Free Republic

Speaking at the Women’s Leadership Luncheon in Gaborone, Botswana on Friday, First Lady Michelle Obama praised the country for being a “thriving democracy” filled with “kind and generous people.” A U.S. Department of State report on Botswana’s human rights record, however, concludes that the country is still struggling with problems such as violence against women, child abuse, and discrimination. “[I]t is a pleasure to be in this beautiful country that embodies what my husband has called ‘a vision of Africa on the move,’” Obama said at the luncheon in Gaborne where young women were honored for their leadership.

President and Mrs. Obama hosted a decidedly more subtle state dinner for German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House Tuesday evening. Though Mr. Obama presented Merkel with his highest honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the dinner otherwise lacked the glitz and glamour of the Obama administration-- with one noticeable exception. First Lady Michelle Obama wore a shimmery ivory sleeveless gown by Naeem Khan, a designer she favors and also donned at the president's first state dinner in 2009. Naeem Khan gowns retail from $5,000-$15,000. Khan told the Wall Street Journal the first dress he made for Mrs. Obama...

Hundreds of religious Jews from all streams were able to happily commemorate the 44th anniversary of the first-ever entry of Israeli soldiers onto the TempleMount. For the first time in the history of Israeli restrictions on Jewish entry to the Temple Mount, the recitation of the Priestly Blessing was permitted there. It happened on Wednesday, Jerusalem Reunification Day, when hundreds of visitors – all of whom immersed in a mikveh (ritual bath) prior to coming and took other precautions required by Jewish Law – were allowed to enter the Temple Mount in groups of 30-40. Among them were several Cohanim...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana is poised to become the first state to cut off all government funding for the Planned Parenthood organization, providing a significant victory for the anti-abortion movement but presenting a political predicament for the state’s governor, Mitch Daniels, as he considers running for president. The Indiana House voted 66-32 Wednesday to approve a bill cutting the $3 million in federal money the state distributes to the organization for family planning and health programs. The measure also ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy unless there is a substantial threat to the woman’s life or health and...

I'll never forget the first Tea Party "protest" I attended. It really wasn't a protest as much as a rally. It was my first; it's still my only, but it might not be the last...

Jordans are breaking wide open again , And now those that call me friend , Are the ones willing to go to the very end ! To even lose their lives for me , Complete and Totally ! For their ransom is My heart , So as they wholeheartedly give it is I they impart , Joshua 24:23 23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

Several decades of using PCs and watching reality television have made us poor collaborators. I mean, look at me as a case in point: I sit in my office on most days typing away at my computer, perfectly content to be by myself and create articles and work on my next set of speeches and videos. I don't need any staff, I can do it all from the comfort and privacy of my desktop.Yes, I have a large group of people that I work with to produce my stories and arrange my meetings: editors, production people, and so forth. Sometimes...

Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is not afraid to continue to beat the birth certificate drum as a criticism of President Obama. Appearing on the radio show of conservative host Jeff Katz, Bachmann didn’t bring up the birther issue, but when prompted by Katz with it, happily declared how she would be different than Obama. Katz was amazed that his sons had to provide more documentation to play little league baseball than what he alleged Obama ever had to provide. Bachmann assured Katz how there won’t be any lingering questions with her:

(CNSNews.com) - The Department of Health and Human Services will become the nation's first-ever $1-trillion-per-year Cabinet department in 2014, which is also the first year President Barack Obama's health-care law is scheduled to be fully implemented by that department, according to the budget projections President Obama released yesterday. n fact, HHS already is costing American taxpayers more per year in inflation-adjusted dollars than the entire federal government cost back in 1965, the year President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed Medicare into law. Medicare is the single most costly program in HHS.

(CNSNews.com) – On Tuesday, the office of First Lady Michelle Obama sponsored several conference calls featuring administration officials discussing Mrs. Obama's “Let’s Move!” campaign to combat childhood obesity but “with listen-only lines for the media,” according to The Washington Daybook. On Wednesday, Mrs. Obama personally conducted a conference call for “online media” that was “by invitation only,” according to the Daybook. Traditionally, conference calls that public figures in Washington, D.C. hold for the media--which, obviously, are designed to get media attention for the public figure--allow the reporters who join the call to ask at least a few questions.

Charlotte residents were ecstatic to hear this week that their city was selected to host the Democratic convention. But there was one line in the e-mail announcement from First Lady Michelle Obama that made locals say, "Huh?" Continue Reading In listing Charlotte's many virtues, Obama named southern charm, hospitality, diversity — "And of course, great barbecue." That was news to residents, who know that North Carolina's best barbecue lies farther afield. "We appreciate the compliments, and they're all spot-on until that last one," the editorial board of the Charlotte Observer newspaper wrote in a blog post titled, "Charlotte = great...

Anita MonCrief, infamous ACORN whistleblower, was asked to go on Sean Hannity’s radio show Thursday the 20th to discuss the founding of America’s first black Tea Party. Named after the first person to die in the Revolutionary War, the Crispus Attucks Tea Party was founded January 18th, 2011, at “This Is It” soul food restaurant in the heart of Houston, Texas’ 3rd district. (Read the interesting original court documents about the “Boston Massacre,” including a dramatic description of Attucks’ slaying, here.) The 3rd district is Represented by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, and was the focal point of rampant ACORN-style vote...

Follow after Me "Wholeheartedly" ! Many will forsake me in these last days and proceed in the direction "they" see fit but truly as David inquired of Me before each battle and episode of his life , I must reign supreme in yours for My only desire is to fulfill The Father's will . Therefore Those that follow after their own flesh shall meet their own demise "The desire of their hearts". For truly if your heart is left in control it shall lead you only to earthly desires yet as you take on Me and My kingdom you will...

The 2011 FIRST Robotics Competition Kick off will take place on January 8th, 2011 at 10:30AM EST. The Kickoff will be aired on NASA TV!

When the citizens of Washington, D.C., shot themselves in the foot, doomed their children to another decade of hopelessness in education, ousted their current mayor, it also meant that Michelle Rhee was going to be looking for a new job. And the feisty reformer could have had her pick of jobs. Mayors and governors across the country were falling over themselves, trying to nab the woman who had stood up to unions to create a better system. There easily could have been a bidding war to land this trailblazer to head their education departments. Or Rhee could feasibly have chosen...

The first family should publicly submit to the new scanning device and "enhanced" pat-downs before requiring Americans to do the same, suggested rumored Republican presidential hopeful and ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee while blasting President Obama this morning over controversial new airline security measures.(snip) "'If it's OK for your wife, your daughters, and your mother-in-law, then maybe the rest of us won't feel so bad when our wives, our daughters and our mothers are being put through this humiliating and degrading, totally unconstitutional, intrusion of their privacy.'"

NEWARK, N.J. — Michelle Obama will discuss school nutrition and childhood obesity during a visit to New Jersey's largest city. Michelle Obama will be joined by Newark Mayor Cory Booker and will hear from students at the city's Maple School in Thursday.

The question is — be honest — where will the money come from? Government is chock-full of programs many people view as worthwhile — until the cost is added up. Then, many taxpayers decide priorities need to be set. That is why liberals in government have become adept at concealing the cost of social programs. One example is currently in the news. First lady Michelle Obama insists that healthier foods should be served in public school lunches. That will require a new $4.5 billion program, say the program's proponents. The federally funded school-lunch program feeds 31 million low-income American children...

  The First Friday Devotion in the Catholic Church History of First Friday First Friday devotions among Catholics are related to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Christ. First Friday practices date to the last decades of the 17th century, when Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary and spoke to her of His Sacred Heart. Among the promises Our Lord revealed to St. Margaret Mary, the 12th specifically referenced practices for Fridays:In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the...

Christie Reform Agenda Restores Fiscal Discipline and Ends Abuse of Property Tax Dollars, While Keeping Money in the Classroom Where It Belongs Trenton, NJ – The Christie Administration today announced it is moving forward with a comprehensive plan to enact fiscal discipline and promote the prudent use of scarce property tax dollars by capping salaries for superintendents. The regulations, announced in July, will result in a salary reduction for more than 360 school superintendents who serve school districts with low numbers of students. “In these difficult economic times, when fewer resources are available for our schools, it is not acceptable...