Free Republic

To this day, Barack Obama continues to insist he was shocked and surprised to discover that Reverend Jeremiah Wright had bizarre racist views.Now Tom Blumer has discovered images of Wright’s radical newsmagazine Trumpet—and look who was featured on the cover of that magazine at least three times: BizzyBlog - Attention Stanley Kurtz, Re Obama, Wright, Trumpet: I’ve Got You Covered.Here’s one of the images, featuring pictures of Barack Obama, Rev. Wright — and Louis Farrakhan. Isn’t that cozy? For more about the deranged, hateful content of Trumpet, see: Jeremiah Wright’s ‘Trumpet’.

: 05/13/08 Marietta tavern owner Mike Norman says the T-shirts he's peddling, featuring cartoon chimp Curious George peeling a banana, with "Obama in '08" scrolled underneath, are "cute." But to a coalition of critics, the shirts are an insulting exploitation of racial stereotypes from generations past.

BREAKING NEWS: Barry Bonds is charged with 14 counts of lying and one count of obstruction of justice in a new indictment stemming from a steriod probe. Full article coming shortly.

This certainly puts tax cuts in a whole new light! Click link for YouTube video--GGG

A devastated scene near the Hanuman Mandir after the serial blasts in Jaipur. A series of explosions rocked the walled city on Tuesday evening, killing and injuring several people JAIPUR: Terror struck yet again — this time in Jaipur, at the busiest market, at the busiest hour, aimed with chilling precision to kill, maim, terrify and cleave the country. At last count, the toll was 80 killed, and with over 150 injured, it could go up. (Watch) The first blast took place at 7.20pm on Tuesday in the crowded Johari Bazaar and within 15 minutes seven more blasts occurred in...

The U.S. attorney's office filed 14 counts of perjury and one count of obstruction against Barry Bonds on Tuesday, sources told ESPN's T.J. Quinn. The counts were filed in what's known as a superseding indictment that added 10 more counts to the four baseball's all-time home run king was charged with in November. In March, the perjury case against Bonds was put on hold for three months, with prosecutors telling a federal judge they plan to obtain a new indictment against him. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston had told prosecutors on Feb. 29 to fix their original indictment because it...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Like the American flag that Francis Scott Key famously wrote about, the one on Barack Obama's lapel keeps appearing and disappearing. The Democratic presidential hopeful said he generally stopped wearing a flag pin after the 2001 terrorist attacks because he felt it replaced "true patriotism" for some public officials. Some Americans, however, say they question the patriotism of a candidate who makes such a choice, a sentiment that shows up in polls. Last month, the pin briefly reappeared on his suit jacket. Obama said a veteran had given it to him that day and asked him...

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) “Absolutely. Absolutely. I think I would be great. First of all, I know how to behave at weddings and funerals. And I know how to be commander in chief. I’d bring a lot of fun to the job. We would rock the Naval Observatory.” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) “My name has been discussed partly because I’m a female and it’s always nice to balance things in gender … I’ve discussed it with my kids. My 16-year-old thinks it’s a fabulous idea because he thinks we probably couldn’t find any better residence in Washington, D.C., than the...

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_051308/content/01125113.guest.html

The general election has apparently begun. This week, the liberal media launched a pre-emptive attack on Republican campaign tactics even as TV interviewers slobbered all over Barack Obama. Here are the Media Research Center’s "Worst of the Week" (audio and video links below the fold): # GOP: Merchants of Slime and Hate. It’s Hillary Clinton’s campaign, not the GOP, which has pummeled Barack Obama these past weeks, but journalists are nevertheless impugning Republicans as dirty campaigners. The May 19 Newsweek cover story channeled Democratic talking points to claim "the Republican Party has been successfully scaring voters since 1968." (Ever listen...

VATICAN CITY - Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones. "How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would...

"Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen." So said Bill Clinton in New Hampshire of Obama's claim to have been a constant opponent of the war. Clinton cited Obama's voting record, which was the same as Hillary's in his early Senate years. Yet, for this, the ex-president, designated by Toni Morrison as "our first black president," was charged with playing the race card. Clinton spent days explaining the "fairy tale" remark. Came then the morning of the South Carolina primary, where Barack was rolling up a smashing victory. Bill volunteered: "Jesse Jackson...

Public concern about the impact of new immigration on America has reached a pitch not seen since the early 20th century. Americans have experienced an immigration surge unprecedented in their lifetimes. This is an unsurprising coincidence in light of the fact that our immigrant population of 37 million is, in absolute numbers, greater than it has been at any time in our history. It’s nearly as large a percentage, 12.5%, of the population as it was at its historic peak at 14.5% in 1890. Today, there are more immigrants from Mexico than there were foreign-born residents from all countries in...

NEW YORK: News that scientists have for the first time genetically altered a human embryo is drawing fire from some watchdog groups that say it’s a step toward creating "designer babies". But an author of the study says the work was focused on stem cells. He notes that the researchers used an abnormal embryo that could never have developed into a baby anyway. "None of us wants to make designer babies," said Zev Rosenwaks, director of Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The idea of designer babies is that someday, scientists may insert particular genes...

On Friday, Hezbollah gunmen set fire to the Beirut offices of Future TV, a Lebanese broadcaster. On a purely symbolic level, it was an apt demonstration of where the Party of God stands in relation to the future itself. But that wasn't the worst of what has happened in the past week in Lebanon, where scores of people have been killed in interfactional violence. More ominous was the role of the Lebanese army, avowedly neutral and nominally under civilian control. "An army officer accompanied by members of Hezbollah walked into the station and told us to switch off transmission," an...

Texas Border Coalition Members to Meet During Global Border Security Conference on Border Alternatives at Technology Expo AUSTIN, Texas, May 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With security technology highlighted at the Global Border Security Conference & Expo as its backdrop, members of the Texas Border Coalition will meet May 21 to discuss issues that directly affect the Texas-Mexico border region and build on strategies to recommend technological alternatives to erecting a physical border fence, which coalition members say will cede privately owned land to Mexico and disrupt economic development in the region. Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster, chairman of the Texas Border...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) - Some Barack Obama supporters want a Bakersfield radio station to fire a host who posted graphics on the station's Web site that linked the presidential candidate's campaign to the phrase "Kill Whitey." KNZR 1560 AM host Jaz McKay posted a version of an "Obama '08" logo followed by that phrase, as well as other fake slogans including "Hope. Change. Dead honkeys." and "Yes we can. Kill white folks." McKay says he didn't create the graphics, but posted them on his Web page as a joke after finding them elsewhere on the Internet. The station's general manager...

ALBUQUERQUE — Scores of city officials and environmental policy leaders from across the country will gather in Albuquerque this week to discuss the latest technologies and policies for dealing with climate change at the local level. -snip- - Albuquerque, for example, made a major mistake last year in calculating emissions, an error that prompted the firing of the city's chief environmental health official and forced it to shut down a web site that touted success in reducing greenhouse gases that turned out to be way off the mark.

Senate rejects ANWR drilling Erika Bolstad Modified: May 13th, 2008 03:27 PM WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate rejected a Republican energy plan that promised to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, an option that was part of an overall package to increase domestic energy development.

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Tuesday he was disappointed in "flawed intelligence" before the Iraq war and was concerned that if a Democrat wins the presidency in November and withdrew troops prematurely it could "eventually lead to another attack on the United States. In an interview with Politico magazine and Yahoo News, Bush also said he gave up golf in 2003 out of respect for U.S. soldiers killed in the war, which has now lasted more than five years. "I didn't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said....

5/13/2008 - KABUL, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- Nearly 70 members of Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan delivered backpacks, toys and school supplies to the Zabuli Education Center for Girls and Women May 8 outside of Kabul. American servicemembers from Camp Eggers visited the school as part of the volunteer community relations program to provide humanitarian assistance to the local communities in Kabul. Master Sgt. Billie Wilson, a member of Camp Eggers' Force Integration and Training division, who recently arrived at Camp Eggers, said this would not be her last trip with the program. "I did this as a means to give back,...

The Blairs’ hearts sank when they learnt that George Bush’s victory over Al Gore in 2000 had been ratified and that he was to become President of the United States, Cherie Blair reveals in The Times today. She tells how she and her husband watched Mr Bush on television and were concerned at his poor grasp of foreign affairs, but Mr Blair was determined to have a strong relationship with the Republican President. Although they had initial reservations about his political leanings she and her husband learnt to appreciate “a very funny, charming man with a quirky sense of humour”....

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2008 – Servicemembers transiting through Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, near Washington, D.C., now have a new area to spend time between flights after the recent dedication of a new United Service Organizations lounge. Military and government leaders participate in a ribbing-cutting ceremony to officially open the new United Service Organizations lounge at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on May 8, 2008. From left are: Bill Fairl, of CACI; Paul Maladrino, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport manager; David Speck, of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority; Jon Love, with Pitney Bowes; Virginia Sen. Patsy Ticer; Ned Powell, with...

Oh, dear Lord. The hapless Republican establishment has gone and made a public embarrassment of itself again. Can your hearts take much more of this? Mine can’t: Hoping to get things moving in a positive direction, House Republicans will on Wednesday begin rolling out their own policy agenda, trying to showcase their differences with Democrats on issues such as health care, the economy, energy and national security. In a memo to be sent to Republican members today, the leadership hints at a new slogan building on the change message that has already been shown to have political resonance with a...

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2008 – About a dozen militant extremists were killed yesterday during a coalition forces operation in Afghanistan’s Helmand province to disrupt Taliban weapons supply operations, military officials reported. Coalition forces searched compounds in the province’s Garmser district, targeting a Taliban commander conducting weapons supply operations in the area. While conducting their search, coalition forces saw militants setting up an ambush and responded with small-arms fire and air strikes. Coalition troops discovered rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, assault rifles, cases of ammunition, and two mortars. The troops destroyed the weapons to prevent their use, officials said.

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces expanded their operations about 70 kilometers north of Basra, Iraq, into Qurnah today, as the Iraqi army continues to develop its capabilities for tactical maneuvers over long distances. Operation “Charge of Knights,” which began in March in Basra, launched in Qurnah with a drop of 100,000 leaflets over the small village encouraging residents’ cooperation. The operation involves Iraqi security forces operating with coalition air and ground support. United Kingdom and U.S. military transition teams are embedded with their Iraqi counterparts. In other operations in Iraq today: -- Coalition forces captured a...

Fox News projects HRC wins WV.

ROME, N.Y., May 13, 2008 – While North American Aerospace Defense Command celebrates its rich and historic 50-year history, one unit will remain diligently watching the skies just as it did on Sept. 11, 2001. Master Sgt. Thomas Whiteman, an Air National Guardsman with Northeast Air Defense Sector, salutes as Master Cpl. Bob Peldjak, a Canadian member of NEADS, stands at attention while the Canadian national anthem is played and the Canadian flag is raised on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2007. The binational, joint ceremony is held every year at the Veterans Memorial Park in Rome, N.Y., honoring the...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq, May 13, 2008 – The security environment in Basra, Iraq, has improved dramatically since 1st Iraqi Army Quick Reaction Force fought its way into the city April 1. An Iraqi soldier from 1st Iraqi Army Quick Reaction Force stops to talk with a local shopkeeper in the Hyyaniyah neighborhood of Basra, Iraq, April 19, 2008. The Iraqi quick-reaction force has been conducting clear-and-search operations in Basra since April 1. They were deployed from Anbar province by the Iraqi government to bolster local Iraqi security forces during Operation Charge of the Knights, the ongoing effort to eliminate...

Hey.. how do you folks feel about prayers in public schools? It's a controversial issue so just wanted to hear what you guys have to say on the matter. In favor/opposed and reasons.

BALAD, Iraq, May 13, 2008 – A continued partnership aimed at enhancing the skills of the local Iraqi highway patrol has benefited local security. Combat Outpost 9’s “Punisher 3” route security team, composed mostly of U.S. military police, conducted classroom training and practical exercises May 2-6 for more than 50 of the Iraqi highway patrol’s noncommissioned officers. The NCOs were trained in basic leadership principles, pre-combat inspections, operation orders, traffic control point operations, vehicle searches and personnel searches. “These are the skills they use every day, and seeing how much they have improved, I feel much more confident about being...

Apparently, Louisiana legislators have decided that everything wrong in the state has been fixed. The Senate finance committee has passed Senate Bill 672 to the floor of the Senate for debate. This bill sponsored by Senator Ann Duplessis (D, New Orleans) will raise the base pay for Louisiana legislators from $16,800 to a whopping $50,000 per year. This is a 300% increase in the base pay for a part-time legislative position. An additional $12,000 or so would be added on to cover expenses. This can only mean one thing. Louisiana is fully repaired from the damages of hurricanes Katrina and...

North Carolina's community college system reversed itself Tuesday and said it will no longer admit illegal immigrants until federal officials formally weigh in on whether it is legal.The college system announced last year that all of its 58 campuses would enroll illegal immigrants into degree programs who are at least 18 years old and who have graduated from high school. Previously, under a policy adopted in 2004, that decision was left to the individual campuses.The change was supported by Gov. Mike Easley, but it provoked heavy criticism - especially from the leading candidates running to replace the outgoing governor. That...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 13, 2008 – Concerns that the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are distracting the military from preparing for future conflicts are unfounded, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today. Rather, he said, the military must heed the lessons of today's wars to prepare for the future. The military must balance "today's demands versus tomorrow's contingencies; irregular and assymetric threats versus conventional threats," Gates said in a keynote speech before a Heritage Foundation-sponsored seminar titled, “The Military Beyond Iraq,” held at the Broadmoor resort here. "As the world's remaining superpower, we have to be able to...

[book review] The Dumbest Generation By Mark Bauerlein (Tarcher/Penguin, 264 pages, $24.95) It would seem that technology and culture both make the present a good time to be young. The digital tools that are reshaping our economy make more sense to young "digital natives" than to members of older generation, an imbalance of abilities that tips the economic and political scales in favor of young people. Meanwhile, aging boomer parents, rather than pass down a fixed, canonical culture to their kids, encourage a modern-day version of their own rebellion, inviting younger voices to disrupt stodgy cultural continuities. Adults are so...

LifeNews.com Note: Colin Mason is the director of media production for the Population Research Institute, an organization that tracks population issues and monitors abortion and demographics on an international scale. As the very first line of Steven Mosher's latest book reads, we have all grown up "on a poisonous diet of overpopulation propaganda."Mosher's book, Population Control-Real Costs, Illusory Benefits, is, first and foremost, an answer to the allegation that the human race is inexorably multiplying, hell-bent toward a giant demographic cliff like so many lemmings. The numbers show that the world is not, has never been, nor ever shall...

Captain Benjamin Torpy (back), commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery and interpreter Timmy, talk to al-Rasheed Nahia deputy chairman Hussein Obaid Shurada and local farmer Oday Ibrahim Ghathwan al-Ghererri, as Sheikh Qassim Abbas Shereat looks on at the groundbreaking for the Shukrega greenhouse, May 10. U.S. Army photo. CAMP STRIKER — Local government officials gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony for the Shukrega greenhouse in the Mahmudiyah area, about 25 kilometers south of Baghdad, May 10. “The project brings to the area an opportunity to prove how effective the greenhouse can be for farmers,� said Capt....

By Sarah Smith OK, so you’ve raised $100 million to build your ethanol refinery that was to be an outlet for struggling farmers, a boon to the local economy and a reducer of greenhouse gases. You spent years fundraising. You sold your soul and your proprietary technology to lenders. You paid a fortune for lawyers to get you through the due diligence, permitting and political hurdles. You’re finally ready to break ground or you already have. Then, cue the music from “Jaws.” Here come the plaintiffs. Across the United States, from coast to coast, ethanol enthusiasts, regarded as the fair-haired...

LOS ANGELES, (AP) -- The community solidarity that followed the killing of high school football star Jamiel Shaw Jr. did not last. A prosecutor has been pulled from the case after clashing with Shaw's parents, who are demanding hate-crime charges against the suspect, believed to belong to a violent Hispanic gang. And the family is fighting suggestions that an affinity for a rival gang was what led to Shaw's slaying March 2. At the heart of the friction is the polarizing issue of race in a city known for its diversity of cultures. Shaw, 17, was black; prosecutors say the...

The Top Five Barack Obama Jokes: Q. Why is Barack Obama running for office as a Democrat? A. The Communist Party didn’t have enough voters. Bill Clinton said, “I didn’t inhale.” Barack Obama says, “I didn’t inject.” Q. Why did Obama change his name from Barry Obama to Barack Obama? A. He thought “Barry” sounded too American. When Hillary Clinton starts looking good, you've either had too much to drink or Barack Obama is on the tube. Q. What do Obama Messiah followers drink? A. Koolaid, of course. *********************

HALIFAX, May 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Aggressive pro-abortion demonstrators made physical attempts to shut down Nova Scotia's first annual "March for Life" Thusday.  Beginning with an evening candle-lit prayer vigil on Wednesday May 7th, 2008 followed by a demonstration on Thursday the event was organized and co-sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Women's League and the Campaign Life Coalition.  The roughly 90 March for Life participants were infiltrated on both occasions by several pro-abortion activists. In the coverage following the event, a reporter with the Chronicle Herald (local Halifax paper) wrote erroneously that the rally was in promotion...

LONDON (AP) - Two senior government ministers accidentally revealed confidential documents to sharp-eyed photographers on Tuesday—including proposals for Britain's prime minister Gordon Brown to star in a reality television show. Close-up images of an e-mail printout that Communities Secretary Hazel Blears was carrying when she left a meeting in Brown's office showed details of a planned TV program called "Junior P.M.," a talent show for young lawmakers in which Brown would be a judge. The e-mail, sent to one of Blears' advisers by television producer Margaret McCabe, says the show would be "a golden opportunity for the P.M." to show...

This is a memo to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hizbollah, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and others: Please consider changing your names to something a tad less religious sounding. Where you infuse your theological thought into radical politics and violence, things might get a little awkward for us. You see, if we point out that you identify yourselves with a religion, we might offend someone. That's the new policy of U.S. government. The Associated Press confirms other reports that federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. embassies say that words including "jihadists" and "mujahedeen" are off limits. In...

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. (myfoxatlanta.com) -- A burglary suspect is in the hospital after a Riverdale police officer shot him. Police say the suspect broke into the Foot Locker on Highway 85 Tuesday morning. Police responded to a burglary call around 5:00 a.m. and found a silver Escort station wagon parked next to the back wall of the building. Police say the back wall had a huge hole broken through the wall, and the vehicle was filled with various items in boxes. Two suspects ran away, and one police officer drove his squad car closer to the station wagon without realizing...

ORT WORTH — A Fort Worth man trying to scratch an itch on his back used a revolver and accidentally shot himself. Jorge Espinal, 44, was drinking beer and playing poker around 3 a.m. Sunday morning in his home in the 3500 block of Montague Street, when he got up from the table and walked into another room, said Fort Worth police Lt. Kenneth Dean. “He told officers he had an itch on his back and grabbed the first thing he could get a hold of, which was a revolver,” Lt. Dean said. “The gun went off." Espinal went back...

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — President Robert Mugabe devoted his first major speech since the unresolved election three weeks ago to denouncing whites and former colonial ruler Britain, an attempt to convince Zimbabweans their political and economic troubles stem from abroad. The scene at the official 28th Independence Day celebration Friday had all the pomp of old, with air force jets sweeping overhead and Mugabe, bedecked in sash and medals, striding past soldiers at attention. But any private observances by ordinary Zimbabweans were likely muted — prices for food, gasoline and drinks have more than doubled just in the past week...

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Philadelphia was defaced sometime late Friday night or Saturday, according to the maintenance supervisor. Someone destroyed wreaths and ripped out flags, the memorial's maintenance supervisor said. NBC 10 found the remains of one wreath lying on the ground and saw flowers ripped out and thrown on the ground. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24566579/#storyContinued

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — Blacks will outnumber whites in Brazil this year for the first time since slavery was abolished, but the income gap between the two groups may take another 50 years to bridge, according to a government study released Tuesday. The government's Applied Institute of Economic Research said Brazil, which has the world's second-largest black population after Nigeria, is decades away from racial equality despite public policies aimed at decreasing the gap. Blacks generally earn 50 percent to 70 percent less than whites, and hold only 3.5 percent of management positions at Brazil's 500 largest companies,...

A confluence of groups customarily inclined toward Hillary Clinton was voting in the West Virginia primary, with less-educated, lower-income Southern whites predominating. Nonetheless there was room for criticism of Clinton -- and bringing "needed change," Barack Obama's trademark, was again the most-desired candidate trait. The Race Factor Racially motivated voting appeared to be running higher than usual: Two in 10 whites said the race of the candidate was a factor in their vote, second only to Mississippi. And only a third of those voters said they'd support Obama as the nominee against John McCain, fewer than in other primaries where...

A huge thanks to Adam Day of Sycuan for sending the survey results and memo along. Some excerpts... Survey Shows Duncan D. Hunter with Comfortable Lead In 52nd Congressional District Republican Primary Race El Cajon, CA (May 12, 2008) - In a survey of 400 registered voters in the 52nd Congressional district, Duncan D. Hunter, son of current Congressman Duncan Hunter, enjoys a substantial lead over other candidates in the race with 79% voter support. Sycuan frequently conducts public opinion polling on a wide range of regional issues and election topics and shares the results with the public. This survey...