Free Republic

ANAHEIM, Calif. — There were 19 Republicans sitting on stage behind Sarah Palin when she rallied GOP activists here Saturday, but none was named Meg Whitman or Carly Fiorina.And just as the Republican candidates for governor and Senate here were physically absent from the event, they were also missing from Palin’s speech.Not once during remarks that lasted just over 20 minutes did the former Alaska governor mention two of the national party’s most buzzed-about candidates running in the country’s largest state.It’s possible that Palin didn’t want to mention Whitman and Fiorina for fear of handing Democrats fodder

When the Tea Party first started out, I was a enthusiastic supporter.. The Tea Party perfectly represented what my views are.. I'm a 100% fiscal conservative and I believe in small government on ALL issues. In the beginning, the Tea Party seemed to be such movement that would support candidates based on FISCAL issues. Initially, that was the case and people like Scott Brown have been elected. However, since then, it seems like the Tea Party Express and other Tea Party organizations have been hijacked by the social conservative wing of the GOP (i.e. Sarah Palin). Social issues were introduced...

Maggie and John Anderson of Chicago vowed four months ago that for one year, they would try to patronize only black-owned businesses. The "Empowerment Experiment" is the reason John had to suffer for hours with a stomach ache and Maggie no longer gets that brand-name lather when she washes her hair. A grocery trip is a 14-mile odyssey... Plans are under way to track spending among supporters nationwide and build a national database of quality black businesses. The first affiliate chapter has been launched in Atlanta, and the couple has established a foundation to raise funds for black businesses and...

During a speech marking Jerusalem Day, the prime minister said that Israel will continue to build and develop in Jerusalem. We will never divide Jerusalem, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his speech commemorating Jerusalem Day on Ammunition Hill on Wednesday. "Jerusalem Day marks the day the city began positively developing for all its citizens, Jews and Arabs alike. We will never again make Jerusalem a divided, disunited, and isolated city." Jerusalem Day marks 43 years since the establishment of Israeli control over East Jerusalem in 1967.

The looming divide within Europe Zsolt Darvas   Jean Pisani-Ferry23 January 2009 Print   EmailComment   Republish The financial crisis is now hitting several of the non-euro-area new member states hard, highlighting the shortcomings of Europe’s monetary architecture. Crisis management in the euro area has had the unintended consequence of putting non euro-area new member states at disadvantage. Without decisive action, a new political and economic divide within Europe may emerge. Since autumn 2008, the highly successful and seemingly smooth integration, growth, and catch-up of the new EU member states of Central and Eastern Europe is suddenly looking more fragile....

NOW AVAILABLE FOR READING: Michelle Obama thesis was on racial divide My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'blackness' than ever before," the future Mrs. Obama wrote in her thesis introduction. "I have found that at Princeton, no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don't belong. Regardless of the circumstances underwhich I interact with whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be black first and a...

John Wayne explains the damaging use of the hyphen in our American name.

AS this historic Democratic primary season enters its next grueling phase, the party has become embroiled in a conflict between antagonists who would seem better cast as allies. Senator Barack Obama is a black candidate who has built his career on de-emphasizing race, while Senator Hillary Clinton is a white liberal who has been sensitive to minorities, and the issues facing them, during her long years of political activism. And yet, in contest after contest, particularly in large states with diverse ethnic populations, support for the two candidates has reflected the sort of splits that normally divide Democrats from Republicans....

JERUSALEM – The Palestinian Authority has formed an intelligence apparatus to halt Jewish construction and property ownership in eastern sections of Jerusalem, a PA official announced this week. WND first broke the story last month that the PA recently established an intelligence apparatus in Jerusalem to clamp down on Israeli Arabs selling property to Jews in eastern sections of the city, quoting informed security sources. Palestinians seek to create a capital in eastern sections of Jerusalem. The area has large Arab neighborhoods, a significant Jewish population and sites holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. On Sunday, Hatem Abdel Khader, a...

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Saudi King Abdullah that the "enemies of Islam" were trying to divide the Muslim community, his website said on Saturday. The Ahmadinejad-Abdullah telephone call came amid complaints from Iran, which is majority Shiite, that Iranian pilgrims visiting Islam's holiest sites in the mainly Sunni kingdom were being harassed. "The enemies of Islam are trying to spread disunity among Muslim nations, especially between the two governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia," Ahmadinejad said, according to his website. Earlier this month Tehran asked Riyadh to fight against Sunni extremists who Iran said were targeting...

BRISTOL - Trinity Episcopal Church could be called a house divided: Its defrocked pastor led a heavily attended prayer and song service at the church Wednesday night, while Episcopal Bishop Andrew Smith tried to muster parishioners to meet with a new pastor at a church in Plainville. Smith promoted his meeting in a letter to parishioners last week as a way to discuss the dispute between Trinity and the Episcopal Diocese and "begin to identify new leadership for the parish so that we can move forward in our life in Christ within the doctrine, discipline and worship of The Episcopal...

The cultural rift between Britain and France endures as an amusing mystery for many, but the physical divide between them can now be blamed on two ancient floods. About 450,000 years ago, a "megaflood" breached a giant natural dam near the Dover strait and began the formation of the English Channel , according to a study detailed in the July 19 issue of the journal Nature. Following this first disastrous flood, a second deluge finished the job. "The first was probably 100 times greater than the average discharge of the Mississippi River," said Sanjeev Gupta, a geologist at Imperial College...

BEHIND THE political divide in America, there is also a religious divide. The split is not just between people who believe and people who do not; it is between those who see religious faith as society's foundation and those who see it as society's bane. So far, the debates on this subject have generated more heat than light, as both sides preach to the converted and talk at, not to, those who disagree. In the most recent volley in the faith wars, British pop star Elton John has said that if it were up to him, he would "ban religion...

Awaiting the recommendations of a commission exploring U.S. options in Iraq, the White House on Thursday emphatically ruled out some proposals to end the war. Presidential spokesman Tony Snow said a suggestion to divide Iraq into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish regions, each with high degrees of autonomy, was a "nonstarter." Similarly, he said a phased withdrawal of American troops — perhaps by 5 percent every two months — also was a "nonstarter." "You withdraw when you win," Snow said. "Phased withdrawal is a way of saying, `Regardless of what the conditions are on the ground, we're going to get out...

Iraqi MPs have passed a law enabling the country to be split into semi-autonomous regions, despite warnings that it could mean the end of Iraq as a sovereign state.The federalism Bill, introduced last month by a Shia party, passed the 275-member parliament by 141 to 0. Its opponents had boycotted the vote in a failed attempt to prevent enough MPs being present to reach the required 50 per cent quorum. The new law comes at a time when reports in the United States say that a commission led by a leading US elder statesman is preparing to tell President George...

WASHINGTON - Unable to agree on sweeping ethics legislation, the House this week will try to pass a narrower bill to shed light on pet projects that lawmakers tuck into spending and tax bills. The measure on "earmarks," a rules change that would apply only to the House, is a small part of comprehensive lobbying and ethics legislation that the House and Senate both passed last spring in the wake of a spate of scandals involving lawmakers and lobbyists. But the two chambers have been unable to find common ground, and prospects for legislation that was deemed a top priority...

Sunnis enraged as Iraq prepares to divide itself into regions By Oliver Poole, Iraq Correspondent (Filed: 07/09/2006) The future of Iraq as a sovereign nation was thrown into jeopardy yesterday after a new law was introduced to parliament that would enable the break up of the country into semi-autonomous regions. If passed, a self-ruling Shia state is likely to emerge in the south, based on the autonomous region Kurds have already established in the north. It would not only be able to levy its own taxes and govern itself but, Shia politicians say, would have its own armed guards posted...

Reshaping of the geography of South Asia in order to combat international terrorism has become necessary. The entire terrorism network has been managed by terrorist forces stationed in Pakistan under the safe umbrella of Government of Pakistan. These terrorist forces have taken the shelter of Islamic identity in order to implement their dangerous designs of dominating South Asia and make it an Islamic territory altogether thereby driving out Christians, Hindus and Sikhs living in India. The ultimate scheme was first made during the lifetime of late General Zia-ul-Haq who can be termed as the main actor towards this direction. The...

Speaking at Saturday's opening session of the National Council of La Raza convention, former U.S. President Bill Clinton accused the Republican Party of using the immigration issue to divide Congress and the nation. "It is a way of creating a divided community and distracting people from the real challenges facing the country, whether it is in Iraq and Afghanistan, or homeland security, or how to build a clean energy future, or how to solve the healthcare crisis, or how to create new jobs for America," Clinton told one of the nation's largest Latino civil rights groups in Los Angeles Saturday...

Dueling protests reflect immigration divideBy SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer May 12. 2006 10:41PM Reflecting the American divide over immigration, protesters on both sides stood a few feet from each other near the Capitol shouting chants and exchanging accusations of racism. The protesters were kept apart Friday by helmeted police officers who stood inside a ring of yellow police tape. A Minuteman Project rally marked the end of a cross-country caravan by the anti-immigration group, whose members patrol the U.S.-Mexican border in search of illegal border crossers. The caravan began in Los Angeles. Minuteman demonstrators, who numbered less than 100,...