory column in the state-run media, Castro said Obama had inherited many problems from his predecessor, George W. Bush, and was trying to resolve them. But the "powerful extreme right won't be happy with anything that diminishes their prerogatives in the slightest way." Obama does not want to change the U.S. political and economic system, but "in...

WASHINGTON -- In briefing President Barack Obama one day this spring, White House economist Jared Bernstein delved into such arcana as the yields on different forms of credit relative to the risk. Later, Paul Volcker pulled Mr. Bernstein aside. "Why would the president want to know that level of detail?" asked the former Federal Reserve chairman. "That's what he wants," Mr. Bernstein replied. Many presidents have directed policy from on high, shunning the details of most issues. Mr. Obama has adopted a different style, particularly when it comes to economics, as he and his team wrestle with the worst financial...

Moscow.- Russia's Ministry of Justice has adopted a ruling by the Supreme Court that flags with crosses will be considered symbols of extremism, and their display will be banned. The ruling effectively outlaws the flags of Georgia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Dominican Republic and Jamaica, as well as those of 15 states within the Russian Federation.

HAVANA (Reuters) – Former Cuban President Fidel Castro marked his 83rd birthday on Thursday with a gloomy warning about the global economic crisis, which is hitting his country hard, and a vow to "carry on." Castro, the leader of Cuba's 1959 revolution that brought communism to the Caribbean island, has remained out of public view for the last three years and in 2008 handed over the presidency to younger brother Raul Castro for health reasons. But while he leaves day-to-day running of the government to Raul Castro, he remains influential behind the scenes and writes regular commentaries for state-run media....

Rather than waiting for your neighbors to turn you in at flag@whitehouse.gov, make it easy on yourself. This video shows Americans doing the right thing and turning themselves in. IF YOU OPPOSE OBAMA TURN YOURSELF IN

The U.S. House of Representatives on July 9 voted almost unanimously to rebuke President Barack Obama over his June 24 signing statement openly declaring that he could ignore provisions of the law he was signing. The bipartisan 429-2 vote was a direct result of Obama's assertion that he could ignore restricitons on how the $106 billion loan guarantee to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could be used. In his signing statement, Obama claimed that “provisions of this bill within sections 1110 to 1112 of title XI, and sections 1403 and 1404 of title XIV, would interfere with my constitutional authority...

Czar is another word for dictator. The current regime is fraught with little dictators in all sorts or areas, all appointed by the man who appears to want to be the BIG DICTATOR. I, like most Americans, am uncomfortable with the word "czar". I am even more uncomfortable with the word "dictator." Both words are unAmerican. Both smack of antidemocracy, antirepublicanism, brute force and coersion. It is time to call all these "cute czars" by their real names, not the media controlled names. They are dictators. Energy czar Carol Browner Urban czar Adolfo Carrion, Jr. Infotech czar Vivek Kundra Faith-based...

Honduras's ousted president says he will demand the removal of the interim government within 24 hours during talks aimed at solving his country's crisis. Manuel Zelaya was speaking ahead of the talks in Costa Rica. The interim government, which is also taking part, says it intends to ensure Mr Zelaya returns to Honduras to face trial for abusing the constitution. The exiled president has the backing of world leaders, including US President Barack Obama. Judging by the comments in advance of these talks their mediator, Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias, has an almost insurmountable challenge ahead of him. He has...

A warning to President Obama from John F. Kennedy. President Obama has denounced the actions taken by the Honduran Congress, Supreme Court and military, all actions taken under the rule of law -- Honduran law -- in the nonviolent arrest and removal from office of strongman (caudillo) Manuel Zelaya. President Obama's denunciation was based, using Jay D. Homnick's apt phrase, on "standard collegiate peacenik rhetoric." Joining in this shame are the UN General Assembly that approved a resolution by consensus without a formal vote on June 30 (p The General Secretary of the OAS is José Miguel Insulza. He is...

After receiving much warranted criticism for his support of the ousted Honduran president, Obama decided to defend himself. During his speech in Russia today, Obama unleashed his ‘rationalization’ for advocating Marxism...

I know the term "Lame Duck " usuallty refers to a President in the latter two years of his second term, but I'm wondering if Barack HUSSEIN Obama isn't about to make a second historical note for being declared a "LAME DUCK" earlier that any other President in U.S. History? Obama is LAME on stimulating the economy. Obama is LAME on foreign policy. Obama is LAME on national defense. Obama is LAME on his Supreme Court nomination. Obama is LAME on his knowledge of U.S. History. Obama is LAME on defense of Israel. Obama is LAME on relations with our...

CAIRO: A group of Egyptian activists launched a website demanding the release of Iranian protestors detained on account of demonstrations following the allegedly rigged presidential elections in Iran. "We were obliged to defend the rights of the Iranians to express their opinions without being condemned and jailed for doing so. They shouldn’t be detained for expressing their anger toward certain suspected glitches in the elections..."

Lest we forget: 20 years ago, a revolution in pictures.

Elites often propose health care solutions that limit options for the general public, secure in the knowledge that if they or their loves ones get sick, they will be able to afford the best care available, even if it's not provided by insurance. Devinsky asked the president pointedly if he would be willing to promise that he wouldn't seek such extraordinary help for his wife or daughters if they became sick and the public plan he's proposing limited the tests or treatment they can get. The president refused to make such a pledge, though he allowed that if "it's my...

I just wanted to post a link for those looking for a place with video and discussion of what's going on in Iran. They've been showing recorded video, and it's been filled with people commenting on the events there in Iran. Some of the best links with information have come from the people chatting there. I'm just passing the information along to those who find it useful. http://www.livestream.com/persianq?origin=embedplayer God Bless.

A Joke:To thunderous applause and presidential approval, Government Motors announced its new concept car, The 2010 Obama. It runs on hot air and broken promises and has three wheels that speed the vehicle through tight left turns. The car comes complete with two teleprompters programmed to stream Democratic propaganda, and the transparent canopy reveals the smug satisfaction on the faces of the gullible owners. Back to Reality: The Studebaker DictatorYes, an American car company called Studebaker really did name a model "The Dictator." The Studebaker Dictator, according to Wikipedia, was a popular model from 1927 to 1937, right up...

HJ 5 IH 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. J. RES. 5 Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 6, 2009 Mr. SERRANO introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - When Venezuelans tune to Globovision, they see protests against faulty public services or a talk show guest saying Hugo Chavez could be executed by his opponents, just like Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Now Chavez seems to be gearing up for a final showdown with Globovision, Venezuela's only remaining opposition television station on the open airwaves. Broadcast regulators are investigating the all-news channel for inciting "panic and anxiety" during a minor earthquake when it criticized the government for slow response.

A leading bankruptcy attorney representing hedge funds and money managers told ABC News Saturday that Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration's Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration's Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation. The White House said the story was false. "The charge is completely untrue," said White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton, "and there's obviously no evidence to suggest that this happened in any way." Thomas Lauria, Global Practice Head of...

# Obama signs bill designating 2 million additional acres of public wilderness areas # Designation provides highest level of government protection from commercial use # Law, pooling more than 160 legislative proposals, extends across nine states # Highlights: New heritage sites and water projects, expanded park boundaries

"We're looking for supporters," said DeHaven of Hoover, one of the event's organizers. "We're not looking for a fight. That will come later, when we have an army."

President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the Bush administration had tried to undermine organized labor and he assured U.S. labor leaders they would always have a "place at the table" under his presidency. "We need to level the playing field for workers and the unions that represent their interests," Obama said in prepared remarks for a video address to the executive board of the AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor federation, meeting in Miami. Obama, who won strong backing from trade unions in his Democratic presidential campaign, said there could not be a strong middle class, the focus of his economic...

The economy is spiraling down at an accelerating pace, threatening to undermine the Obama administration’s spending plans, which anticipate vigorous rates of growth in years to come. A sense of disconnect between the projections by the White House and the grim realities of everyday American life was enhanced on Friday, as the Commerce Department gave a harsher assessment for the last three months of 2008. In place of an initial estimate that the economy contracted at an annualized rate of 3.8 percent — already abysmal — the government said that the pace of decline was actually 6.2 percent, making it...

President Barack Obama's first budget includes $15 billion a year for renewable energy programs and an ambitious plan to raise $646 billion from a carbon reduction proposal. "Because our future depends on our ability to break free from oil that's controlled by foreign dictators, we need to make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy," Mr. Obama said Thursday morning. "That's why we'll be working with Congress on legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy." The plan uses money from a cap-and-trade program — which would allow companies to...

President Obama will pledge Tuesday night that the nation "will rebuild, we will recover," as he delivers an address to a joint session of Congress and with a nervous nation watching at home. "While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," Mr. Obama will say, according to excerpts of his remarks. In lofty language, Mr. Obama is expected to promise a new path forward...