Free Republic

Magie Thurber is reporting that Lucas County, Ohio County Commissioner Ben Konop is trying to force unions on non-union labor in his jurisdiction. What about freedom to chose? Forget it. Konop as big brother knows better. On Tuesday, the commissioners will discuss an agenda item ominously entitled "Incorporating Project Labor Agreements into Bidding Specifications for all County-Supported Projects." (Download PDF) Apparently the commissioners will be pursuing PLAs in all contracts in Lucas County's future. What is a Project Labor Agreement or PLA? I discussed this back in February right after President Obama signed his Executive Order 13202 pushing PLAs and...

The sound of the air being knocked out of the guts of over 71,000 people all at once is devastating. It’s the sound that ended the Monday Night Football battle between the Titans and Texans as Kris Brown missed his second field goal of the night.

SAT Rap (Video) Bethany Stotts, November 23, 2009 Can the SAT be cool? The makers of this motivational video certainly try. “Relax” by Charta Squad [Video at link] YouTube user “Elka131” writes that the video is “created by teachers at the Believe High Schools in Brooklyn, NY.” Nancy Griesemer at The Examiner and Eric Hoover at Tweed attribute it to Williamsburg Charter High School (WCHS), which is part of a network of three charters in Brooklyn, NY. WCHS serves a low-income community (79% of students were eligible for a free lunch in the 2005-06 academic year)....

The contest will matchup No. 1 Fort Scott Community College (Kan.) against No. 2 Blinn College (Texas) on Dec. 6 at Pittsburg State University’s Carnie Smith Stadium in Pittsburgh, Kan.

NY State is trying to do its best to surpass Illinois in Scandals. According to Bloomberg News NY State Attorney General and President Obama's choice for the next NY Governor, Andrew Cuomo took campaign contributions from law firms defending clients who the AG's office was investigating for wrong-doing. Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP, a New York law firm led by David Boies, gave Cuomo $35,000 this year, records show. The firm represents former American International Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Maurice “Hank” Greenberg in a civil fraud case the attorney general is pursuing. Lawyers defending Dell Inc., Deutsche Bank AG...

The Japanese media has reported that Obama's recent state visit to their island nation was a big failure, but the U.S. media is mum on the mess that Team Obama made in Japan. He made multiple diplomatic gaffs and this is quite aside from the absurdly low bow that the incompetent president perpetrated upon greeting the Japanese Emperor Akihito. Before we get to his other multiple fluffs and diplomatic errors, let's explain what Obama was telling the Japanese people with his absurdly low bow. The sort of bow that Obama made is almost that of a "dogeza" bow. This is...

National Public Radio (NPR) has a bit of foolishness penned by Daniel Schorr that really shows how useless NPR really is. In an pristine example of Schorr's great intellect, he's decided that the Internet is responsible for Nidal Hasan's murderous rampage at Fort Hood earlier in the month. Folks, this is the sort of hack, stupidity that your tax dollars are paying for and a perfect example of why NPR and PBS should be stripped of federal funding immediately. Seriously, the Internet caused the Fort Hood massacre? What nonsense. Schorr notes that Hasan used the Internet to commune via email...

The petition challenge is a long-time, widely abused, wholly cynical method of destroying your opponent here in Illinois. The petition challenge has been known to eliminate candidates from ballots all across the state -- but most often in the tough town of Chicago -- preventing voters from having their choice on election day. In fact, a petition challenge is how Barack Obama beat his first major political opponent in Chicago. Back in 1996 young candidate Barack Hussein Obama challenged the petition of long-time Chicago pol Alice Palmer and had her knocked off the ballot leaving Obama as the only one...

MOBILE, Ala. -- Action movie star Steven Seagal is best known in these parts for having played the cook who thwarted a terrorist plot in the 1992 thriller "Under Siege," which was filmed here aboard the battleship USS Alabama. But these days he has another assignment. For almost 20 years, Seagal has been working as a fully commissioned reserve deputy with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana. His law enforcement work is chronicled in a "Steven Seagal Lawman," an upcoming A&E reality TV show that will premiere on the cable channel at 9 p.m. CST Dec. 2. A&E is...

An anti-Palin screed somehow ended up on Psychology Today's website. I know, I know, it's shocking that Psychology Today could sponsor something that is less science than it is PC, hatespeak against conservatives, what with psychology being so scientific and all -- but, there you have it. Penned by one Bella DePaulo, the piece really has little worth as a work of science and is little but a political rant filled with name calling and hate for Governor Sarah Palin and anyone that might support her. In the piece Palin is termed a "special liar" by the writer and conservatives...

Chicago, Ill. -- The president of the Chicago Police Sergeants' Association has been caught stealing over $600,000 in union funds, authorities say. Sgt. John Pallohusky, 53, spent the stolen funds on gambling trips, lavish dinners, and online stock trading. He spent more than $163,000 on Ameritrade and $75,000 at restaurants including Ruth’s Chris, Smith & Wollensky, Kinzie Chophouse, Petterino’s, Gibson’s and Lawry’s, the arrest warrant said. This is just another example of the illegitimacy of unions, really. This guy has been doing this for two years. Did no one miss all that cash for two years? Were there no other...

The Chicago Park District is wasting millions more of the taxpayer's money by hiring a New York landscaping firm to redesign portions of Grant Park and Northerly Island just as it recently announced plans for employee lay offs to try and balance its $400 million budget. Chicago residents will recall that in the dead of night in the Summer of 2003 Mayor Daley sent bulldozers onto Northerly Island to destroy the Meigs Field airport runways so that he could reclaim the property as another one of his vaunted park space projects. In 2003, Daley made the silly excuse that Meigs...

Texas began the night 10 – 0. Their path to the Big 12 South is clear with a win against Kansas. But never count your opponent out, especially when the opponent is looking to redeem themselves after a five game loosing streak. “We will see a team in here from Kansas that is excited about playing, trying to right their wrongs from over the past five weeks, and trying to get in a bowl game,” Said Coach Mack Brown. “They have us and then their rivalry game with Missouri the next week, so they have a lot to play for.”

Okay, I realized when I started uploading these that I had left the stupid camera in the video selection so my pictures aren't that great and most showed up as videos, even though I just wanted still shots. I apologize.

Yesterday afternoon I went to one of the statewide protests outside Mary Landrieu's offices. In Shreveport, under drizzling skies, about sixty people showed up in front of the Federal building where Landrieu's office is. Additionally, there were counter protesters, in support of Obamacare, also there; I'd say there were at most about 15 of them...A couple of folks from our side, the Kill the Bill side, went up to Landrieu's office to register an opinion. One lady, Janet, was told, "Well, you know Senator Landrieu is a huge supporter of small business!" and Janet replied, "Then I KNOW she's going...

Friday, November 20, 2009 GINGRICH TO HEADLINE HASTERT FUNDRAISER from Ethan Hastert for Congress campaign GENEVA, IL – Ethan Hastert will welcome Newt Gingrich to the 14th Congressional District on Friday, December 11, 2009 for a fundraising event at Pheasant Run in St. Charles, IL, to benefit the Ethan Hastert for Congress Campaign. The breakfast event will begin at 8:00 a.m. “I am proud to welcome Speaker Newt Gingrich to the 14th Congressional District. Newt Gingrich lead the Republican Revolution in 1994, resulting in the first Republican majority in 40 years, said Hastert. “As Speaker, Newt Gingrich insisted on...

“There’s no such thing as monsters.” We tell our kids that. The truth is that monsters are real. A real live monster might live next door to you, or across the street from your child’s school, even around the corner from your church. These monsters are called “Sex Offenders”, a label that is far too innocuous to convey the evil of those who have earned it. Somer Renee Thompson...Only one thing is known for certain: on the way home from school that fateful day, Somer met a monster face-to-face.

In another in a long series of swift kicks to Israel and American Jews, the Obama Administration has announced that it is slashing the guest list and budget for its 2009 Hanukkah celebration. According to the Jerusalem Post the guest list is being cut in half causing some American Jews to wonder if Obama is giving them the cold shoulder... again. In case no one has been paying attention, President Obama has been slighting Israel and American Jews since before he became president. His pick of Samantha Power, the Palestinian apologist, for his Mid East policy team was a fine...

You notice he's not going to Ft. Hood to build bridges to our troops or kissing the wounds of our brave soldiers.

We just received in our email box the Associated Press working files on the following story...Palin's Daughter Arrested in Wasilla for Dangerous Drunk Driving (AP) WASILLA, ALASKA — The daughter of failed vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was arrested Thursday in Wasilla for driving drunk. Bristol Palin, 19, was stopped by officers at about 12:40 a.m. and booked after rude behavior at the Wasilla police station for driving under the influence. She was held for about five hours and released at about 5:30 a.m. after posting $5,000 bail, officials said. Bristol Palin is the eldest daughter of failed vice presidential...

...And I am kicking myself! :-( I called the bookstore yesterday and talked to a nice lady who gave me details. Her final question was, "Would you like to purchase this over the phone? I can do that for you!" and stupid me, I say, NOOOOOOO, I'll come over in person tomorrow (today) and pay in person. Drove all the way over there this morning and was told they completely SOLD OUT!!!! this morning right after opening--I guess conservatives in Dallas area heard what happened in Michigan with the overwhelming response to Sarah's first stop, and decided not to take...

Twenty-two suspects -- including a New York City Department of Sanitation Deputy Chief and a New York State Court Officer -- have been arrested pursuant to five indictments coming out of Staten Island, NY resulting from two separate investigations alleging schemes tied to the Gambino and Lucchese crime families involving bid rigging, bribery, loan sharking and bookmaking.

You're invited to the grand opening of Organizing for America's Iowa Headquarters in Des Moines this Saturday. Join us to celebrate our new office, recognize what we've accomplished together, and learn about how you can get more involved. With the House's passage of health insurance reform, we took a huge step toward passing real reform this year. But now we have to step up our efforts as we move forward -- building support for the President's plan, spreading the facts, and bringing new voices into this debate. Please RSVP now. Here are the details: What: OFA Iowa Office Grand Opening...

An Article released November 16th by Reuters entitled “Sex Infections Still Growing in U.S., says CDC” was quite telling and is yet no shocker to anyone who understands what our U.S. culture and society has become. Another article released June 9th of this year posted by the AP (Associated Press) stated that about 26 percent of New York City adults have genital herpes, compared to about 19 percent nationwide. My friend, this is only the tip of the decadent iceberg! The New York Health Department stated that genital herpes can double a person's risk for contracting HIV. The rate of...

In a follow up to my earlier post advocating for an actual debate on this issue here in Illinois on this business of bringing terrorists to live in Illinois, a new effort to try and stop this mess has been launched. Go to Not In Illinois and sign the petition and tell Governor Pat Quinn that we do NOT want terrorists living among us. We the undersigned ask you to not bring terrorist into Illinois. They should be tried in military courts and not in civilian courts. They are a danger to the citizenry of the United States and should...

Young’s confidence is now at an all time high. Plus, he’ll be even more motivated by the fact that home in Houston was where he was hoping to stay after being bypassed by the Texans’ brass during the 2006 draft. Young then took out his revenge in tantalizing form, as he raced through the middle of the field to lead his Titans to an overtime victory during his Reliant Stadium debut .To further heighten the humiliation that game, there was a deafening roar of the crowd cascading though Reliant Stadium as though it were a Texans’ player who had scored...

On November 11, I wrote of the statements that Charlie Crist made denying that he ever supported Obama's $787 billion stimulus bill in his role as Florida's Governor. Unfortunately for his obfuscation, though, I noted that he and 17 other governors signed a letter in February of this year announcing support for the Stimulus. Apparently Crist forgot that he signed this letter... conveniently. Yes, he was for the porkulus bill before he was against it. Well now there is even more proof than that mere signature on a piece of paper showing Charlie's support for the porkulus bill. From Ed...

17-year-old Kevin Anderson wanted to add another Eagle Scout badge to his well-earned collection and so spent some 200 hours over several weeks to clear a walking path along the river in east Allentown park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Little did young Mr. Anderson know it but he was about to prove once again that unions have a pernicious influence on governments everywhere. After Kevin's good deed the city's public employees union went gunning for the poor kid with threats and gyrations meant to shake down the city and scare off any citizen that might dare to imagine that they could...

Once again we see how clueless Democrats like Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Senator Dick Durbin are on matters of national security. With Barack Hussein Obama's decision to treat the terrorists at Guantanamo Bay as if they are common American criminals, as the president bestows all American rights upon them, and with his decision to spread these monsters out across the U.S.A, we see Quinn and Durbin idiotically asserting that terrorists equal "good paying jobs." These jobs might come from the sale to the federal government of the Thomson correctional facility in west central Illinois where Obama could send some...

Maine Remembered, Sense Forgot Malcolm A. Kline, November 16, 2009 When most voters don’t win at the ballot box, they usually get over it the next day but make mental notes for the next election. Left-wing voters, particularly the academic variety that now may make up most of the breed, seem to need therapy, at least in print. “Waking up Wednesday morning this week I had to face the disappointment and the noise,” Wesleyan University president Michael Roth wrote on The Huffington Post web site on November 6, 2009, three days after the recent spate of elections. “The disappointment was...

Game 10, Texas is undefeated with a 5 – 0 conference record and a 9 – 0 overall record plus the number 1 defense in the nation. But somehow Texas dropped to number 3 in this week’s BCS standings....

Until this Summer Andy McKenna was the Chairman of the Illinois GOP. He presided over a party that saw every single state wide office lost to it. He presided over a party that tried as hard as it could to make sure that Illinois' Republican voters would be barred from voting their own leaders into place (even though Democrat voters do elect their leaders). McKenna presided over a GOP that seemed little more than a junior partner to the corruption plagued Democrats. …and now McKena's running for governor. And guess what? House Republican leader Tom Cross is backing McKenna. Yep,...

Roland Emmerich's new end-of-the-world disaster film 2012 has a rollicking good time destroying every monument to man's architectural genius in the world. The Sistine Chapel goes kablooie, as does the Vatican and the giant Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. The White House gets flattened, too. All man's most well known landmarks get turned to dust by Emmerich's over-the-top movie effects team. But by the time the year 2012 rolls around, director Roland Emmerich is obviously saying that Islam has been wiped off the face of the Earth. There are no Saudi scenes of mayhem and destruction in...

Does anyone remember when I posted that email from the CPA about the lawyers party? Here’s an excerpt: Most Americans know that a republic in which every major government action must be blessed by nine unelected judges is not what Washington intended in 1789. Most Americans grasp that we cannot fight a war when ACLU lawsuits snap at the heels of our defenders. Most Americans sense that more lawyers and judges will not restore declining moral values or spark the spirit of enterprise in our economy. Perhaps Americans will understand that change cannot be brought to our nation by those...

Get ready because I am going to slap George W. Bush around a little bit. Now, don't get me wrong, it isn't like I hated him. After all I voted for him twice. There was a lot that Bush did that I supported, mostly on the security and war fronts. But, I really stood against his domestic agenda almost completely. I was against no child's behind left alone -- er, I mean no child left behind -- I was against the bailouts and against the drug benefit for seniors program. I disagreed with his "compassionate conservatism" narrative because it really...

In the Washington Examiner Mark Tapscott is decrying the Obama Administration's bold new directive to rid government of anyone that was hired during the Bush years so that Obama can replace them with his loyal operatives.Tapscott is saying that this violates the spirit of civil service and brings back the spoils system instituting a "partisan political factor" to civil service jobs. Well I say it's about time. Unlike Tapscott, I say bring back the spoils system and do away with the professional civil servant. Let Obama fire every Bush appointee and put in his place political hacks, buddies, and friends....

Another trade show is leaving Chicago this time for Atlanta, Georgia. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society meeting which has been held in Chicago's McCormick Convention Center for quite some time is leaving the city due to the high costs that unions force upon its exhibitors. In October we posted that the Plastics Industry Trade Association is also contemplating fleeing Chicago for southern hospitality for the same reason. The HIMSS reports that 2009 attendance in Chicago's McCormick Center was down by 5 percent compared to 2008. Attendance also dropped from 29,100 in 2008...

Mark Kirk is denying that he's trying to angle rightward in the run up to the GOP primary next year with his recent reaching out to Governor Sarah Palin to secure her endorsement for his candidacy. "I think I am who I am. I am a social moderate, fiscal conservative. But this is a big race and we are building a broad coalition and it will be, for a Republican candidacy, a center-right coalition, but for me, I haven't changed my views." This is, of course, rather interesting. Kirk is reaching out to conservatives by courting one of their idols...

Just hearing her name causes me pain and normally I wouldn't waste a minute's time worrying about what this vacuous little child has to say on much of anything -- as is evidence by the fact that this is the first time my keyboard has shuddered out her name. However, Meghan McCain's latest blog post is a piece of conventional wisdom that, while not unique to little Meaggie's fallow mind (which itself is de rigeuer for the girl, sadly), it is one that has been heard since the day women began to stride into the world of western politics. However,...

What caused the US department of state to change their mind on the Honduran elections after months of saying that they would not recognize the Honduran election process leaving everyone in the world aghast at how the US could not recognize a free election...read on you will enjoy learning how DeMint became a hero and beat Hillary at her own political hardball.

On November 5 on CNN, Florida Governor Charlie Crist told Wolf Blitzer that he didn't back the $787 billion Obama stimulus bill. Crist has since said that it isn't a flip flop when he says he supported the stimulus "in concept" but didn't support the specific bill. In essence he's trying to have it both ways. Claiming he wasn't a supporter of the actual bill, but hedging by saying he felt something was necessary. It seems to be Crist's way of straddling the line. Unfortunately, the facts seem to belie Crist's delicately balanced tightrope act because in February of 2009...

Just like an unprincipled, self-interested, tin-eared politician, Mayor Richard Daley decided to use the massacre at Fort Hood to flog his prosaic anti-gun message in Chicago. When asked if Islam had anything at all to do with the Fort Hood massacre and if Muslims might expect some sort of backlash or anti-Islamic movement because of Nidal Hasan's evil act of terror, Daley replied: "Every day in society people are getting killed, unfortunately. America loves guns, we love guns to a point that we see the devastation on a daily basis. You don't blame a group, you don't blame a society......

CNSNews is reporting that the Democratic leadership rejected 11 amendments to the healthcare bills that would have required Congress to suffer under the same onerous healthcare legislation the they would force upon the rest of the country. Republicans offered various schemes, some that would require only Congress to join Obamacare, some that would require even members of the Supreme Court, the president, the vice president and other federal employees to give up their generous Federal Employees Health Benefit Program. “If Congress forces our constituents into a public option plan over time, then members of Congress should be expected to do...

In a victory for free labor, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has cancelled its solicitation for bids to build a new Jobs Corps Center in the state of New Hampshire. Why is it a victory? Because initial plans to receive bids would have discriminated against non-union construction companies per President Obama's orders. Over 80% of all construction companies are non-union. Executive Order 13502, signed early in Obama's term, was applied to the New Hampshire construction project and instituted what is known as a Project Labor Agreement (PLA). A PLA is a way to force all companies working on a...

An inscription on a WWII monument in Kohima, India fittingly describes the sacrifices that our soldiers make with their service to our nation. And on this Veterans Day it is also fitting to focus on it. The Inscription says: "When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today."What could be a more fitting tribute to the sacrifices made by our fallen loved ones, comrades, and servants? They gave their last full measure so we could enjoy the freedoms we are so fortunate to have today. They gave their lives for our benefit...

Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Va.), a Philadelphia native, and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member, Lamar Smith (R-Texas) sent a letter, on November 10, to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting information ...

When we last met Luqman Abdullah Ameen he had been shot in an FBI raid and was meeting his maker/72 virgins. Since then two of his associates have made bail and the usual Muslim-Moonbat victimcrat shi& disturbers have been raising a ruckus.

No one can deny his ratings, his influence, his tremendous book success, his ravenously loyal fans, and his impact - yet it's almost as though the rest of the Talk Radio Community doesn't know he exists. It seems like so many of the big names in talk are "pal-ing" around, referencing each others work, appearing on each others program, yet where is Dr. Savage? What could be causing this? It's not like they never mention him (just very rarely), yet when they do... I can almost sense a tone of "dissimal" - like he's not legitimate. Why? Is it just...

Friends speak out about Noor, her father and her honor killing. Dear Old Dad's court appearance is postponed again and he remains on suicide watch. The Muslim community meets to address this case of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (that's what they're calling it) and to let everyone know it has nothing to do with Islam.

The jihadi movement has never made any bones about the fact that it intends to destroy western civilization from within using the West's own principles as weapons against it. This is why, for instance, that radical Islamists have been angling to institute Sharia "law" inside England and Canada and to a lesser extent in the U.S.A. But this effort isn't even necessary when, in the U.S. for instance, a large part of the political class cannot even agree upon what the word "sacrifice" means for its own, much less find themselves able to define the terms of enemies to their...