Free Republic

Slavery still stalks the American consciousness, its wounds yet festering in many hearts. If Barack Obama were to set his mind to it, he could heal much of the damage this peculiar institution wrought on our national soul. This great and tragic error that must be given justice. Obama is the best person in the world who can recognize, remember and honor the deaths of 125 million and the enslavement of tens of millions of people. His unique qualifications can be found in his names. Until he was 20 years old, he went by the first name Barry. Then he...

Dear Senator Biden,Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Obama has admitted interfering with the Presidential power to "make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur", when he advised a foreign government (Iraq) not to negotiate with the current Administration a permanent treaty concerning the presence of U.S. troops in their country. I call on you, as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and as the self-acknowledged "dean of Foreign Affairs" of the U.S. Senate, to bring a motion of censure against Senator Obama for his reckless disregard of the President's constitutional authority. You also have the opportunity...

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama has picked up support from nearly all the Hispanics who voted for his rival Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, giving him a nearly 3-1 lead over John McCain, according to a new poll. Results of the Pew Hispanic Center survey show Obama with 66 percent of the Hispanic vote to McCain's 23 percent. The results represent a ''sharp reversal'' in Obama's fortunes from the primaries, when he lost the Latino vote to Clinton by nearly 2-1, prompting speculation that Hispanics were leery of voting for a black candidate, said Susan Minushkin, the center's deputy director....

John McCain is winning a paltry 23 percent of the Hispanic vote compared with 66 percent for Barack Obama, according to a large poll released Thursday by the Pew Hispanic Center. While Obama’s lead among Hispanics is not drastically ahead of where Democratic nominee John Kerry stood in the summer of 2004, McCain trails President Bush’s standing at this point four years ago. At that time, Pew found that Hispanics broke 62 percent for Kerry and 32 percent for Bush. Exit polls later found that Bush earned the support of about four in 10 Latino voters. That difference — from...

3 shot in press conference gun blast Created: 2008-7-19 0:24:19 Author:Yang Lifei THREE reporters in Sichuan Province were injured at Nanchong City Public Security Bureau when a confiscated gun accidentally went off, Chongqing Times reported yesterday. The gun was used for hunting birds and was loaded with buckshot at the time of the accident, the report said. Su Dingwei, a reporter from West China City Daily, was in stable condition after surgery. Wang Xiaofeng from Chinanews.com.cn and Zhang Yicheng from Nanchong Daily received minor injuries, the report said. The accident occurred 10 minutes after a public security bureau press conference...

with consumerist guilt, that the green left protests against the loudest. Meanwhile arugula…doesn’t, though it should. It’s a well established pattern everybody gripes about SUV’s; nobody gripes about pickup trucks even though they get about the same lousy gas mileage. I think it’s because environitwits know instinctively that pickup drivers are immune to their green guilt, whereas suburban SUV-drivers might be more susceptible to it. But Surber doesn’t stop at arugula. What else do liberal hippies love that hurts the environment?

ROBINSON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) -- A frustrated gun shop owner in Ottawa County has been robbed again - the third time in three years. On the evening of the Fourth of July, or sometime the next morning, Felix's Gun Shop in Robinson Township was broken into, say authorities. Eighty-two guns were stolen - including handguns, antiques, military style rifles, and pellet guns.

(Cannot be excerpted because of copyright restrictions at Wired. PLease follow link.) http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/the-huffington.html

Six translations of Qur'an 4:34: "Men are superior to women on account of the qualities with which God has gifted the one above the other, and on account of the outlay they make from their substance for them. Virtuous women are obedient, careful, during the husband's absence, because God has of them been careful. But chide those for whose refractoriness you have cause to fear; remove them into beds apart, and scourge them: but if they are obedient to you, then seek not occasion against them: verily, God is High, Great!" (Rodwell's version of the Koran, Quran, 4:34) "Men have...

But for those Mexicans unceremoniously returned home — those deported and dropped off by U.S. immigration in Mexican border towns such as Nogales, Tijuana and Juárez — there is no such welcome. "The poor undocumented guy who gets sent back is seen as a burden on the government," said Erica Dahl-Bredine, country manager for Catholic Relief Services' Mexico program in Tucson, Ariz. "Those who have documents are seen as the heroes." While the Mexican government is taking small steps in response to growing criticism that it ignores Mexicans deported from the U.S. — unveiling a test program in Tijuana last...

Last week, Pittsburgh got a visit from a politician with the rare ability to transcend partisan divisions, and to remind us that -- no matter what our political differences -- Americans share a vision of a Shining City on the Hill. I'm talking, of course, about Hillary Clinton. While Barack Obama visited Oakland's Soldiers & Sailors Hall on March 28, Clinton was bewitching Pittsburgh Tribune-Review publisher Richard Mellon Scaife. Yes, that's right: The architect and arch-fiend behind what Clinton herself called a "vast right-wing conspiracy" is apparently quite taken with his onetime adversary. And the proof is a March 30...

From the ground in Iraq on his eighth trip there, Sen. John McCain's campaign was able to respond to Hillary Clinton’s criticism of him earlier this morning in her speech on America’s presence in Iraq. Clinton, speaking from the comfort and safety of American soil, has been to Iraq only twice. Her Democratic opponent Barack Obama has visited only once. Amidst a poll released today showing the positive changes Iraqis see overall, Clinton once again denounced the foundational agenda America serves in Iraq. Playing off of McCain’s badly misused quote, she said, “"Withdrawal is not defeat. Defeat is keeping troops...

Program officials said the executive director of a nonprofit agency that gives classes to DUI offenders has been suspended after the Palm City woman received a DUI herself. Margot Cioffi has been suspended from her job as executive director of the Comprehensive Offender Rehabilitation and Education program. The program, which operates in Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties, will continue. According to a deputy's report, Cioffi was arrested in Palm City on Monday night. She's facing charges of DUI with property damage, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, resisting arrest without violence and disorderly intoxication....

I saw this sign on my way to my parents' house yesterday afternoon. I thought the irony was poetic. Enjoy http://www.flickr.com/photos/9342558@N08/2286898088/

If Venezuela's strongman cut off oil exports to the United States, the first victim would be his regime. One of the more regrettable ironies of international relations is that the United States, through its voracious consumption of oil, underwrites President Hugo Chavez's regime in Venezuela. In November, the United States bought more than 41 million barrels of Venezuelan crude, roughly 10 percent of all U.S. oil imports that month. If the Bush administration were really as committed to overthrowing Chavez as Chavez claims, the administration might be tempted to declare a boycott of Venezuelan oil. That would make a small...

A man facing execution for a 1985 robbery murder has hanged himself in a Texas prison, prison officials said. William Robinson, 49, was the ninth inmate on Texas's death row to take his own life since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1974 and the second in a week, the Houston Chronicle reported. He had been transferred to a prison in Fort Bend County for mental health treatment. "William was a very seriously mentally ill man and had been for many, many years," said Michael B. Charlton, a federal public defender in Las Vegas, who formerly represented Robinson. "That's...

LAKE JACKSON — Charles Tyler’s mobile 55-foot tribute to presidential candidate Ron Paul was afflicted with a problem the congressman’s grassroots campaign is unlikely to face. It lost its bearings. Tyler is the driver of a stretch limousine adorned with images and slogans of the Lake Jackson lawmaker, promoting Paul’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination. He was driving Wednesday through Houston when the wheel literally came off. “I had already driven from Florida and still had thousands of miles left, so I was pretty upset it already needed repairs,” said the 50-year-old Paul supporter, who is making his way...

It snowed, but they still came. A heavy snowfall blanketed a global warming protest outside the State House in Annapolis this morning, but it did not dampen the shouts of about 400 activists who urged lawmakers to pass the nation's toughest greenhouse gas control law. As supporters waved signs, chanted and banged drums, 18 legislators walked down a symbolic green carpet to sign up as co-sporsors to a bill that would mandate that all businesses in Maryland cut emissions of global warming pollution by 25 percent by 2020 and 90 percent by 2050. "We are going to pass this bill...

For the second straight day, US President George W. Bush intervened in Israeli politics, calling upon ministers at a working meal in Jerusalem to support Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "Take care of Olmert, so he will stay in power," Bush said. "He's a strong leader. Israeli politics is like Karate that you never know when the next chop will come."

THOUSANDS of British doctors are quitting the NHS to find work in India . . . where hospitals are better equipped and bug free. The private Apollo hospital in Delhi is receiving five job applications a week from medics. Half of its 3,000 consultants are from Britain. Doctors — many originally from India — say they are moving because of the state-of-the-art equipment, higher health standards and better quality of life. Indian hospitals also suffer far less from infections. One doctor said: “The hospitals are better. Where I work is spotless. In the UK many hospitals are more than 100...

JAMES WATSON, the DNA pioneer who claimed Africans are less intelligent than whites, has been found to have 16 times more genes of black origin than the average white European. An analysis of his genome shows that 16% of his genes are likely to have come from a black ancestor of African descent. By contrast, most people of European descent would have no more than 1%. The study was made possible when he allowed his genome - the map of all his genes - to be published on the internet in the interests of science. “This level is what you...

Not to "step on anybody's rice bowl" here, but does anyone besides me find this a bit IRONIC??Here we have a case where we are told by The Pentagon back in the States that military funerals, involving a time-honored tradition of flag-folding, must be "religiously cleansed", and other references for example to Jesus Christ kept out of Chaplains' public comments.All the while, here in Japan, just one week ago (as in previous years), the US Navy's Commander of Fleet Activities Yokosuka (CFAY) and MWR Office officially sanctioned, paid for, or otherwise arranged American sailors to parade through the streets in...

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, I have always believed firmly in the qualities of civility in this House, and bipartisanship and constructive dialogue and engagement and respect for one another's disagreements. In fact, last night I spent an hour on this floor with Members on both sides of the aisle talking constructively in a bipartisan Center Aisle Caucus Special Order on Iraq. And we managed to put our political differences aside and talk not about left or right,...

...you might be a Good Republican! by Bender2 If you don't want Hillary Clinton spending your money... you might be a Good Republican! For anyone who ever saw John Sturges classic 1965 comic western, The Hallelujah Trail, they must chuckle whenever they think back on Brian Keith and Burt Lancaster both having that great "...Good Republican..." punchline. Combined with a small theft from Jeff Foxworthy and in that spirit, I hereby offer up this thread for entertainment purposes only... As if any thing posted on Free Republic... could not be considered political!

A BRITISH yachtsman attempting the first solo Arctic sea passage across northern Russia was examining his options after heavier than expected ice blocked his route, his manager said. Adrian Flanagan is discussing with Russian authorities the possibility of using a nuclear-powered icebreaker to lift his boat out of the water and carry it round the most icebound stretch of Russia's Northern Sea Route.

A British homeowner was arrested after a burglar fell 30 feet from the balcony of his apartment and later died in the hospital. Police say that "following an exchange of words," the 43-year-old intruder, whose name was withheld to protect his privacy, smashed through a fourth-floor window in an attempt to escape after being confronted by the homeowner, Patrick Walsh, aged 56. Walsh was subsequently arrested for “assault causing serious bodily harm.” If convicted he could face a life sentence. A spokesman for the Greater Manchester Police said that even though the common person might assume that the homeowner is...

HOUSTON — A state lawmaker who opposed a bill giving Texans stronger right to defend themselves with deadly force pulled a gun and shot a man he says was trying to steal copper wiring from a construction site, police said Monday. Rep. Borris Miles told police he was fixing a leak on the second floor of the Houston house he's building Sunday night when he heard a noise downstairs and saw two men trying to steal the copper. After Miles confronted the pair, one of the men threw a pocketknife at him, Houston Police spokesman Victor Senties. Miles, a former...

Police rescue further 220 slave workers in N China www.chinaview.cn 2007-06-15 16:15:02 HONGTONG, Shanxi, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Police in north China on Friday announced they had rescued a further 220 slave workers from brick kilns and other illegal workplaces, such as small iron and coal mines. The rescues of the workers, all in Shanxi Province, brings the total number of slave workers reported freed in China to 468 in the last month. They include Thursday's widely reported rescue of 31 people who had been freed on May 27 by the police from a brick kiln in Hongtong, a county...

Last week, former New York City Mayor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani made headlines by warning that America will be at risk for a "new 9/11" if a Democrat is elected president next year. It wasn't the most reasonable statement ever made by a top-tier candidate for the highest office in the land, but the real shock lies in the blatant hypocrisy. No sensible person would deny that in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Giuliani's calm leadership brought great comfort and inspiration to the people of his city....

Jim Geraghty has another Fred Thompson update (one in a continuing series). And, from my inbox — my Brit post last night only made some love Thompson more: On the Brit's dissing of Thompson....I could be wrong, but I read this as a snobby European thing. Europe has much in common with American liberals in that Republicans are generally seen as stupid, and Republican actors are particularly stupid (especially as they don't see the liberal light that the rest of the arts community does). This is the same stuff Reagan had to put up with..."stupid, vapid actors." Ironically, Thompson is...

HELENA, Mont. -- Thursday's meeting of the Montana Drought Advisory Committee was canceled, because of rain. The rain-out message was sent to council members by the office of Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger. The e-mail described the rain and snow Montana has been getting this spring as "wonderful inclement weather." Jackie Williams, executive assistant to the lieutenant governor, said drought committee members didn't want to travel through the storms. The next meeting of the Montana Drought Advisory board is next month, weather permitting.

stop-the-violence rally near 61st and Market Streets in West Philadelphia last night was interrupted by gunfire. At least two shots were fired about 8 p.m., and a young woman at the rally was shot in the back, according to police. The woman, whose name was not available, was in stable condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania The rally was a gathering of about 150 people trying to stop the violence in Philadelphia, a city that has averaged more than one homicide a day. Specifically, they were there to remember Terrence Walker, 19, who was shot dead Sunday....

Team member Elizabeth Andre of Ely has been evacuated from the Global Warming 101 Expedition after she suffered frostbitten fingertips setting up camp Saturday night on Canada’s Baffin Island, according to expedition officials. The 1,200-mile expedition, led by Ely’s Will Steger, is being made to call attention to global warming. The expedition began Saturday from Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada. By Sunday night, the team had traveled about 15 miles, Steger said in a dispatch to the expedition’s Web site, www.globalwarming101.com. Temperatures were below zero and winds were blowing 30 to 40 mph Saturday night when Andre, 29, suffered the frostbite to...

Brad Grey, the chairman and CEO of Paramount and everyone's favorite Soprano producer, has agreed to raise money for ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Grey plans to endorse Giuliani next week, two sources close to the Giuliani campaign confirmed.

House Committee Hearing on 'Warming of the Planet' Canceled Because of Snow/Ice Storm

Four St. Louis firefighters struggled early Sunday with a blaze in their own firehouse, where their truck caught fire. It happened about 4 a.m. at Engine House 24 in the 5200 block of Natural Bridge Avenue. This morning, fire Capt. Steve Simpson gave this account: The firehouse crew of four had returned an hour of two earlier from a call. Three were alseep, and the fourth -- Firefighter Darian Benford -- was on watch. He smelled smoke, checked and found that the engine of the pumper was on fire. Benford rousted his three mates, and the four grabbed fire extinguishers...

Students fight over who will put up no-fighting poster first at college By Fareed Farooqui KARACHI: Six students were injured in a row between two student organisations, the Islami Jamiat-e-Talba (IJT) and Pakhtoon Students Federation (PSF), at the Dawood Engineering College of Science and Technology Saturday on a second day of campus violence. Clashes between some of the IJT and PSF activists have been going on for the past one week in various colleges of Karachi. On Saturday morning, the students fought over a poster urging students not to fight on campus. According to reports, the fight was over who...

Dozens of street children have invaded a five-star hotel food tent and feasted on meals meant for sale at the World Social Forum in Kenya's capital. The hungry urchins were joined by other participants who complained that the food was too expensive at the annual anti-capitalist get together. The police, caught unawares, were unable to stop the free-for-all that saw the food containers swept clean. The gathering in Nairobi is discussing social problems, including poverty. A plate of food at the tent being operated by the prestigious Windsor Hotel was selling for $7 in a country where many live on...

Wal-Mart boasts that its new $4 generic drug program is disrupting the market, attracting new customers to its stores and starting the nation on a road that will ultimately squeeze billions of dollars from prescription drug spending. “I was never a customer of Wal-Mart,” said Frank Ganci, 74, a retired independent contractor who lives in Ridgefield, N.J. He has no drug insurance, despite being eligible for it under Medicare, because he considers the monthly premiums too high. Mr. Ganci said he recently paid $12 for a month’s supply of three generic drugs at the Wal-Mart in Secaucus — atenolol for...

A man playing golf at a Lemont, Ill., country club claims he received a concussion from a ball hit by a prominent personal-injury lawyer. Edigio "Gino" Berni claims in a lawsuit filed against Chicago attorney Michael Goldberg he was struck in the temple by a ball hit by the lawyer in August, the Chicago Daily Southtown reported Friday. Berni's attorney, Mario Palermo, said his client saw Goldberg hit the ball, which the suit claims bore the name of the attorney's law firm, Goldberg, Weisman and Cairo. "(Goldberg) has a reputation for helping people like Gino," Palermo said. "He hasn't taken...

I recieved this email just a short time ago. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Friend: In just one week, Americans will exercise one of our most cherished freedoms: the right to vote. Republican candidates across the nation have been working hard to earn your vote by talking about the important issues. It’s simple: Republican principles of freedom and liberty matter. That’s why Republicans need your support this week and on Election Day. The 21st Century Freedom PAC is conducting a nationwide Get-Out-The-Vote program to help elect Republicans at all levels of government. I’d like to keep you posted on our progress and get...

OAKLAND — Citing concerns about public safety, city officials Friday canceled an anti-violence rally and concert expected to draw 300 to 400 teenagers and young adults to downtown Oakland. "Get Hyphy Against Violence," featuring nine musical acts and testimony from victims of violent crime, had been scheduled to take place today at City Hall Plaza, but did not have the required special event permit or adequate security, officials said. Police commanders said they were concerned that, without enough officers, the anti-violence rally could backfire and create a melee similar to one that erupted after the last Carijama festival, held on...

AMMAN, Jordan — On the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Abu Omar received the call to jihad. Literally. “There’s a present for you,” a voice on the other end of the phone said that morning, he recalled. It was a common code whenever his friends and colleagues wanted to share a new broadcast or communiqué from Al Qaeda over the Internet, he said. Abu Omar, speaking on the condition that only his nickname be used, said he soon went to one of the Internet cafes he frequents in Amman and began distributing the latest video by Al Qaeda,...

Motorcycle safety instructor hospitalized after crash Tuesday, September 05, 2006 By DAVID KERN, Columbian staff writer Andrew Henry, still in critical condition Monday. A Vancouver man who teaches safe motorcycle riding remained in critical condition Monday from a Saturday morning motorcycle crash. Andrew M. Henry, 37, suffered multiple injuries, but Southwest Washington Medical Center officials declined to provide details, citing federal medical privacy laws. Two photographs of Henry were published on page A10 of Sunday's Columbian. They showed him coaching riders during a Motorcycle Safety Foundation class. The classes are conducted in Clark County by the Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation...

“We do not insist that our medicine, our technology, or even our entertainment, all remain in an obsolete state; why would we demand that the law be given such treatment? It seems absurd to suggest that we can change the speed limit to reflect improved technology but we cannot interpret the Constitution to reflect improvements in society.” A year ago, Slate magazine’s legal correspondent, Dahlia Lithwick, recounted this observation — from one of her bounteously sophisticated liberal readers — as a neat summary of the “doctrine” of a “living Constitution.” And a neat summary it is. How droll and obtuse...

Rocket hits Arab anti-war newspaper in Haifa Haifa: Rocket hits anti-war newspaper One of rockets which landed in Haifa Sunday evening hits historical building of Arab daily al-Ittihad. Newspaper editor blames Israel, 'which fights in service of Americans' Roee Nahmias YNET 7 August 2006 www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3287416,00.html One of the rockets which landed in Haifa Sunday evening hit the old offices of the one of the only dailies in the Arab sector. "When I heard that our historical building was hit, I felt a lot of anger. This is a place we all grew up, which contains real treasures," al-Ittihad Editor, Dr....

AFEDERAL APPEALS court has ruled that former representative Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) must remain on the ballot as his party's congressional nominee in the 22nd District. Lawyers for the Texas Republican Party say they'll seek Supreme Court intervention, but -- given that a state court and two levels of federal courts have ruled against them -- it seems likely that Mr. DeLay will once again be the GOP standard-bearer in November. This would be a delicious irony and -- if Mr. DeLay were to lose -- a fitting coda to a career built on trying to manipulate rules to his political...

The Israeli government is hoping that Germany will act to stiffen the resolve of European governments in supporting the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah, senior diplomats in Jerusalem said Friday. But German officials here said that Chancellor Angela Merkel's government did not want to play a special mediating role. They also strenuously denied reports that Israel had already asked Germany's security services to negotiate the release of Israeli soldiers who were captured by Hezbollah, setting off the offensive.

As sectarian violence soars in Iraq, many Sunni Arab political and religious leaders once staunchly opposed to the U.S. presence here are now saying they need American troops to protect them from the rampages of Shiite militias and Shiite-run government forces. The pleas from the Sunni Arab leaders have been growing in intensity since an eruption of sectarian bloodletting in February, but they have reached a new pitch in recent days as Shiite militiamen have brazenly shot Sunni civilians to death in broad daylight in Baghdad and other mixed areas of central Iraq. The Sunnis also view the Americans as...