Free Republic

It’s bad enough that President Obama could not be bothered to attend the celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But Hillary Clinton’s refusal to even acknowledge the role played by Ronald Reagan in the Wall’s demise as well as the downfall of Communism was highly insulting towards one of the greatest figures of our time, and reeked of petty and partisan mean-spiritedness. The Secretary of State’s remarks yesterday in Berlin completely erased from history the huge contribution played not only by President Reagan but also by the United States in confronting the Soviet Empire....

Frank Beckman responds to a call made to an afternoon radio program by Mark Brewer, spokesman for Granholm campaign.

Two major issues were used by the President in the run up to war with Iraq. One was the WMD issue and the other was Iraq's support for Al Qaeda. Since the war began in March 2003, the Democrats and media have repeatedly lied to the American public that Saddam didn't have a relationship with Al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden. They have been permitted to lie without challenge by Congressional Republicans or the President or his administration. It is well past time that we educate Republican Congressmen and the conservative media, and try to encourage Tony Snow and Karl...

Enron's Ties to Bush Run Deep Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement after the guilty verdicts of Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling for their involvement in the Enron scandal: "Today's guilty verdicts are another victory against the Republican culture of corruption that led President Bush’s buddy Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Jack Abramoff, Representative Tom Delay and others to believe that they were above the law. The Enron scandal epitomizes the pay-to-play politics that has enveloped the Bush White House and Republican-controlled Congress. Ken Lay was defrauding his employees and investors but he had no problem keeping...

Blumenthal Responds, Kind Of I guess we can add Sidney Blumenthal to the ever-growing roster of Power Line readers. He took offense at a post we did yesterday that consisted of an email exchange between one of our readers and Blumenthal, to which I added some commentary. At the risk of boring those who remember the original post, I will reproduce it here to give context to Mr. Blumenthal's response: Former Clinton apparatchik Sidney Blumenthal is better known by the well-earned moniker of Sid Vicious. He now plies his trade in the pages of Britain's far-left Guardian. Sid Vicious addressed...

Announce Filibuster Compromise

SUMMARY AS OF: 1/7/2003--Introduced. Universal National Service Act of 2003 - Declares that it is the obligation of every U.S. citizen, and every other person residing in the United States, between the ages of 18 and 26 to perform a two-year period of national service, unless exempted, either as a member of an active or reserve component of the armed forces or in a civilian capacity that promotes national defense. Requires induction into national service by the President. Sets forth provisions governing: (1) induction deferments, postponements, and exemptions, including exemption of a conscientious objector from military service that includes combatant...

HAGERSTOWN, Md. - Two months before pictures of Iraqi prisoner abuse became public, the family of one accused soldier wrote to 14 members of Congress that "something went wrong" involving "mistreatment of POWs" at Abu Ghraib prison. Separately, a suspended Army officer in Iraq (news - web sites) wrote to Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania that he was being unfairly punished after "pictures of naked prisoners" were discovered. He sent the letter six weeks before the CBS program "60 Minutes II" first broadcast photographs of the prisoners on April 28. The strongest reply any of them got was a...

<p>What if the budget is ruled unconstitutional once the budget impasse ends? The Governor's deliberate mixing of taxes and appropriations in the same bill makes this a distinct possibility - one that we must avoid.</p> <p>The constitutionality of the budget bill is a pressing issue because, unlike any other legislation, there are substantial consequences if the budget is not enacted. Time in which to resolve the legal uncertainty is short: Local school divisions must know by May 1 the amount of funding the Commonwealth will provide for fiscal year 2005 in order to finalize contracts with teachers and other employees.</p>

“My economic policy is not to export American jobs, but to reward companies for creating and keeping good jobs in America. Unlike the Bush Administration, I want to repeal every tax break and loophole that rewards any Benedict Arnold CEO or corporation for shipping American jobs overseas. “ - Senator John Forbes Kerry, February 10, 2004 The truth of the matter is that H.J. Heinz is an extremely diversified multinational corporation. It has 70 manufacturing facilities worldwide. Of these the company only has 10 plants within the United States. The remaining 60 are located outside the United States, many...

Refreshen your memory ,as to the quotes of Democrats from a few years ago, to just a few months ago, on the war in Iraq.

AUSTIN -- State Sen. John Whitmire plans to hold a news conference today in a Senate room he is barred from using until he pays $57,000 in fines levied against him by Republican senators. Whitmire, D-Houston, broke ranks with fellow Democratic senators earlier this week by announcing he was quitting a Senate boycott. He said he would return to Austin from Albuquerque, N.M., in an effort to negotiate a deal to end a stalemate in the congressional redistricting battle with Republicans. Whitmire's staff announced the news conference without booking the Lieutenant Governor's Press Conference Room. But Senate spokesman Mark Miner...

A former US intelligence official who served under the Bush administration in the build-up to the Iraq war accused the White House yesterday of lying about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. The claims came as the Bush administration was fighting to shore up its credibility among a series of anonymous government leaks over its distortion of US intelligence to manufacture a case against Saddam. This was the first time an administration official has put his name to specific claims. The whistleblower, Gregory Thielmann, served as a director in the state department's bureau of intelligence until his retirement in September,...

True to Clintonion form, Clinton butt-boy Erskine Bowles is running outrageous lying ads on South Carolina television. In one ad the announcer claims that Bowles worked to broker a BALANCED BUDGET ACT. (The truth: A GOP Congress FORCED Clinton to submit a balanced budget after two submitted Clinton budgets would have broken the bank...Congress sent Clinton's "busters" back to him)......In another ad, the announcer says that Liddy Dole voted to CUT increases in Social Security (The Truth: Clinton INCREASED the taxes paid by Social Security recipents.)... The ad also claims that Liddy Dole voted FOR the largest tax increase in...

Players, owners just don't get it -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Peter Gammons Special to ESPN.com Aug. 17 What these billionaires and millionaires and all their high-priced lawyers had better understand is that they don't matter. All those people who lost their jobs and their savings at Enron matter. The police and firemen who can't get raises in New York City, with all its Wall Street green, matter. All those folks whose family stores were systematically run out of business by the Wal-Marts of the world matter. Or teachers, always the bottom of the priority ring, all the way up to those in...