Free Republic

The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday confirmed that its navy had taken control of a Lebanese ship carrying aid to the Gaza Strip and redirected it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. Military sources said that on board the vessel - dubbed the "Brotherhood Ship" - were nine people, including Greek-Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem Monsignor Hilarion Capucci, who was arrested in 1974 after caught smuggling weapons from Lebanon to activists in the Palestine Liberation Organization. Capuccini was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but was released after three years upon a papal request to the Israeli government. He has made...

You might expect the new and idealistic era of Obama to tame the savage breasts[sic] of left-wing talk radio, but that cannot be said of Mike Malloy, the former CNN employee. On January 29, discussing reports of a growing rate of suicides in the Marine Corps (up to 44 in 2008), Malloy unloaded this rant about the Bush legacy and its Republican enablers: "The Republican Party needs to be executed as quickly as possible." --SNIP-- On January 28, Malloy was wishing and hoping for the choking death of Rush Limbaugh: "Some horrifyingly intense America-hater like Rush Limbaugh, who appears to...

It should come as no surprise that there was not a single Republican vote for the $819 billion stimulus package that passed the House last night. Those Republican smiles over the efforts of President Obama to reach out to them were actually more like grimaces. Indeed, talk of bi-partisan cooperation at the outset of a new administration in Washington is common, yet it seldom ever materializes, especially since the GOP was taken over by the wingnuts of the far right 30 years ago. That party is now a distant cry from what it was under President Eisenhower in the 1950s,...

BRAZILE: Two point six million Americans lost their jobs last year. Do we want this president to fail in trying to create or save 4 million jobs, do we want this president to fail in trying to prevent more people from losing their homes? No, we don't. We want this president to succeed. We want every president to succeed because we're Americans. BENNETT: It's rhetorical. If he's doing the wrong thing you don't root for him. If he's doing the right thing, sure. In general you want to give him a lot of room to move and Republicans don't have...

Singer-songwriter Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, released on Sunday a charity song whose proceeds will go towards assisting Palestinians in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. The new recording of the song 'The day the world gets round', originally recorded by George Harrison, features Yusuf on vocals and Klaus Voorman, known to many as the fifth Beatle, on bass. The song can be dowloaded online at different rates and its proceeds will go towards the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and Save the Children to aid children and families in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA said in a statement. Yusuf...

And people say Biden is a gaffe machine. How did they get that idea? Read on

Thank God for the VA Tech "No Guns On Campus" regulation; if the victim was armed, she could have stopped her murderer from sawing off her head and that would have been a disaster!

Received in the email, author unknown; you need to be patient and read this all the way to the end.

Warning: coffee through nostrils laughs. Keep safe distance from monitor and keyboard.

(CNSNews.com) - Actress Susan Sarandon says that Egypt, Abu Dhabi and “the world” are impressed with the American people for selecting Barack Obama as their president. “I know just coming back from Egypt and Abu Dhabi and other places in Europe that the world is so happy that we’ve changed direction. They’re so hopeful,” Sarandon told CNSNews.com at The Creative Coalition’s post-inauguration dinner on Tuesday night. “They are as hopeful as we are, and they are really impressed with the American people that they have taken on this guy and that uh, he’s going to be – they hope, managing...

There is evidence that Israel committed war crimes during its 22-day campaign in the Gaza Strip and there should be an independent inquiry, U.N. investigator Richard Falk said on Thursday. The mental anguish of the civilians who suffered the assault is so great that the entire population of Gaza could be seen as casualties, said Falk, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Falk, speaking by phone from his home in California, said compelling evidence that Israel's actions in Gaza violated international humanitarian law required an independent investigation into whether they amounted to...

A high-level Iranian cleric has called for the shooting of the Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in a speech before worshippers, it was reported Saturday. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said during Friday prayers that he wanted someone to shoot Livni. "Every time the picture of this woman is shown, I really wish that somebody would expend a bullet on her," he said according to a recording of the sermon obtained by the Associated Press. A copy of the speech was also translated and published by the Middle East Media Research Institute, a Middle Eastern press monitoring service. Jannati is the head of...

The next 8 years will be extremely rough for American hunters and livestock farmers. Cass Sunstein, Barack Obama’s pick for “regulatory czar,” : “[A]nimals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives, to prevent violations of current law … Any animals that are entitled to bring suit would be represented by (human) counsel, who would owe guardian like obligations and make decisions, subject to those obligations, on their clients’ behalf.” “We ought to ban hunting, I suggest, if there isn’t a purpose other than sport and fun. That should be against the law. It’s time now.”...

Meet Cass Sunstein. He's a noted animal rights activist. He's dead set against hunting and sees the keeping of pets as a form of slavery. He's been a strong advocate for the concept that animals can sue humans, he's adored by the likes of PETA, he's a Harvard Law School professor and he's about to be America's new Regulatory Czar.

RPG's and grenades sold at gun stores in the US? I had no idea. But if you ask Dr. Shannon O'Neil - fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, she will tell you the answer is yes: 7000 US gun stores are open for business along the US-Mexican border (3 for every mile) and sell all of the weapons quoted above to drug cartels. I must send her an email and ask for the address of the nearest gun store where I can buy me an RPG and a couple dozens of grenades.

WASHINGTON – Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer kept getting interrupted Monday morning. While chatting in her Capitol Hill office with nine California reporters about her plans for the new Congress, Boxer got two phone calls during the 90-minute meeting, both from the same man. It was Barack Obama. She wasn't complaining. After the calls, Boxer told reporters that she had changed her mind and was leaning toward supporting Obama's request to approve spending the remaining $350 billion from a $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan approved last year. Boxer said he told her that he would give a television speech to...

By Noel Sheppard | January 3, 2009 - 14:09 How would you like to wake up New Year's day to read an opinion piece in your paper's entertainment section equating the United States of America to Nazi Germany and depicting Iraqi insurgents as being akin to a little known group of Polish Jews who rescued over a thousand people from Hitler's concentration camps? That's a great way to start the New Year, dontcha think? Well, the good folks at the Kansas City Star seemed to miss the inappropriateness in such sentiments during the holidays when they published "Is WWII In...

If you need any proof that Israel is the United States' number one BFF in the world you need go no further than this story. Former Congresswoman, and professional nut job Cynthia McKinney decided to get on a boat in an attempt to get around Israel's blockade and dock the vessel in a war zone. McKinney who was once arrested for slapping a US Capitol Policeman was on the boat as it was damaged as an Israeli navy vessel rammed it three times and it was sent on its merry moonbat way home. Thank you Israel !! Read the full...

I don't love America. That's what conservatives are always telling liberals like me. Their love, they insist, is truer, deeper and more complete. Then liberals, like all people who are accused of not loving something, stammer, get defensive and try to have sex with America even though America will then accuse us of wanting it for its body and not its soul. When America gets like that, there's no winning. But I've come to believe conservatives are right. They do love America more. Sure, we liberals claim that our love is deeper because we seek to improve the United States...

Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman blames Republican dirty tricks for the nine months he spent in prison. He talks to the Daily Beast’s Paul Alexander about clearing his name, anger at Rove—and mopping prison floors. Last week, Al Gore sent an email message urging supporters to give money to Don Siegelman’s legal defense fund. Gore is the latest in a string of high profile supporters to suggest Siegelman, the former Governor of Alabama, was the victim of a Republican plot when he was found guilty of bribery, conspiracy and fraud in 2006, and sentenced to seven years in prison. Now,...

WASHINGTON — Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of Congress, made the hajj pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca last week, calling it a "transformative" experience. The Democrat from Minnesota's 5th Congressional District traveled to the Saudi Arabian city along with about 3 million people. The journey is a lifelong dream for many Muslims. "It was transformative. It was a wonderful experience," Ellison said in a telephone interview today. "I learned a lot about myself, about my faith."

Climate change and the inevitable extinction of the human species have been emphatically underlined by scientists studying coral reefs. But some leaders don’t listen, even though the loss of these reefs, already at 20%, constitutes a serious blow to the balance in the ecosystem that is the key to maintaining survival of the earth and the global warming that is leading to man’s extinction.

John Aravosis of Americablog has decided that since Barry Obambi doesn't have the service record or experience that McCain does....the clear attack should be to call John McCain a war criminal and incompetent for having been captured by enemy forces and spending several years as a POW during his service in the Vietnam War. Aravosis writes: "Getting shot down, tortured ...is not command experience". Does anyone else wanna slap this guy? I believe the American people are well aware of the McCain's service record and many consider him an American hero for enduring and sustaining all that he did. For...

10 Democrats Who Should Go Away By Ben Cohen On Monday of last week, I published an article '10 Republicans Who Should Go Away'. For some reason, the article went down a storm and received well over 100,000 hits. Reading the comments and emails I received was probably more fun than writing the article (which I enjoyed immensely), but I was a little taken aback at the debate I seemed to have sparked off. A host of conservative bloggers were up in arms, raging about liberal 'hate' I was spewing, and the temerity I was showing for insulting their idols....

With a new political era looming, veterans of the old political arena will scramble to redefine themselves in order to make a living. Politicians, media commentators and analysts may be ill equipped to deal with the changing electorate, increased power of the blogosphere and massive discontent with the status quo. Who will survive in the modern epoch? Here are 10 who should really think about calling it quits:

Thought ya'll might get a kick out of this, as the reality of Democrat Party economic policy hits home for this kook. "So, I became another casualty of this devastating economic climate. I lost my job today. It was not totally unexpected. About a month ago, there was a big meeting at the company. We were told that at least 35 people would be laid off. Nobody’s job was safe. The announcement of layoffs would come, they said, in the middle of November. November came and passed without a word. Then today, around noon, I got a call to come...

WASHINGTON -- The White House now says it won't display a Christmas tree ornament by a Seattle artist that includes a message supporting President Bush's impeachment. Artist Deborah Lawrence says she wanted to salute Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott of Seattle, a longtime Bush foe who backs impeachment. The nine-inch ball, is covered with swirly red and white stripes and features a picture of McDermott. Tiny glued-on text salutes the impeachment resolution.

CHAPEL HILL - Police were not trying to rescue "Capitalism" on Friday night. They just didn't want a fiery funeral to happen in the middle of Franklin Street. Protesters clashed with police when two officers tried to move the group of more than 50 protesters out of the road and safely remove a mannequin labeled "Capitalism" from a coffin doused with fuel.

Daryl Hannah To Save Her Worms First In Case Of Environmental Disaster ShareThis Los Angeles, CA (BANG) - Daryl Hannah would save her worms if an environmental disaster struck.The "Kill Bill" star says that if her surroundings came under threat the wriggly creatures would be one of the first things she would rescue. She said: "I would save my critters, seeds, eggs, medicinal spores and worms."The star - who is a prolific campaigner for environmental causes - also said she despises the word "green" because she thinks it is pretentious.She said: "I can't stand the word 'green.' It seems that...

The right-wing just won't let go of their "Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen" bit of nonsense. Today the Christiantist site World Net Daily is asking their readers to FedEx letters to the Supreme Court demanding they hold a hearing on the subject. They also want letters sent to Republican members of Congress saying, "Please hold congressional hearings to investigate whether Barack Obama meets the basic constitutional requirements for the highest office of the land." They are also demanding that the members of the Electoral College prove Obama's citizenship before their December 15th vote that will officially make him...

https://services.saccourt.com/indexsearchnew/CVFLPRDetail.aspx?Details=CV|2008-80000096|keyes|01/01/2008|12/31/2008|FilingDate|Asc| http://www.soundinvestments.us/files/final_writ_keyes_v_bowen.pdf

Hi. This is my first post after years of reading this site. I was just outside, chopping wood, feeling bummed about the election when it occurred to me. The most powerful man in the world, Obama, is a Christian who renounced Islam and rejected his muslim heritage. He may not be the same kind of christian as you or I, but he stands in the world today as an example to the billion or so Muslims that it is ok to choose your religion and come to Christ. The lord works in mysterious ways, huh.

Hi there! I'm a liberal, and I want to help you guys out. The fact is that neither side was particularly well represented this year, and in the interest of improving the level of conversation between liberals and conservatives, I thought I would offer to answer some questions and give some advice. Read the rest before you ask, please, and if I say something that sounds sarcastic, it probably is, but I mean no offense.

During the discussion Oprah also explained a "visual board" she's created to imagine an Obama presidency. Tuesday, November 4, 2008 Campaign 2008: Get the latest news, video, and polls! RARE INTERVIEW: Oprah talks about election Talk show mega star Oprah Winfrey took time out before filming her show on Election Day to talk with Ed Lover on New York's Power 105.1. During the eight minute long conversation, Winfrey confirmed she would be at Senator Barack Obama's rally in Chicago this evening. Winfrey came out in support of Obama in 2007, and has spoken at some rallies. However she has shied...

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – A masked gunman waving an American flag and a handgun on a freeway overpass surrendered to police Monday after forcing a traffic shutdown for hours. The man gave himself up at midmorning west of downtown Santa Barbara at Highway 101, a major route along the California coast. No shots were fired. Traffic was backed at least three miles in each direction. The man agreed to give up after he was allowed to attach a Barack Obama campaign sign and the flag to the overpass railing, said police Sgt. Jim Pfleging.

I am still recovering. Tonight I was invited to a party at the home of some friends. Nice people there, for the most part. Lots of food, wine, beer. Former students of mine, now in college, were there. All very nice. A fun social gathering. A mildly liberal crowd with a few conservative Republicans sprinkled in. We were all avoiding talking politics, anyway. But then, rather late, just as I was preparing to leave, some guy across the room slandered Sarah Palin. I responded with a very mild, friendly, "I rather like Sarah." That's all I said. Suddenly I was...

Erica Jong, 1976.It seems that the final days of the presidential campaign have made Erica Jong and her friends more than a little anxious. A few days ago, Jong, the author and self-described feminist, gave an interview to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, the choicest bits of which were brought to my attention by the reliably sharp-eyed Christian Rocca, the U.S. correspondent of Il Foglio, who published excerpts on his Camillo blog. Basically, Jong says her fear that Obama might lose the election has developed into an "obsession. A paralyzing terror. An anxious fever that keeps you awake at...

John McCain's campaign is looking for a scapegoat. It is looking for someone to blame if McCain loses on Tuesday. And it has decided on Sarah Palin. In recent days, a McCain “adviser” told Dana Bash of CNN: “She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone.” Imagine not taking advice from the geniuses at the McCain campaign. What could Palin be thinking? Also, a “top McCain adviser” told Mike Allen of Politico that Palin is “a whack job.” Maybe she is. But who chose to put this “whack job” on the ticket? Wasn’t it John McCain? And wasn’t...

Dreyfuss slammed the film on The View,calling it "six-eighths of a great film" and said that he did it only for the money. "Imagine working for Sean Hannity you can be a fascist, even when you’re on the left," he told the ladies of the View. The film isn’t exactly breaking any box office records, and may not recoup the $30M it needs to break even. Perhaps this comes down to paycheck issues.

How was it allowed to happen? How did politics in the US come to be dominated by people who make a virtue out of ignorance? Was it charity that has permitted mankind's closest living relative to spend two terms as president? How did Sarah Palin, Dan Quayle and other such gibbering numbskulls get to where they are? How could Republican rallies in 2008 be drowned out by screaming ignoramuses insisting that Barack Obama was a Muslim and a terrorist? Like most people on my side of the Atlantic, I have for many years been mystified by American politics. The US...

McCain volunteer Ashley Todd who lied to police about attack was a Paulian. She was so nutz they kicked her out of their group. In March, Ms. Todd was asked to leave a grass-roots group of Ron Paul supporters in Brazos County, Texas, group leader Dustan Costine said. He said Ms. Todd posed as a supporter of former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and called the local Republican committee seeking information about its campaign strategies. "She would call the opposing campaign and pretend she was on their campaign to get information," Mr. Costine said last night. "We had...

This is an autumn of great discontent as not just the United States, but the entire world trembles on the brink of an economic recession that may bring the kind of pain that's known only to the oldest among us. With days to go before Election Day, the nation watches as a presidential candidate and his political party unravel, frantically dragging every ugly ghost out of the closet in an attempt not only to fool everyone, but also to scare everyone. They appeal to the worst remnants of racism that cling like kudzu to a dying magnolia. Their robot phone...

Sarah Palin still drives me bananas. Should I seek therapy? Can’t take the voice anymore: so nasally, singsongy, as chipper as a girl can be, though she has no clue what vice presidents do (see new CNN interview). Yesterday I reveled irrationally over news that this faux hockey mom and supposed small-town JCPenney shopper got a $150,000 shopping spree at big town Neiman Marcus and Saks (read more below). Another scandal: She scammed Alaskans into paying $21,000 to fly her kids around the country and put them up in luxury hotels.

Ask yourself what the media and public reaction would be if this were about Barack Obama. Seriously. An artist in New York has set up an exhibit that features cardboard cutouts of Sarah Palin and her youngest daughter. It's of Palin killing a caribou. The caribou is a three dimensional stuffed animal with its guts splattered out of it. Here's the catch: People can join the 'photo-op' by donning a vest and gun. The artist admits in the video link that many of the visitors shoot Sarah Palin. But that's okay. She's just a she, not the first black man...

A Moonbat attempted to put handcuffs on Rove while he was on stage at an event in San Francisco. The Moonbat was arrested for assault. She claimed that she was trying arrest Rove for treason.

KANSAS CITY - Missouri voter Mary Kay Green has had enough. The supporter of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama filed a lawsuit this week over what she claims is dangerous “hate speech” coming from the rival campaign of Republican presidential nominee John McCain. Green, a 66-year-old grandmother and “semi-retired” civil rights attorney, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Kansas City this week accusing McCain, his running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and their campaign manager Rick Davis of “intentionally, recklessly and irresponsibly” portraying Obama “as un-American, a terrorist by association, and ‘not like us,’ a non-white individual.” A...

Palin In Estero, Florida Yesterday: "Bless your heart sir, my son is in Iraq fighting for your right to protest."

"If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention," said Hastings. "Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through." Hastings, who is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, made his comments in Washington, D.C., while participating in a panel discussion sponsored by the National Jewish Democratic Council. Asked what the congressman meant, Hastings spokesman David Goldenberg told ABC News that he was trying to...

The Big Orange A beautiful Arizona dawn was breaking as I loaded my truck with troop supporting signs and headed for inner city Tucson. My destination was the Military Recruiting Center at 2302 E. Speedway. It was Wednesday and the weekly face off between those protesting and those supporting US troops was approaching. Troop Supporter / Marine Veteran Frank was already on the scene along with several others. This was no ordinary Wednesday. It was September 10, 2008 and the seventh anniversary of a notorious and cowardly terrorist attack was at hand. Last year on 9/11 about 25 to...

British left-wing activist Lauren Booth remains stuck in Strip after journey to 'break' Israeli naval blockade, equates situation to Holocaust, Darfur Unlike her brother-in-law, Quartet envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair, who frequently travels from Israel to the Palestinian territories and back, Lauren Booth has found herself stuck in the Gaza Strip. The British left-wing activist arrived in the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave as part of the dozens of 'Free Gaza' activists who set out on two boats from Cyprus last month with the intent of "breaking" the Israeli naval blockade imposed on the Strip. Booth is one of the...