Free Republic

Summary: In Daytona Beach, Obama said that "if my opponent had his way, the millions of Floridians who rely on it would've had their Social Security tied up in the stock market this week." He referred to "elderly women" at risk of poverty, and said families would be scrambling to support "grandmothers and grandfathers." That's not true. The plan proposed by President Bush and supported by McCain in 2005 would not have allowed anyone born before 1950 to invest any part of their Social Security taxes in private accounts. All current retirees would be covered by the same benefits they...

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (AFP) — Democrat Barack Obama accused his White House foe John McCain Saturday of wanting to "gamble" away Americans' life savings by privatizing Social Security at a time of crisis on the markets. Neither of the campaigns had any immediate response to news reports that the US government wants permission from Congress to buy 700 billion dollars in troubled mortgages, according to a draft rescue plan for Wall Street. But Obama renewed his demand that any government bailout must protect ordinary Americans on "Main Street," as well as the busted financiers of New York, through another round...

Summary A new Obama ad characterizes the "Bush-McCain privatization plan" as "cutting Social Security Benefits in half." This is a falsehood sure to frighten seniors who rely on their Social Security checks. In truth, McCain does not propose to cut those checks at all. The ad refers to a Bush proposal from 2005 to hold down the growth of benefits for future retirees. Compared to the buying power of benefits paid to today's retirees, that would not have been a "cut" for anybody. It would have been a "cut" of half only in relation to benefits now promised to retirees...

John McCain is seriously considering choosing a pro-abortion-rights running mate despite vocal resistance from conservatives, with former Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) very much in the mix, close McCain advisers say. Under strong consideration: former Pennsylvania Republican Gov. Tom Ridge, and Lieberman, who was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000. Multiple GOP sources say that party officials in Washington and in the states have been contacted by the McCain campaign in the past two weeks and asked about the fallout from such a choice. One person familiar with the calls said the party was being instructed to...

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (CNN) – Barack Obama told supporters that Republicans will “try to make you afraid of me” in remarks he made Friday at a Florida fundraiser. "The choice is clear. Most of all we can choose between hope and fear. It is going to be very difficult for Republicans to run on their stewardship of the economy or their outstanding foreign policy. “We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run,” said the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. “They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. ‘He’s young and...

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said on Friday he expects Republicans to highlight the fact that he is black as part of an effort to make voters afraid of him. "It is going to be very difficult for Republicans to run on their stewardship of the economy or their outstanding foreign policy," Obama told a fundraiser in Jacksonville, Florida. "We know what kind of campaign they're going to run. They're going to try to make you afraid. "They're going to try to make you afraid of me. He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I...

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said on Friday he expects Republicans to highlight the fact that he is black as part of an effort to make voters afraid of him. In March he gave a widely praised speech on the subject after receiving criticism over racially charged comments by his longtime pastor. Obama, who faces Republican John McCain in the November election, would be the first black U.S. president.

A scientist whose reservations about "global warming" have been officially endorsed by tens of thousands of other scientists is accusing the U.N. of using "mob rule" to generate fear-mongering climate change reports intended to scare national leaders into submitting to its worldwide taxation schemes. "Science has always progressed on the basis of observations, experiments, and thoughts published by individual scientists and sometimes pairs or small groups of scientific coworkers," Art Robinson, a research professor of chemistry and co-founder of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, said in a recent column in Human Events. Except at the U.N., he said....

(CNSNews.com) - Does any doting mother want to think about putting her firstborn baby in harm's way? Liberal backers of Sen. Barack Obama are banking on a "no" answer. The liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org is running a political ad featuring a new mother, bouncing baby boy on her lap, chiding John McCain about wanting to wage a "hundred-year" war in Iraq. "John McCain, when you say you would stay in Iraq for a hundred years, were you counting on Alex? Because if you were, you can't have him," the mother (actress) says with a quaver in her voice. (See video)...

Biting the Bullet: It’s Either McCain or Obama By Rene Guerra Never, ever, in her 232 years of illustrious existence, has America been at such a dire juncture where her enemies and rivals--domestic and foreign--are so determinedly poised and so advantageously positioned to undoing her. Islamofascism has vowed to destroy America, at any cost; “Death to America� the frenzied, mouth-foaming, suicidal Iranian throngs cry. Our brave troops in Iraq and Afghanistan keep fighting day in and day out the terrorists that the Saudi Wahhabis, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Iranian Shiite fundamentalists, and the Syrian Baathists would otherwise be sending to...

All indications are the Democrats will pick up seats in both the House and Senate, with the Senate likely being a couple of RHINOs away from the magic 60. McCain is no Reagan but he's the only thing standing in the way of the most liberal Senator in Senate becoming President with a clear majority in Congress and at a critical time with decisions to be made on the war on terror, the war in Iraq, heath care, taxes, illegal immigration and likely the Supreme Court. Sometimes you do have to pick the lesser of two evils. This is one...

Democrat Barack Obama accused rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday of trying to "play on people's fears to scare up votes" with a television ad showing sleeping children and asking who would be more qualified to answer a national security emergency call at 3 a.m. "The question is not about picking up the phone. The question is: What kind of judgment will you make when you answer?" Obama said as he campaigned in Texas ahead of crucial contests here and in Ohio on Tuesday. "We've had a red phone moment. It was the decision to invade Iraq. And Senator Clinton...

NASHUA, N.H. -- Former president Bill Clinton yesterday delivered in stark terms a version of his wife's central campaign message: that her experience in Washington better prepares her to "deal with the unexpected." Addressing more than 100 supporters at a VFW hall here Saturday, Clinton used the strongest language he has so far in the campaign to describe the threats facing the nation, making an oblique reference to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and saying that the "most important thing of all" in selecting a nominee is the question of who could best manage unforeseen catastrophes. "You have to...

The Left's FEAR MONGERING exposed The latest bombshell to hit the radical left cabal: Weather Channel Founder: Global Warming ‘Greatest Scam in Historyhttp://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2007/11/07/weather-channel-founder-global-warming-greatest-scam-history Radical liberal loons the kind of Bill Maher and others, in their usual devious conduct of trying to spin on the real threat of the western society, like (or shall I say liked?) to use 'global warming', as the 'real threat', not ISLAMO - FASCISM. My advice to the militant left from Rosie O'Donnell to the backward "MoveOn" & other left-behind "progressive" fanatics, hurry up, "find" some "other" threat before you are left out to dry by...

Christian conservatives want more respect. They were instrumental in propelling George W. Bush to power—twice—and now they're feeling neglected. At a "Values Voters" summit in Washington last week, leading evangelicals gathered to speak out and take a straw poll. The survey showed how unhappy they are with the twice-divorced, pro-choice Republican frontrunner for the presidential nomination, Rudy Giuliani. He got less than two percent of the overall vote. (Some Christian activists have threatened to back a third-party candidate if Giuliani wins the GOP nomination.) Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney won the straw poll of 5,775 conservatives, which included voters who...

Who would you vote for if you were not afraid that your candidate could not win? I get the feeling that a lot of Republicans are not going with their "true love" candidate but picking someone they think has a better chance of winning. Dragon-lady Hillary is always held up as the dire consequence of voting for a Republican that does not have cross-over appeal. Another part of this problem is how the media pick the "top tier" candidates and the "serious" candidates. They create a self fulfilling prophecy by giving the impression that the candidates with the most money...

So, have you heard the latest? Your business records can now be taken away by Big Brother without a warrant, thanks to that Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act-reform bill Darth Bush — an unstoppable force of nature with 30-percent approval ratings — just slammed through the notorious wallflower also known as the Democratic Congress. Yup, all the government has to do is pretend it needs your records — or your phone calls, or even your person — for a national-security investigation of someone overseas and — Presto! — your privacy rights are shredded. It must be true. After all, it’s in...

Journalism: If you laid all the economists in the world end to end, goes an old joke, they still wouldn't reach a conclusion. But there's one thing almost all economists agree on: Free trade is good. Yet the media don't get it. This month marks the 77th anniversary of an economic event that lives in ignominy: The signing of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, the anti-free-trade bill that helped push the world into depression. It should be forever etched in the minds of both the media and the public they serve. Sadly, that's not the case. Instead, on an almost monthly...

WASHINGTON (March 10) - The harmful effects of global warming on daily life are already showing up, and within a couple of decades hundreds of millions of people won't have enough water, top scientists will say next month at a meeting in Belgium. At the same time, tens of millions of others will be flooded out of their homes each year as the Earth reels from rising temperatures and sea levels, according to portions of a draft of an international scientific report obtained by The Associated Press. Tropical diseases like malaria will spread. By 2050, polar bears will mostly be...

We have watched the news cover the Jessica Lunsford trial and to know that a child suffered at the hands of a sex offender, when it could have been prevented should be galvanizing our law makers, to enact. This could have been your daughter, just imagine the anguish any parent would have to live with, if this happened to them. John Couey, who was convicted, had a record as a sex offender and was just released from prison, at the time of her murder. There are many John Couey types and one could be living next to you. Often, administration...

One recent anti-Rudy poster stated the following: "And if Rudy does get the nod, expect the MSM to open up the hype floodgates on the cross-dressing and the gay stuff -- oh, not condemning of course (wink) but how it's a big change, how will this play in the South, does this mean gay marriage is A-OK for the GOP." MY REPLY: And if they do it will be countered with images of Rudy's heroism during and after 9/11 and most Americans will be DISGUSTED - at the MSM, NOT at RUDY. The issue in 2008 will be the WOT...

Don't Ruin Economy Over Tiny Temp Rise February 11, 2007 BY MARK STEYN Sun-Times Columnist Our Thought For The Week comes from the Boston Globe's Ellen Goodman: "I would like to say we're at a point where global warming is impossible to deny. Let's just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies the past and the other denies the present and future." That would be yours truly: the climate holocaust denier. I wrote last week about "global warming," or "cooling," or "climate change," or (the latest term) "climate disruption" -- for...

"Some experts blast latest climate report" WASHINGTON - "Later this week in Paris, climate scientists will issue a dire forecast for the planet that warns of slowly rising sea levels and higher temperatures. But that may be the sugarcoated version." "Early and changeable drafts of their upcoming authoritative report on climate change foresee smaller sea level rises than were projected in 2001 in the last report. Many top U.S. scientists reject these rosier numbers."

The seas have been rising for 18,000 years, but the pace has quickened. At the Golden Gate Bridge, the Pacific Ocean crept seven inches higher during the past century, as global warming melted glaciers and expanded ocean waters. Californians are taking notice. In one of the first efforts of its kind in the state, officials are starting to address the threats rising seas pose to the Bay Area. One of the first steps was to compile maps that show what would happen if the sea level rose three feet -- the upper limit for what might occur by 2100, according...

The American left never, under any circumstances, engages in anything that can be called McCarthyite tactics. They leave that to the far right, unbalanced, vicious, and desperate. The left, on the side of reason, decency, and fair play, has never had any need for that kind of thing. So I guess we'll have to call it something else. Last Sunday, The New York Times featured a review of American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, in which author Chris Hedges makes the argument that millions of Americans are about to fall on their fellow citizens and punish them...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Economists agree: It's time to shut off electronic devices, put up tray tables and return your seat to an upright position. And some say it might not be a bad idea to put your head down between your legs. The economy is coming in for a landing. Optimists say it will be the much sought after "soft landing" when the economy slows but doesn't skid into recession. But some economists now are forecasting a bumpy landing, or even worse.

Can Wall Street withstand weak housing? Some experts say real estate slump may spell trouble for equities ANALYSIS By Peter Coy BusinessWeek Online Updated: 1:28 p.m. PT Sept 19, 2006 If your nest egg is made of 2-by-4s and you're watching the real estate slowdown with a mixture of fear and nausea, then this article is for you. The question: If real estate tanks, will stocks follow? Or will the market ignore housing? Or maybe — just maybe — will a decline in housing trigger a rise in stocks? It's something you really ought to think about if you're trying...

Mortgage Salesmen Whose Tricks Fund Lavish Lifestyle THOUSANDS of hard-up families are being ripped off by ruthless mortgage brokers who've been dubbed the Ferrari Kings because of their lavish lifestyle. Homebuyers have been shafted by as much as £5,000 by firms exploiting their poor credit rating. Hundreds of firms selling so-called sub-prime loans are being probed by the Financial Services Authority. They earned their name in the industry as so many of them own high-powered Italian sports cars. The salesmen prey on vulnerable families with less-than-perfect credit ratings - those who can't (or fear they can't) get a home loan...

August 10, 2006 "He betrayed this country! He played on our fears,” so shouted former Vice President and failed Presidential candidate Al Gore in a 2004 speech before Tennessee Democrats, eliciting a roaring approval from his audience. "This policy of fear will not win the war on terror,” wrote Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on September 7, 2006. Reid also accused the Bush administration of using "fear, fear, fear and more fear as a national-security policy,” adding, "We need to do more than frighten the American people.” "They exploit the politics of fear,” Whined Senator Ted Kennedy (D.Ma.) in...

Shepard Smith just referred to the current situation in the Middle East as a set of dominoes. He also implied America can't respond because we are "spread out" all over the globe. He is about as frantic as any woman I've ever seen. He used the image of an "ink blotter" being knocked over by Iran...Look, I like FNC, and I watch them because their reporters are pretty good--but the fearmongering by SS is a bit over the top. Maybe I'm just gettin' too old to be fretting about it, and I certainly don't want to make light of the...

The End of the World By Daren Bakst May 26, 2006 This week’s “Daily Journal” guest columnist is Daren Bakst, Legal and Regulatory Policy Analyst for the John Locke Foundation. The world is about to end. It may even end the day after tomorrow. There will be tidal waves, earthquakes, and burning temperatures (or freezing temperatures, one or the other). I know how to stop this from happening, though. If you believed me, and you thought I could stop the end from happening, you’d let me do what I wanted in order to prevent it. I could raise your taxes,...

Federal Housing Agency and Residents File Complaints Saying the Program Is Biased Against Hispanics Federal housing officials said yesterday that they are investigating whether a two-year-old program to combat crowded housing in Manassas is unfairly targeting Hispanic families in violation of the Fair Housing Act. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development filed a complaint Tuesday alleging a pattern of discrimination. Yesterday, a group of Manassas residents and civil rights advocates filed 11 more complaints, saying that the city has selectively enforced its overcrowding rules and other ordinances against Hispanic residents in what amounts to a systematic campaign of...

Pick up a newspaper, turn on the TV and it’s there: the news about avian flu. It can be alarming sometimes, often confusing. And nearly everyone has the same question: Could it happen here? In 1996, a new and particularly deadly strain of avian flu was found in a goose in China. It was found a year later in Hong Kong and six people died from the virus. They were the first known human cases.

The area's home prices have a 60-percent chance of dropping, one of many factors making San Diego the riskiest real estate market in the nation, according to a quarterly report put out by a California mortgage insurer.The report, put out by the Bay Area insurance company PMI Group, is well-respected by experts, who said it usually gives an accurate picture of the state of the nation's 50 largest home-buying markets. However, they stressed that the report is merely the latest in a long line of analyses that point to something the industry already knows: The nation's housing market is cooling,...

Federal Reserve officials felt a 14th straight increase in interest rates last month put borrowing costs near where they needed to be, but agreed they could not rule out more hikes, given inflation risks. "Although the stance of policy seemed close to where it needed to be given the current outlook, some further policy firming might be needed to keep inflation pressures contained and the risks to price stability and sustainable economic growth roughly in balance," minutes from the Fed's January 31 policy-setting meeting released on Tuesday said. The minutes said some officials believed "somewhat" higher than desired readings on...

Is Virginia the Next South Dakota? Dear xxxxxx, Can you believe it? South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds (R) has just signed into law a ban that criminalizes abortion in the state of South Dakota! Americans across the nation are outraged by this severe attack on women's health and safety. So let's do something about it. Write Governor Rounds a personal note to let him know EXACTLY how you feel about this dangerous abortion ban. We'll even send a copy of your message to your governor to help make sure Virginia doesn't become the next South Dakota. Make no mistake —...

This is not a good sign for stocks, is it? ..."It was a terrible auction," summed up one trader at a U.S. primary dealer. "The bid-to-cover stank, the indirect bid was bad -- I would be surprised if the market manages to rally from here." ... Worse yet, indirect bidders bought a meager $2.96 billion or 21.1 percent of the deal, compared with last year's average 38.13 percent. That left dealers holding the bag with $10.72 billion or 76.6 percent. Signs of a tightening labor market had taken an early toll on Treasuries, with jobless claims receding to levels consistent...

Here's Hillary Clinton going bananas over school vouchers, via FNC's Hannity and Colmes: Download and watch the video (Windows Media file). Hillary screeches that providing inner-city and poor students with more choice in education will lead to a a "school of the Church of the White Supremacist " and a "School of the Jihad." Transcript: CLINTON: Suppose that you were meeting today to decide who got the vouchers. First parent comes and says 'I want to send my daughter to St. Peter's Roman Catholic School' and you say 'Great, wonderful school, here's your voucher. Next parent who comes says, 'I...

In a remarkably even-handed article, Margaret Bunting points Guardian readers to the emerging debate on human enhancement, and the forthcoming pamphlet on “Better Humans" from the British thinktank Demos. To the real enthusiasts - they call themselves transhumanists - humanity is on the point of being liberated from its biology. In their advocacy of our “technological rights”, they believe that human beings are on the brink of a huge leap in development, leaving behind the sick, quarrelsome, weak, fallible creatures we have been up to now. We will be, as their slogan goes, “better than well”. This is the prospect...

Trust overcame fear in the Canadian electorate last week. The negative attack-type campaign by Paul Martin’s Liberals, fomenting hatred and fear about Stephen Harper and his Conservatives, kept the Conservatives from a majority but the 124 seats they did achieve should provide stable government for several years. In the next election, the Liberals will not be able to use the politics of fear with any success since their false predictions about abortion and other social issues will not again be believed. A few illustrations: On Dec. 3, 2005 in the Toronto Star, Martin predicted, “We would see him (Harper) and...

The Federalist Society has sent a letter to ABC Nightline where they demand that ABC News investigate the producer, reporter, and anchor in their report on Jan 23rd, 2006 where they accuse Supreme Court Justice Antione Scalia of violating judicial ethics laws in attending a Federalist Society CLE Course instead of watching Chief Justice Robert's swearing in ceremony. Here is the Letter from The Federalist Society: Mr. David Westin President ABC News 7 West 66th Street New York, NY 10023 Dear Mr. Westin: I write to express my deep disappointment and concern about a January 23rd report aired on ABC's...

This week, more than two months after President Bush nominated him, the Senate will finally vote on Judge Samuel Alito’s elevation to the Supreme Court. In a final, all-too-typical move, the vote was put off a week at the behest of Alito’s opponents. Why? Nobody seriously expects another week to make a difference. With a few exceptions, senators probably knew how they were going to vote before the hearings. So, why put off the vote? The most likely answer has nothing to do with Judge Alito or even the Supreme Court. Instead, it’s about what the former Speaker of the...

For a media columnist facing a deadline and a slow news week, Abraham Foxman is truly a gift that keeps on giving. The national director of the Anti-Defamation League can barely open his mouth without inviting incredulity and ridicule from anyone not currently on the ADL’s payroll (and probably many who are). Foxman’s latest foray into the absurd came earlier this month when, in a speech at the ADL’s national conference in New York, he drew an apocalyptic picture of conservative Christians laying waste to the citadels of American democracy and urged organized Jewry to come together to man the...

Rich countries produce most of the world's greenhouse gases, but it is the health of people in poor countries that suffers the most from global warming, a new study suggests. The World Health Organization estimates warming and precipitation changes due to climate change already claim 150,000 lives every year. Dr. Jonathan Patz, a professor of environmental studies and population health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, used WHO data to review how global warming is no longer an environmental problem, but also a threat to public health. Diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue and cholera are all sensitive to climate....

OSLO (Reuters) - Warmer, wetter weather brought on by global warming could increase outbreaks of the plague, which has killed millions down the ages and wiped out one third of Europe's population in the 14th century, academics said. Migratory birds spreading avian flu from Asia today could also carry the plague bacteria westward from their source in Central Asia, Nils Stenseth, head of a three-day conference on the plague and how it spreads, told Reuters on Monday. "Wetter, warmer weather conditions mean there are likely to be more of the bacteria around than normal and the chance of it spreading...

Some years ago, long after a co-worker had left the Ministry of Truth, a number of us learned that, during this person's tenure among us, the individual frequently was armed and dangerous in the workplace. If there is such a thing as a retroactive, post-traumatic, primal scream/crawling into a fetal position/whimpering with delayed fear syndrome -- the idea that many of us once worked alongside not only a complete crazy nut job, but a complete crazy nut job with a GUN certainly qualifies. Or, put another way, if you ever needed a reason to install the mother of all panic...

Larry Schweiger, President of the National Wildlife Federation, has e-mailed supporters that Sarah James, spokesperson for the Gwich'in tribe of native Alaskans, is in Washington to tell Congress the "truth" about proposed oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and will stay there until Congress votes. Gwich'in objections to drilling have been the centerpiece of environmentalist opposition for years. It's a compelling story. A poor Alaskan native tribe, calling itself "the Caribou people," fights desperately to save the Porcupine Caribou herd, which roams the region, providing the tribe's sustenance. But that is not the whole story; it is...

       Hillary wasn't done giving us her mad moments in her Aspen Ideas Festival speech (and don't think Mad wouldn't have a field day with the concept of an Ideas Festival, either). Later in her remarks, she delivered this eye-popping economic analysis for the Colorado audience: "Ours will be the last generation to rely so exclusively on fossil fuels." She added that the "ups and downs of the global oil market cost the U.S. economy $7 trillion last year . . . almost enough to pay off our entire national debt." Seven trillion dollars? That would surprise most...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's trade surplus for June swelled five-fold from a year earlier as exports grew much faster than imports, offering more ammunition for foreign critics who argue that Beijing should let the yuan rise in value. The June surplus grew to $9.68 billion, exceeding forecasts of $8.0 billion and towering above the $1.8 billion surplus recorded for June 2004.

The ACLU needs your help to defend our most basic freedoms! The Bush Administration is rolling back our rights in the name of homeland security . . . extremists on the Christian Right have the ear of the White House . . . and the federal judiciary is increasingly hostile to civil liberties. The need has never been greater for freedom-loving people to join the ACLU and take a stand against the growing threats to our most cherished Constitutional liberties. Check the box below to become a card-carrying member of the ACLU. Or, if you're already a member, please consider...