Free Republic

I'm just curious. Does it matter that to anyone that I don't fill in the "source" part of posts? Is it not enough that I give the URL? Does anyone except pissant give a damn? Get off my back, pissant! Just trying to do my part to save conservatism and fight Obamunism. Your pettiness about formatting gives this whole site a bad name. Not trying to start a fight; but get over yourself with the "proper posting" crap already!

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama plans to address Congress for the first time on Feb. 24, five weeks after his inauguration. White House officials say that Obama's speech to a joint session of the House and Senate will have the trappings of a State of the Union address, but it will not be considered one. His first State of the Union speech won't come until next January.

Numerous Free Republic Threads on this matter exist. Of the comments on these threads, the most common is the shocking display of pure narcissism. Difficult to miss, this narcissism also suggests Obama's meaning of the word "change." What we can expect is not Obama preserving, protecting and defending our Constitution and way of life, but, rather, changes in basic institutions as determined by the will of one man and his supporters. These changes will be deep and involve basic assumptions and policies of the government and American culture. While these observations are noted here; they are noted only tangentially in...

18 USC Sec. 713 ... (a) Whoever knowingly displays any printed or other likeness of the great seal of the United States, or of the seals of the President or the Vice President of the United States, or the seal of the United States Senate, or the seal of the United States House of Representatives, or the seal of the United States Congress, or any facsimile thereof, in, or in connection with, any advertisement, poster, circular, book, pamphlet, or other publication, public meeting, play, motion picture, telecast, or other production, or on any building, monument, or stationery, for the purpose...

Will the Obama people stop at nothing? Don't they have any deciency? When I was watching Fox TV at 6:05 pm and BHO was having the meeting with the Governors, I noticed the seal in front of him. I told my husband, "That looks like the Presidential Seal". Sure enough the Fox reporters discussed it and showed how it looked the same, but with BHO's name on it. He thinks he is the President of the United States already. Someone has to put a stop to this seal that he uses. He has no respect for the President of the...

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) – Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama sat down in Chicago Friday morning to discuss the economy with visiting Democratic governors, but all eyes were on the Illinois senator’s podium bearing, what might be described as, a quasi-presidential seal – a new Obama campaign logo. The seal includes the same bald eagle as the actual presidential seal clutching an olive branch and arrows in its talons, but instead of a shield covering the center of the eagle’s body, the Obama version displays the campaign’s trademark “O.” Unlike the Presidential seal, which includes the words “Seal of the President...

At a discussion with a dozen Democratic governors in Chicago on Friday morning, each of the governors was identified with a small name plate but Senator Barack Obama sat behind a low rostrum to which was attached an official-looking seal no one had seen before.

TUUSULA, Finland (AP) - An 18-year-old student opened fire in a Finnish high school Wednesday, killing seven students and the principal before turning the gun on himself, police said. The teenager, who was not identified, shot himself in the head but survived and was taken to a hospital in ``extremely critical condition,'' police spokesman Tero Haapala said. The attack at Jokela High School in Tuusula, some 30 miles north of the capital, Helsinki, shocked the Nordic nation, where gun ownership is fairly common by European standards but deadly shootings are rare. ... Police said at a news conference after the...

Hillary Clinton: Obsessing Over Me is a Good Thing Thursday , October 11, 2007 Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton appears to be relishing her role as the No. 1 target of both Republican and Democratic candidates in the 2008 presidential race, saying she'd rather be getting the attention she's grabbed lately than not. The New York senator and former first lady, who has a solid lead both nationally and in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire, told FOX News on Thursday that she isn't paying attention to whether the other candidates are ganging up on her nor is she concerned...

LONDON - Rudy Giuliani was on the trans-Atlantic campaign trail Wednesday, schmoozing with conservative idol Margaret Thatcher and bragging about his international credentials. "I'm probably one of the four or five best known Americans in the world," Giuliani told a small group of reporters at a posh London hotel as onlookers gathered in the lobby to gawk at actor Dustin Hoffman, who was on a separate visit. The former New York mayor is the latest GOP presidential candidate to travel to Britain, meeting the country's new political guard and rubbing elbows with Thatcher, an icon for American conservatives. He also...

Rudy Giuliani took a star turn on the world stage here yesterday, huddling with prime ministers and expounding on The World According to Rudy. But with one offhand remark, the Republican presidential hopeful ended up sounding more like a world-class braggart than a world-class leader. "I'm probably one of the four or five best-known Americans in the world," Giuliani declared to a small group of reporters at a posh London hotel. Asked to name the four better-known Americans, Giuliani replied, "Bill Clinton ... Hillary," before being whisked away by aides to another engagement. Apparently, President Bush didn't make the top...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is warning the state's Republican party to move toward the political center or risk losing voter support. Schwarzenegger is speaking Friday night at a state party convention in Indian Wells near Palm Springs. According to excerpts released in advance of his speech, Schwarzenegger says the party has lost the political middle and "will not regain true political power in California" until the GOP gets it back. He argues the party must tackle issues with broad public appeal, like climate change and building highways, railroads and tunnels.

How America's mayor scrapped his way to the top of the least popular fraternity on his college campus, and other tales from his early political life. Editor's note: The following selection is excerpted from the revised edition of "America's Mayor, America's President? The Strange Career of Rudy Giuliani," edited by Robert Polner. The pudgy college kid liked to sit his girlfriend down and perform a one-man ode to his dream. Slowly and somberly, he invoked his own name, as if he were standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and taking the oath to become leader of the free...

It is more likely than not that Rudy Giuliani will be the Republican candidate in the 2008 United States presidential election. If so, there's at least an outside chance he will win that election. And if that happens, it is almost certain that at some point in the future we will find ourselves wondering how an unstable, nasty, bullying egomaniac -- a man described as "quite literally nuts" in the June issue of Vanity Fair -- became president of the United States. Here's a big part of the answer: In 1989, Rudy Giuliani ran for mayor of New York City....

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is continuing his foreign policy campaign, bypassing the federal government to help set international agreements on global warming, while a longtime friend and environmental advisor, Terry Tamminen, is consulting with the Canadian government about their carbon dioxide regulations. In anticipation of Schwarzenegger's trip to Canada next month, British Columbia announced yesterday it would participate a five-state Western carbon market where polluters can trade credits with greener companies. The idea is to have four or five Canadian provinces, and perhaps Mexico as well, joining the pact with California, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Arizona. Schwarzenegger also has signed...

A North Carolina State Bar response to Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong's request for dismissal of some of the charges against him suggests that Nifong has attempted to skirt the system in his handling of the Duke lacrosse case. In a legal brief filed Monday, the bar suggests Nifong wants the organization to interpret the law according to his view of it. They also said they don't buy Nifong's explanation for withholding DNA evidence, and claimed he's twisting words to make his argument fit.

Hillary's Time Machine: Wouldn't Have Started War if She Were Prez in '02 Posted by Mark Finkelstein on February 2, 2007 - 19:13. Hillary has gone John Kerry one better. The junior senator from Massachusetts of baleful Gallic mien merely voted for the $87 billion . . . before he voted against it. That's nothing. Hillary Clinton fired up the Time Machine, travelled back to 2002, and assured her fellow Dems that had she been president, the war in Iraq would never have happened. On this afternoon's Hardball, Chris Matthews played the clip of an angry Hillary saying this today...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a powerful, centralized authority under his direct control that would be charged with implementing one of the nation's most far-reaching initiatives to curb global warming. In a key overture to wary industries, Schwarzenegger's hand-picked Climate Action Board also would have the authority to delay a proposed deadline for reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions if state regulations prove too onerous for businesses. Schwarzenegger has submitted his plan to various interests negotiating legislation that would map California's route toward a gradual rollback of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020, a potential 25 percent reduction. “It's...

KARL ROVE'S MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION: MOIHEAR HILLARY, CHRIS MATTHEWS ET AL. by Mia T, 2.28.06 (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) BEHEARTED KARL adapted from ilovekarlrove.com graphic December 7, 1941+64 AN OPEN LETTER TO TIM ROBBINS, DAVID GEFFEN, CHRIS MATTHEWS, MAUREEN DOWD + JEANINE PIRRO RE: a not-so-modest proposal concerning hillary clinton Dear Concerned Americans, Hillary Clinton's revisionist tome notwithstanding, 'living history' begets a certain symmetry. It is in that light that I make this not-so-modest proposal on this day, exactly 64 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The context of our concern today--regardless of political affiliation--is...

Besides the PC crowd, pro-Islamic groups like CAIR are quick to pounce on any non-Muslim sources of information about Islam as hate speech or racism. We took this into consideration as we worded the list of danger signs. We consulted various scholars to make sure we got this right. This is why we are taking the first step in saying, "OK, we believe you, here is a list of danger signs to help everyone." As you read through the list, ask yourself what type of person would disagree with any one of the danger signs. As for me and everyone...

The following quote is by Cindy Sheehan on Saturday, the day of the rallies -- she's gone way way off the deep end, even more so if possible: "I know that the Camp Casey movement is going to end the war in Iraq," Sheehan told more than 1,000 cheering activists crammed into the shade under a circus tent. "When you read about the Camp Casey movement in the history books, you can say, 'I met Casey's mom.' That's from the LA Slimes, 8-28-05, THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ War Debate, and Emotions, Spill Over in Texas Thousands of activists vent anger...

I know it's not normal, but lately I've found myself thinking about God and our governor . I'd like to blame the weather ... but the truth is a bit more embarrassing ... I've been reading muscle magazines. (snip) ... at the very end of the article, I came across this exchange: M&F: You're probably the most famous person in the world. When you think about your life, do you sometimes have to pinch yourself?Arnold: I'm not a religious fanatic, but I've thought many times that only God could pave the way for the life I've had. ...For me everything...

CONDI RICE-HILLARY CLINTON VIRTUAL MATCHUP-2008 (BEAUTY AND THE HILDABEAST2) by Mia T, 7.19.05   CONDOLEEZZA RICE USED POWER OF DIPLOMACY TO END COLD WAR STRENGTHENED AMERICA PROMOTED WORLD PEACE HILLARY CLINTON ABUSED POWER, PROXIMATE CAUSE OF TERROR WAR UNDERMINED AND WEAKENED AMERICA FOMENTED DIVISION AND HATRED THE THREAT OF TERRORISM IS AS CLOSE AS A CLINTON IS TO THE OVAL OFFICE   link to movie(viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) link to movie(viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE)by Mia T, 7.18.05 COPYRIGHT MIA T 2005 The Hotline also polled on some questions concerning 2008. In...

<p>The mall was packed and loud, but Pat Laski hardly noticed. Her governor was late, and she was not pleased. After all, he had called, in a recording, to tell her to turn up at noon at the Valley Plaza in Bakersfield for a rally.</p>

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose country is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, said that the world should get used to high oil prices. "The world should forget about cheap oil ... it won't happen," Chavez told a news conference in the Indian capital on Saturday, saying that the new price range for oil would remain between 40 dollars and 50 dollars. "That is the new band for oil," said Chavez, whose country is the only South American member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Chavez, on the second day of a visit to India...

Alien Arnold California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a plan for the future. Friends say the Austrian-born actor is looking for an "entity" to help him push for changing the nativity provision of the U.S. Constitution so he can run for president. Two ideas are under study. One is to work with Congress to change the law barring foreign-born American citizens from becoming president, then to sell it to states. Another is bolder and riskier: creating a third party to push his idea, a move that may lose him Republican support.

WASHINGTON – Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who flirted with changing political parties in the wake of President Bush's re-election victory, says he will stay in the GOP. "My Republican colleagues have let me know that they want me in their caucus," the U.S. senator from Rhode Island said Monday. "They value the voice I bring and they have made it very clear to me that they respect and want that voice to be heard." Chafee had said last week he would consider switching party affiliation if Bush won because he thought the president was taking the party too far to...

Summary: At an appearance at the University of Texas at Austin, Rutan, flush with triumph from winning the X prize with Space Ship One, shares his more intimate dreams of profitting from private space travel--orbital partying. snippets: ....Thanks to the high cost and government monopoly on space travel — he pronounces NASA "Nay Say" — private space flight is still in its infancy, and Rutan said its safety can be compared to that of travel by plane in 1911.... ...In the more distant future, Rutan envisions resort hotels, swimming pools and, yes, even sex while in orbit. "I think it's...

Schiavo's case is really about religious right November 13, 2003 There is something you should understand about the feeding-tube case of Terri Schiavo. This is about much more than her. It is about an agenda, pushed by conservative religious groups that would allow the government, or even strangers, to intervene when families decide to end the lives of loved ones who are hopelessly brain-damaged. The National Right to Life organization, which has glommed onto the Schiavo case, already has proposed legislation that could stop parents from making choices regarding children whose brains have been destroyed. For these people, it is...

CLINTON LOBBIES FOR THIRD TERM LIE-BRARY A MIXED (-UP) METAPHOR BY MIA T, 12.29.02   DISCUSSION Get Interactive! What Do You Think of the Clinton Presidency? Discuss in the forum! Not yet a member?Then join us! Sunday's ProgramDecember 29th on C-SPAN at 6:30pm & 9:30pm ET A conversation with fmr. President Bill Clinton on his presidency, followed by a tour of the construction site for his presidential library in Little Rock, AR. Also, a tour of the Clinton papers and materials with Skip Rutherford, long time Clinton friend and President of the Clinton Foundation. "American Politics" is C-SPAN's weekly...

Davis Excuse in Pledge Case Proves Outright False Simon Provides Certified Mail Receipts Showing Davis Ignorance Claims Unfounded RIVERSIDE - Governor Gray Davis' excuse regarding his failure to entered a defense in the recent Pledge of Allegiance lawsuit has proved outright false, gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon told a gathering of business leaders today. On Thursday, after Simon blasted the governor for his failure to submit a legal defense on behalf of the state, Davis responded by saying he had not entered a defense because neither he nor Attorney General Bill Lockyer had been notified that the state was a defendant...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Law enforcement group cites rising crime, decreased funding, switches backing from Davis to former prosecutor Simon. SACRAMENTO - Gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon today won a major endorsement from the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs [COPS], an organization which had previously endorsed Gray Davis in his 1998 campaign. The endorsement letter COPS sent to its membership reads in part: "Four years ago we supported Gray Davis, but upon careful review of his record, we have become totally disenchanted with him and his policies. We feel Gray Davis has shown a lack of leadership." The following are Bill...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SANTA BARBARA - Gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon today delivered the following remarks to reporters during a media availability in Santa Barbara: "Thank you all for coming. I am traveling in Santa Barbara today on my campaign to unseat Gray Davis, and to restore leadership and integrity to the office of the Chief Executive of California. The needs of working Californians require that the incompetent and possibly corrupt administration of Gray Davis be voted out of office. "The quality of our schools, roads, and cities has not kept pace with the economic boom that occurred in the mid...

Remember last fall, when Sacramento predicted that the state budget deficit might hit $10 billion? In January, state officials revised their estimate upward to $12 billion, and then to $17 billion in March. Upon further investigation, Gov. Gray Davis and his accounting wizards have had to readjust those figures once again. This time, they say, the budget hole will probably fall in the $20 billion to $22 billion range. Or something like that. The final damage is hard to estimate because Davis, instead of getting serious about scaling back state spending (which has swelled by 36 percent under his watch),...

<p>When Gov. Gray Davis suggested that he supports reparations to minorities for slave-era business practices, he took a risky position that could prove unpopular with many voters as he seeks re-election.</p> <p>Davis made the statements this week as the state Department of Insurance prepared to release a study detailing slave-era insurance-policy practices in California.</p>

It wasn't difficult to read between the lines when Gov. Gray Davis pledged in his State of the State Address last January not to "advocate" for a tax increase. The governor's crafty election-year rhetoric provided the perfect escape: he wouldn't advocate for a tax hike, but he wouldn't veto one either. Taking their cues from the governor like nervous freshmen in a high school theater production, Davis' fellow Democrats in the Legislature stepped in to do the one thing they're really good at: finding creative, new ways to soak taxpayers. Not only were they creative, they were amazingly thorough. Since...

April 4, 2002 SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Former first lady and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton will swing through California today and Friday to endorse Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. Clinton will help kick off a "women for Davis" campaign Thursday afternoon at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel and in Los Angeles on Friday. The Democratic senator also will headline fund-raisers for Davis and other Democrats, according to the Davis campaign. Davis, who is seeking a second term, will face Republican businessman Bill Simon in November.