Free Republic

<p>Keith Olbermann featured one of the secession threads at the Hannity boards on his show 'Countdown' on 2/26/2009.</p> <p>He gave Hannity the 'Worst Person in the World' award because of this thread.</p>

* Willing to work with Obama on health care. * Talked about Palin: "I think the world of Sarah." * Admitted rushing into TARP.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator John McCain said on Tuesday night he believed an overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system was possible this year after President Barack Obama called for such a timetable. In his speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, Obama said that due to rising costs, revamping the healthcare system "must not wait, and it will not wait another year." McCain, who is a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said in an interview after the speech that he felt an accord was reachable this year. "I do think it's...

Schwarzenegger defends tax rise, says GOP should work with Obama By Rob Hotakainen Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009. WASHINGTON - Likening California's budget troubles to an earthquake, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday defended his decision to raise taxes and said his party's leaders in Washington should be "team players" with President Barack Obama. And if that means violating the GOP's principles, he said, so be it. "They should make an effort to work together and to find what is best for the people, because by derailing everything, it's not going to help anybody, and it creates instability and insecurity," Schwarzenegger...

Barack Hussein Obama will propose a massive business tax on greenhouse gases in his FY 2010 federal budget to be presented this week.The massive tax increase and power grab was buried at the end on article on Obama's forthcoming budget proposal in The New York Times:On energy policy, Mr. Obama’s budget will show new revenues by 2012 from his proposal to require companies to buy permits from the government for greenhouse gas emissions above a certain cap. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the permits would raise up to $300 billion a year by 2020. Since companies would pass their...

Washington, D.C. — From the day that Barack Obama wrested the presidential nomination from Hillary Rodham Clinton, his campaign became — according to those who were running it — "inevitable." Even before winning the election, Obama began assembling a much-vaunted "team of rivals" to guide U.S. foreign and domestic policy. Though his running mate, then-Senator Joe Biden, predicted that, "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama" and warned that it would be "an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy," we were assured that the Obama administration would be ready...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on Sunday he'll vote against President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill, calling the legislation “generational theft” in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I thought we were going to have change," he said, in a shot at Obama's campaign slogan, "and that change meant we work together. This is a setback. This is a setback to all Americans because you promised Americans we’d work in a more bipartisan fashion, and that certainly is not the case in this bill,” McCain said. McCain said the bill would saddle Americans with billions in future debt, and contained...

Despite legal and security hurdles, president-elect Barack Obama says he has a plan to retain his beloved Blackberry once he moves into the White House next week. Interviewed by CNN Friday, Obama said the smartphone was among the tools that he would use to stay in touch with real Americans and avoid becoming trapped inside the presidential "bubble." "I think we're going to be able to hang on to one of these. My working assumption, and this is not new, is that anything I write on an email could end up being on CNN," he said. "So I make sure...

DELAND — DeLand police are investigating a bizarre shooting at a cemetery that involved bullets used in a military funeral service but no gun. Howard Sheppard, 30, of Deltona, was shot in the left biceps and went to Florida Hospital DeLand for treatment, Officer Jacob Hudson wrote in a report. Sheppard, who works at DeLand Memorial Gardens, told a nurse he picked up six rounds of ammunition and one of them discharged and struck him in the arm, Hudson said. When Sheppard said the other five rounds were in his shirt pocket, a security guard took the shirt and called...

Press Release For Immediate Release Friday, January 14, 2009 Barr Supports Closure of Guantanamo Prison Endorses Obama Proposal Former Congressman Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party's 2008 nominee for president, issued a statement Wednesday morning applauding President-elect Obama’s reported plan to close the controversial military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where many suspected terrorists have been held, often without hearings, since shortly after 9/11. “If there are detainees there as to whom the government has evidence they pose a serious danger to the United States, then house them at the Super Max federal prison in Florence, Colorado and prosecute them....

The Venezuelan government expelled Israelí Ambassador Shlomo Cohen in protest against his country's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, in which hundreds of people are reported to have been killed. The decision was first announced by the Foreign Ministry, and afterwards by National Assembly President Cilia Flores, the Foreign Minister's wife, in the legislative chamber. Legislators, nearly all of them members of President Hugo Chávez' ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) applauded as Flores spoke. Chávez has publicly repudiated the Israeli military action, urging the government to withdraw its military forces immediately and to halt the violence. During a...

Free parking for church-going Christians on a Sunday morning should be barred - because other faiths may be upset. That is the view of councillors reporting on the proposal for car parks in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. 'I'm not the most PC person but to single out one section would be discriminatory,' said Liberal Democrat Mike Collins. But Conservative mayor Brian Calway said: 'We haven't got any mosques or synagogues.'

Kucinich criticizes Israel; wants U.N. probe By Ian Swanson Posted: 12/29/08 01:48 PM [ET] Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is calling for a United Nations investigation into Israel’s attacks on Gaza, criticizing Israel for a disproportionate response to Hamas rocket attacks. The criticism stands in stark contrast to the statements of other Democrats, who have offered near-unanimous support for Israel amid the latest violence in the Middle East. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other Democrats have blamed Hamas for the violence, which has left more than 300 people in Gaza dead. One person in...

Tony Blair recently proclaimed, "I regularly read the Koran, practically every day." He further opined that the Islamic prophet Mohammed had been "an enormously civilizing force." What to make of this? Getting beyond the knee-jerk revulsion to such comments, it may on balance be a good thing that Blair is apparently studying up on Islam. After all, many of our current problems can be traced to a failure of Western policy makers to grasp the basic tenets of Islam. For example, in explaining US support for jihadis in Afghanistan against the Soviets, Zbigniew Brzezinski (Carter's National Security Advisor), poo-pooed any...

A home-owner using a blowtorch to melt ice on his back porch accidentally set fire to his North End triple-decker Monday, officials said. The blaze at 107 Davis St. caused $20,000-$30,000 worth of damage and displaced several residents, Fire Capt. Scott Kruger said Capt. Kruger said the building's owner was trying to melt the snow and ice on the back porch using a large torch hooked up to a 20-pound propane cylinder. He got too close to the building's wood frame and ignited the vinyl siding. The fire quickly spread into the building's uninsulated exterior wall and chased into the...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Add this to the growing list of Plaxico Burress' problems: getting in a car crash and not having insurance on his nearly $140,000 Mercedes-Benz. The suspended New York Giants wide receiver was sued last week in Florida's Broward County Circuit Court for rear-ending a woman in May. Compounding the Super Bowl star's defense, according to a document provided by the woman's attorney, is the fact his car insurance lapsed three days before the crash. A letter from Allstate says Burress neglected to pay his premiums. Burress is still serving a team suspension for shooting himself...

ALBANY - Gov. Paterson's proposed $121 billion budget hits New Yorkers in their iPods - and nickels-and-dimes them in lots of other places, too. Trying to close a $15.4 billion budget gap, Paterson called for 88 new fees and a host of other taxes, including an "iPod tax" that taxes the sale of downloaded music and other "digitally delivered entertainment services." "We're going to have to take some extreme measures," Paterson said Tuesday after unveiling the slash-and-burn budget. The proposal, which needs legislative approval, did not include broad-based income tax increases, but relied on smaller ones to raise $4.1 billion...

An Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President Bush and called him a dog became a huge celebrity in the Arab world and beyond on Monday, with many supporters exalting him for what they called a courageous act in the face of American arrogance about the war.

Rahm Emanuel: "We're Scared Of Stephen Colbert The Way Sarah Palin Is Scared Of A Geography Bee" By hortense, 3:15 PM on Sat Nov 15 2008 In what can best be described as the night when all things awesome aligned, America's favorite fake anchor, Stephen Colbert, took a seat as the guest of honor at the 20th Annual Roast for Spina Bifida, where he was roasted by none other than President-Elect Barack Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, who tossed off such gems as this: "I'm scared of Stephen Colbert. I'm not alone. My colleagues in Congress, political operatives, the...

...Obama "is going to change hip-hop for the better," predicted the rapper... "I really do believe we as hip-hop artists pick up what's going on in the world and try to reflect that," he told CNN, outlining his belief that mainstream as well as so-called "conscious" rappers -- the more socially aware -- will pick up on what he sees as the more optimistic prospects of an Obama presidency. "I think hip-hop artists will have no choice but to talk about different things and more positive things, and try to bring a brighter side to that because, even before Barack,...

Oh hell, why not? Psychosis is in vogue right now. Chris Matthews, it appears, is in. FiveThirtyEight has been hearing for some time that Matthews is serious about running for the United States Senate, but it took a trip to Georgia among the Georgia-runoff-congregated and well-connected Obama organizer throng to confirm. According to multiple sources, who confirmed the Tip O'Neill staffer-cum-MSNBC host has negotiated with veteran Obama staffers to enlist in his campaign, Chris Matthews is likely to run for United States Senate in Pennsylvania in 2010. Matthews, 62, would run as a Democrat. Arlen Specter, the aging Republican incumbent,...

Well, everyone else has one, why can't I?

Back in the beginning when the Fairness Doctrine was abolished, the field was wide open for anyone who could connect with an audience. Up until then, radio stations who could only broadcast via AM radio were a dying breed. Most of them had changed their formats to broadcast via FM transmitters. The AM stations were lucky if they could sell enough add time for summertime baseball, local sports wrap ups, or farm information programs to pay a live body to be in the studio. There were certain markets that seemed to be somewhat successful with the numerous “Tradio” type shows...

A week after his last money plea, Obama asks everyone for another $5 It seems like only a week ago that The Ticket was whining about Barack Obama whining that after raising $605 million through September to buy the presidency, he was asking all of us one last time for just $10 more for some reason. And we figured out that, October money aside, he'd have to spend $12.5 million a day just to unload September's haul by Nov. 4. The Democrat is already outspending the Republican by three and four-to-one, which if it was the other way around would...

Joe Biden continues to try to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory for Barack Obama. In a stunning statement, Biden acknowledged that Obama’s lack of foreign-policy experience will provoke America’s enemies into creating an international crisis. Biden apparently thinks this is just terrific: ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe Reports: Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be tested by an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions. “Mark my words,” the Democratic vice...

I just want to say that there are too many stories on the blogosphere that would destroy Obama's chances of winning. One of them has to be true and one of them has to give... My question is which one will it be and when will it happen.. -Ed Hale is said to have 3 certified Kenyan Birth Certificates of Barrack Obama -There are now 4 court cases in 4 different states challenging the Obama campaign to produce documentation -There is a supposed taped call of Michelle Obama threatening African International. -There is a supposed "whitey" tape out there of...

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -- The Lee County Sheriff's Office reports that 29-year-old Jonathon Guabello and his girlfriend returned home from a bar early Wednesday morning. The girlfriend told deputies that Guabello had wanted to get intimate, but she wanted to go to sleep. When Guabello became irate, authorities say the girlfriend went to a spare bedroom, and several minutes later she heard two gunshots. She told deputies Guabello came into her room and threatened her. He then stumbled into the kitchen and knocked himself unconscious. Guabello was charged with threatening violence and firing a weapon in an occupied dwelling....

Those of us on the outside will ­follow every twist; it is a statement of the ­obvious that the entire world will be watching on November 4. But perhaps we shouldn't be. At least if my email inbox is anything to go by, we should have only the scantest interest in the ongoing US election. After all, it's got nothing to do with us. Or, as one emailer put it: "We are electing the President of the United States and the world can choke on it." His was one of a deluge of mainly hostile responses to a column that...

From a man who’s no stranger to abject disgrace comes one of the purest examples of racial demagoguery we’ve seen from either side during this very long campaign, duly laughed at and applauded by the same group that worked so hard last week to get Palin disinvited from the anti-Iran rally. His party will love him for it, I assure you. Rep. Alcee Hastings told an audience of Jewish Democrats Wednesday that they should be wary of Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin because “anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and...

A man who threatened to behead two women because they were Christians was attacked in self-defense early Saturday and injured so severely, police say, that his eye was to be removed. Russell Bowman, who called himself an atheist, showed up with a large knife at the women's apartment in the 700 block of Tia Juana Street about 3:15 a.m., police said. Another resident grabbed a shotgun and ordered him to put the knife down. When Bowman refused and began approaching, the person hit him with the butt end of the weapon, police said. Doctors at Memorial Hospital reportedly told police...

"A HATE fanatic has boasted that Muslims will one day conquer Britain — by having more BABIES. Speaking at a rally marking 9/11, Anjem Choudary bragged that a birth explosion would let followers of Islam take control of the country. Undercover Sun investigators secretly recorded Choudary telling a young and impressionable audience that they would eventually rule under strict Sharia law. And our team listened in chilled silence as he predicted: “Islam is superior and will never be surpassed. The flag of Islam will rise over Downing Street.” Lawyer Choudary also said it would be easy for vast numbers of...

If Islamic (fascist) Republic of IRAN Doesn't like Michael Savage, he must be doing someting right... Islamic Iran's official website: 'Savage Nation' fueling Islamophobia in US---- CAIR admits that some of its officials ties to jihad terrorism, America at War. CAIR Founder Convicted of TerrorismSharia in America. By Ayesha Ahmed. Omar M. Ahmad founder of CAIR said:"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant"...CAIR's Dreams of American Sharia CAIR: Islamists Fooling the Establishment...Savage_CAIR_suit CAIR repackaged the content of Michael Savage's show and manipulated that stolen content so that it could be used by...

The Strong Dollar Illusion By Peter Schiff Economists who now see American troubles spreading around the world are predicting that foreign central banks will ignore the gathering inflation threat and follow the Fed down the rate cutting path. Similarly, they argue that since the downturn began here, the U.S. recovery will likely be underway while the rest of world is still decelerating. These assumptions have prompted a rally in the dollar, a sell-off in gold, commodities and foreign stocks, and have cast doubts on the ability of foreign economies to "decouple" from the United States. Investors should not take...

SAN FRANCISCO — One of two brothers who survived a tiger attack at San Francisco Zoo has been sentenced to 16 months in state prison for violating probation in a felony reckless driving case. In December, Paul Dhaliwal was sentenced to 30 days in Santa Clara County jail and three years of probation for leading police on a high-speed chase through San Jose last year. But three days after sentencing he was cited for marijuana possession, and in March he was also arrested on suspicion of shoplifting. Prosecutors say the 20-year-old Dhaliwal received the 16-month-prison sentence last week in Santa...

The rise in carbon dioxide emissions is big news. It is prompting action to reverse global warming. But little or no attention is being paid to the long-term fall in oxygen concentrations and its knock-on effects. Compared to prehistoric times, the level of oxygen in the earth's atmosphere has declined by over a third and in polluted cities the decline may be more than 50%. (snip) In the 20th century, humanity has pumped increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning the carbon stored in coal, petroleum and natural gas. In the process, we've also been consuming oxygen...

The race for the presidency has moved back into a statistical tie in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update of national registered voters, with Barack Obama now ahead of John McCain by just one percentage point, 45% to 44%.

WASHINGTON – If you think there isn't urgency to getting Congress to drop its bans on offshore drilling and development of the ANWR oil reserves, listen to what Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had to say in Missouri yesterday. "There are things you can do individually, though, to save energy," Obama said. "Making sure your tires are properly inflated – simple thing. But we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling – if everybody was just inflating their tires? And getting regular tune-ups? You'd actually save just as much!"

As part of a month-long aircraft makeover, a painted American flag was removed from the tail of Sen. Barack Obama's official campaign airplane and was replaced with the presidential candidate's trademark "O" symbol. The refurbished 757 was unveiled to members of the news media today, 41 of whom boarded the craft and took off to meet Obama in Amman, Jordan, where the presidential candidate will stop as part of a Middle Eastern and European tour. Obama traveled to the Mideast earlier this week on board a separate airplane. Fox News blogger Bonny Kapp, traveling on Obama's new airplane, reported: "The...

CARCASSONNE, France (AFP) — President Nicolas Sarkozy promised swift and severe punishment Monday after a soldier shot and wounded 17 people, including a three-year-old boy and both his parents, at an open day at an army barracks. The sergeant opened up with an assault rifle, firing live rounds instead of blanks into a crowd of hundreds of visitors watching a hostage-taking exercise Sunday at the base near the southwestern city of Carcassonne. A man who witnessed the shooting told AFP that "suddenly, people were falling, we thought it was part of the exercise, and then we saw blood."

The 2008 race for the Democratic nomination for the presidency looks like a classic pursuit of the Moron Vote. This seems crude to say, so perhaps we should call it the "mentally challenged vote" or the "clueless vote". Why do I term it so? Consider where the winning Democratic candidate, Barak Obama, stands on issues most Americans care about. In numerous cases he takes positions that seem based on the assumption that voters are idiots, or else those positions show a serious lack of understanding on his part. On second thought - and in the interest of striking a blow...

NBC News Transcripts June 19, 2005 Sunday SHOW: Meet the Press 10:00 AM EST NBC MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to Guantanamo. In October--excuse me, December of 2003, "John McCain said he is concerned about the failure to move ahead with prisoners' trials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. ...`These cases have to be disposed of one way or another. After keeping someone two years, a decision should be made.'" That was a year and a half ago. It's now been three and a half years. Should we close it? SEN. McCAIN: I don't think necessarily. But I think the important thing...

WASHINGTON - Record high prices for gasoline probably won't drop before the November election, Republican John McCain said Wednesday.

Dennis Kucinich is currently on the floor of the House presenting his bill to impeach President George W. Bush. C-SPAN, 8:00 PM 9 Jun 2008.

Of course Democrats in Congress support the troops. But that doesn't mean they have to tolerate being in the same building with them. From a letter an enraged Fortney Hillman "Pete" Stark, Jr. (D-CA) recently sent to the Secretary of Defense: Dear Secretary Gates: Yesterday, while voting on the war supplemental spending bill in the House of Representatives, I couldn’t help but notice a contingent of approximately 20 flag rank Army officers sitting in the House Gallery watching the debate and vote for a couple of hours. I was looking from below so I thought they were Army, but there...

The Truth Commission for Water Rights on May 3 heard the experiences of Detroit and Highland Park, Mich., residents who are being denied their human right to water. The Michigan Welfare Rights Organization (MWRO) organized the daylong event of multimedia and firsthand presentations.

WASHINGTON: Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy has a malignant brain tumour, his doctors said last night, of a type considered potentially very dangerous. Kennedy has a glioma and likely will require chemotherapy and radiation therapy, neurologist Dr Lee Schwamm of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and Dr Larry Ronan, a primary physician there said. Kennedy, 76, has been admitted to hospital since he had a seizure on Saturday. He was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital on Saturday morning after being rushed by ambulance to a local hospital near his family's Cape Cod vacation compound.

"Hearing a loud noise and interrupting his speech, Huckabee said: "That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He's getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he—he dove for the floor."

WASHINGTON – Sen. John McCain called Monday for reductions in carbon emissions and criticized the Bush administration for failing to lead the fight against climate change. "We have many advantages in the fight against global warming, but time is not one of them. … We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great," the Arizona Republican said in a speech delivered at a wind-energy facility in Portland, Ore. "The most relevant question is whether our own government is equal to the challenge." McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, proposed...